The City of Colwood Official Community Plan presents a vision for our community that includes family-friendly neighbourhoods and realistic transportation choices. This may include traffic calming on local streets in residential neighbourhoods when it is supported by data and by the residents of the area. 

2021 Temporary Traffic Calming Pilot Projects

Colwood is committed to involving residents in increasing the comfort and safety of their neighbourhood. In 2021 the City will involve residents in temporary pilot projects in a number of neighbourhoods to clarify concerns, trial various approaches and gather feedback from the community about their effectiveness.

Read more and join the conversation at LetsTalkColwood.ca.

Past Traffic Calming Initiatives

Traditional traffic calming initiatives include a number of stages and can take up to a year to complete once initiated. Please note that the City receives many requests each year (7 requests in 2018) and must prioritize, plan and schedule them consecutively.We encourage residents to review the Traffic Calming Policy when considering traffic safety issues. 

1. Project initiation:

  • Request received by Engineering
  • Screening for eligibility (route type, route characteristics, impact on surrounding routes, etc.)
  • Preliminary neighbourhood traffic assessment
  • Scheduling based on in-process initiatives

2. Data Collection - If the above supports proceeding, the following steps may be taken:

  • Traffic data collection using temporary speed reader boards
  • Data analysis 
  • Plan development
  • Survey to assess local support

3. Implementation - If data and local support criteria are met, the following steps may be taken:

  • Detailed design
  • Installation
  • Performance monitoring

How do speed reader boards collect traffic data?

The City installs temporary speed reader boards to collect traffic data. This data is used to assess the need for traffic calming initiatives. The reader boards record speeds and count vehicles traveling in BOTH DIRECTIONS.

The reader boards are purposely configured NOT to display the vehicle speed so that drivers do not change their normal behaviour in response to the sign. This allows the City to collect the most accurate data about vehicle speeds in your neighbourhood.

What methods work best for traffic calming?

Traffic calming is commonly achieved by implementing a combination of the three E’s: Education, Engineering and Enforcement. Partners like West Shore RCMP and ICBC play an important role in education and enforcement.

Speed humps are often requested, but are not always the solution to increase comfort and safety. Other approaches such as stop signs, road markings and traffic direction can be considered. This list of traffic calming measures provides some ideas.

The engineering devices adopted by the city are in accordance with the "Canadian Guide to Neighbourhood Traffic Calming", published by the Transportation Association of Canada (www.tac-atc.ca). 

Where has traffic calming been considered? View study results below.

Several formal requests have been received and studied since the City implemented its Traffic Calming policy in 2017:

 

  • 520 Mount View
    • October 2020 speed readers installed
    • December 2020 three month data collection complete
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days.  There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekday and weekend records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds were 35 km/h, within 15 km/h of the posted speed of 30 km/h.
    • The average traffic volume for this section of road typically exceeded 1,000 vehicles per day with a maximum of approximately 1,500 vehicles per day.  This traffic volume supports the consideration of traffic calming.
       
  • Across from 623 Mount View
    • October 2020 speed readers installed
    • December 2020 three month data collection complete
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days.  There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekday and weekend records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds were 41 km/h, within 15 km/h of the posted speed of 30 km/h.
    • The average traffic volume for this section of road was slightly more than 1,000 vehicles per day, which supports the consideration of traffic calming.
       
  • Aldeane Avenue and Farview Road
    • June 2020: speed readers installed
    • August 2020: three month data collection complete
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days.  There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekday and weekend records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds did not exceed the 50 km/h posted speed limits.
    • The average traffic volume for each road was less than 1,000 vehicles per day.
    • View the Aldeane Ave traffic data  |  View the Farview Road traffic data
       
  • Promenade Crescent
    • February 2020: speed readers installed
    • May 2020: three month data collection complete
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days. There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekend and weekday records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds did not exceed the posted speed limit.
    • View the Promenade Crescent traffic data
       
  • Woodpark Drive
    • February 2020: speed readers installed
    • May 2020: three month data collection complete
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days. There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekend and weekday records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds did not exceed the posted speed limit.
    • View the Woodpark Drive traffic data
       
  • Kildew + Pickford Roads
    • Jul 2019 speed readers installed
    • If non-local traffic took short cuts along these roads during peak hours, peak traffic would be expected to be higher on week days. There were no consistently noticeable differences in peak traffic between weekend and weekday records.
    • The 85th percentile speeds did not exceed the minimum threshold above posted speed limits.
    • The traffic volume for each road was less than 1,000 vehicles per day.
    • View the Kildew Road traffic data  |  View the Pickford Road traffic data
  • Terrahue Road
  • Maryanne Crescent 
  • Hagel Road at David Cameron School
    • Mar 2018 permanent speed reader installed in school zone
       
  • Wishart Road at Wishart Elementary School
    • Dec 2017 permanent speed reader installed in school zone
       
  • Lagoon Road + Milburn Drive
    • Jun 2017 speed readers installed
    • Mar 2018 data collection complete
    • May 2018 plan options presented to Council
    • Aug 2018 survey finds traffic calming measures don't meet the required level of support by residents
       
  • Metchosin Road at Kenning Court
    • Jan 2016 speed reader installed to remind drivers to slow down

For more information, contact the Colwood Engineering Department at 250-478-5999.