HTC developed a Traffic Calming Policy for the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s that will assist the Town in addressing traffic and pedestrian safety issues in a consistent manner.

Many communities employ warrant systems for traffic signals and for the installation of pedestrian crossings to ensure these controls are only put in place when required to improve safety and/or traffic operations. Managing speeding and traffic issues in neighbourhoods is no different. Many jurisdictions throughout Canada are developing “Traffic Calming” policies to address neighbourhood traffic and speeding concerns in a consistent/appropriate manner.

The Traffic Calming Policy used a framework to assist Town staff in managing traffic calming requests. It included the following:

• An initiation process where residents would submit to the Town a written request to investigate the need for traffic calming within their specific neighbourhood.
• For those streets meeting the minimum criteria, a petition with a threshold level of support should be submitted to the Town.
• For requests meeting the initial screening criteria, the Town would collect speed and volume data for further analysis and evaluate the street with a point assessment system.
• Streets that pass the minimum threshold for volumes and speeds are prioritized and moved to a public consultation process. Minimum criteria were developed from data collection of volumes and speeds on select roadways in the Town.
• The importance of considering emergency/transit and maintenance services in the overall traffic calming process.
• A list of common traffic calming measures and their applicability based on street classification within the policy for use in developing the individualized plans throughout the Town.