Castlegar is moving ahead with a plan to reduce the speed limit on 5th Avenue South, but it won’t drop as much as originally proposed.
Engineering manager Ryan Niddery told city council last week that staff have looked into council’s request to lower the limit on 5th, with an eye to potentially doing the same for residential streets throughout the city.
Although the street has a posted 50 km/h limit, residents have reported safety concerns due to frequent speeding. Niddery said a transportation engineer has confirmed the street’s alignment may contribute to higher speeds, making it uncomfortable for pedestrians.
But while it had been suggested that the limit drop to 30 km/h as part of the pilot, Nittery said based on conversations they’ve had with other municipalities, drivers are more likely to comply with more moderate reductions in the absence of other traffic-calming measures.
Nittery said Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Kamloops, and Kelowna have all experimented with reduced speed zones and found “limited success” when the limit was set at 30. “Most folks just kept doing what they were doing,” he said. “But there was quite a bit of compliance with a 40 km/h speed limit.”
Council endorsed proceeding with the pilot. Data is expected to be collected for four to eight weeks and then a report will be presented to council.
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