City council in Cold Lake has decided to not introduce more traffic calming measures on Lakeshore Drive after fielding a residential concern.
The concern prompted a speed study, which showed that motorists were, on average, following the posted speed limit.
The City said a complaint was brought forward regarding speeding on Lakeshore Drive, with a posted limit of 30 km/h, and that the street was being used as drag racing strip.
Staff with the City then installed speed cameras at four locations along the road to record the speed of vehicles over a two-week period and gather on-the-ground data.
“We know that speeding along residential streets can be a very emotionally charged subject for people, and we want to ensure that residents’ concerns and complaints are heard and taken seriously,” said Cold Lake Mayor Bob Mattice.
“We thank residents for bringing their concerns forward, and we thank our administration for looking into them and taking them seriously.”
Mattice added, “In this case, council decided that no change was warranted at this time, but we learned valuable information along the way.”
Officials said the study found that the 85th percentile speed along the roadway was 37 km/h, with the average speed at 29.5 km/h.
The City explained that the 85th percentile speed is the speed at which 85 per cent of drivers are travelling at or below. Just 15 per cent of drivers would have been traveling faster than the 85th percentile, according to the City.
Officials add that the speed is often used by planners and traffic engineers when designing road systems and assessing vehicle speeds.
The City said over the course of the two-week study, there were four individual instances of extreme speeds recorded. The study found vehicles going at speeds of 90 km/h, 88 km/h, 74 km/h, and 63 km/h. These cases represented the four highest speeds recorded, with the City saying it was likely the same vehicle going through the four speed cameras.
Meanwhile, Kevin Nagoya, Cold Lake’s Chief Administrative Officer, told council that the statistics showed that most drivers were travelling within acceptable speed ranges.
“While there are certainly instances of motorists travelling at unacceptable speeds, these were limited to a few instances with very limited frequency,” Nagoya said.
“Outliers such as these are best handled through enforcement rather than permanent changes to the roadway’s infrastructure, unless there’s desire to lower the speed limits in the community to something like 40 km/h as a general speed limit, and/or 20km/h in restricted speed zones such as such Lakeshore Drive, parks, and playgrounds.”
