Traffic Concern report says Yield or Stop okay

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

A report to council regarding traffic on two streets in Coalhurst says they could potentially use either Yield or Stop signs as speed control measures.

During their regular July 18 meeting, Coalhurst town council discussed a report on traffic concerns along Aspen Road and Sundance Drive. Complaints were received by the Town in May and June regarding speeding, and council had directed administration to come back with a report on the issue.

Data recording devices were installed at three locations: on Aspen Road between Greenwood Road and 50th Avenue recording traffic data in both north and southbound directions, and data from eastbound traffic on Sundance Drive between Sundance Road and 45th Avenue.

“These devices were put into ghost mode, so there was no speed displayed, and they just collected the data,” said Kevin Lewis, director of operations for the town.

The devices collected data from the Sundance Drive location from June 10-16 and June 29 to July 4, Aspen Road northbound traffic from June 10-16 and southbound traffic from June 28 to July 4.

Administration has reviewed the intersection of Sundance Road and Aspen Road with the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada with the town’s engineering firm.

“Although Yield signs are suitable in accordance with the TAC guidelines, it may also be acceptable to change the yield signs to stop signs due to the sight lines to the west of the intersection,” said Lewis.

According to the TAC guidelines, Stop signs should only be used where engineering studies indicate that their usage is warranted. These locations include on a minor road entering a through road; on the road carrying the lesser volume of traffic at an intersection where all roads are of the same functional classification; at an unsignalized intersection in a signalized area except where they would interfere with traffic signal progression; at an intersection where the application of the normal right-hand rule would be unduly hazardous; at an intersection where the safe vehicle speed on the approach is less than 15 km/h; as an interim measure at a railway crossing which is scheduled for automatic protection or as required by the railway authority; within an intersection of a divided highway where a Stop sign is present at the entrance to the first roadway, and further control is necessary in the median at the entrance to the second roadway, with the additional Stop sign being necessary where the median width between the two roadways exceeds 30 meters; and where three or more reportable right-angle collisions per year have occurred and methods of reducing the collision experience, such as improving sight lines, street lighting, parking prohibitions, enforcement, geometric modifications or a Yield sign have been tried unsuccessfully.

When asked if the information collected had been shared with the RCMP, Lewis said that the more specific data was shared with the town’s peace officers. When asked about the requirements for a traffic circle, Lewis said that would be an “engineering question”.

“The tech guidelines are basically based on traffic flows, volume of traffic,” said Lewis.

Council passed a motion to accept the traffic concerns report as presented.