Esquimalt is moving ahead with a plan to lower speed limits to 40 km/h on major roads and 30 km/h on neighbourhood and residential streets in the township.
A report on the move presented to council this week was unanimously approved and council is expected to ratify the measure at its meeting on Monday, said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins. “Ultimately, it’s about safety. And this will provide better safety on our roads,” said Desjardins.
The move, part of Esquimalt’s active transportation strategy, follows similar steps in Victoria and Saanich. Victoria adopted a default 30 km/h speed limit on neighbourhood roads last October and is gradually replacing its speed signs. Saanich is reducing speed limits on nine traffic corridors to between 25 km/h and 40 km/h, with sign installation underway since April.
In Esquimalt, Esquimalt Road, Admirals Road, Tillicum Road and Craigflower Road will be the first to receive the new speed limit signs. Signs in schools and playground zones, as well as residential collector streets, will be prioritized next year, with signage on local roads to follow the year after that.
A staff report said there are a few exceptions to the standard of a 40 km/h limit on major roads and 30 km/h on neighbourhood and residential streets. The section of Colville Road between Admirals Road and Tillicum Road, and Tillicum Road between Transfer Street and Colville Road will be set to a 40 km/h limit, while the sections of Admirals Road and Lampson Street between Esquimalt Road and Lyall Street will have a limit of 30 km/h.
Council decided the matter required further consultation when the issue was first presented last December, Desjardins said, but “the input that we received continued to confirm that the community was supportive of reducing speed limits.”
The speed limit on major roads has been 50 km/h.
The consultation found respondents were fairly evenly split between approval and disapproval when it came to traffic-calming measures ranging from medians to speed humps, speed display boards and street murals. Most, however, were in favour of road markings such as those for school zones.
New speed reader boards have been deployed in the township this year to help collect data and determine enforcement, Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said in a presentation to council.
Esquimalt resident Kym Thrift wrote on behalf of Esquimalt Capital Bike committee to support the speed reductions.
“There is strong evidence that reducing vehicle traffic speeds improves safety for pedestrians and cyclists,” he said.
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