November 16, 1999

To: North York Community Council

From: Roberto Stopnicki, Director, Transportation Services, District 3

Subject: Installation of speed humps on roadways adjacent to schools.

All Wards

Purpose:

To report on the feasibility of establishing a policy that would allow the installation of speed humps in front of all schools in the City of Toronto.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

There are no financial costs or implications associated with this report.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that this report be received for information and that no action be taken at this time.

Background:

At its' meeting of November 9, North York Community Council adopted a motion from Councillor George Mammoliti requesting that the Director, Transportation Services, District 3, report on the feasibility of establishing a policy that would allow the installation of speed humps in front of all schools in the City of Toronto and that such report be submitted to the North York Community Council for its meeting scheduled for December 2, 1999.

Comments:

As with other municipalities within the amalgamated City of Toronto, the former City of North York had established a policy to deal with Traffic Calming requests. This policy allows staff of the Transportation Services Division to work with a "Traffic Working Group" from within a particular community to develop a neighbourhood traffic management plan that addresses their specific concerns.

Since the inception of the Traffic Calming Policy for the former City of North York, staff have had the opportunity to work with numerous stakeholders, including the Fire Services and Toronto Transit Commission, to identify issues which must be given consideration prior to the approval/installation of traffic calming measures.

With respect to speed humps, the experiences of Transportation Services staff have determined that their installation on primary response routes for emergency services vehicles or on established bus routes is not appropriate. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a policy that would comprehensively permit speed humps on roadways adjacent to all schools within the City of Toronto.

In the context of amalgamation the Transportation Planning and Policy Division of the Works and Emergency Services Department is also reviewing the individual traffic calming policies for the former Cities of the amalgamated City of Toronto. The purpose of the review is to establish a uniformed Traffic Calming policy for the City.

Conclusions:

Considering the experiences of staff regarding the installation of speed humps and the current review for the development of a uniformed Traffic Calming Policy for the City of Toronto, it would be appropriate that this matter be reviewed within the greater traffic calming context and no action be taken at this time.

Contact:

Allen Pinkerton

Manager, Traffic Operations, District 3

Telephone: 395-7463

Facsimile: 395-7482

E-mail: ajpinker@city.north-york.on.ca

Roberto Stopnicki

Director

AJP/bcb

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