{"id":14379,"date":"2016-06-01T17:45:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T21:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=14379"},"modified":"2016-06-23T14:59:30","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T18:59:30","slug":"inside-aurora-traffic-circles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-traffic-circles\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Traffic Circles"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, with summer and nicer weather finally here, what\u2019s at the top of your priority list; taking time off, puttering around the yard, visiting the Farmers\u2019 Market, or maybe taking in a few concerts in the park?
\nIf so, then you\u2019re obviously not on Council, because its fixation these days seems to be with everything vehicular.
\nFirst, there are the ongoing debates about speed humps on Kennedy Street West, and potentially a few other locations in Town. These have been discussed frequently over the years, then implementation has been discarded each time due to not meeting required traffic volumes and\/or low feedback from residents.
\nIn fact, recently, only two people turned out for a meeting held specifically on this topic.
\nThen someone suggested that residents were sick of providing feedback every few years on something that never went anywhere, and had just given up, so now the subject\u2019s back on the table and picking up momentum.
\nAnother car-related issue that Council has in its cross-hairs is parking on local streets around the GO station.
\nIn a classic case of \u201cif you build it they will come\u201d, the rise in the number of trains over the past few years has led to significant increases in ridership. It seems most users get to the station by car, and have nowhere to park.
\nCouncil\u2019s current thought seems to be to forbid them from parking on nearby streets. That\u2019s a benefit to long-suffering local residents, but doesn\u2019t help commuters who are being encouraged by various levels of government to reduce congestion and pollution and take the train.
\nThis problem has the potential to get even more interesting as all day train service gets to Town.
\nSpeaking of parking, every now and then the idea of increasing parking on Yonge Street to encourage business in that area comes around.
\nIt\u2019s back again, and while Council seems united in finding a solution, not enough of them feel that the current proposal to close a lane each way is the right one, or at the right time, or on the right street, or that not enough studies have been commissioned on it, or something.
\nA perennial vehicular issue in Town is the availability of turn lanes.
\nYonge and Wellington is the classic example.
\nTurn lanes going right or left from all four compass directions have been discussed a million times over the years. Although there hasn\u2019t been much talk lately, with significant residential development going in at this intersection, it\u2019s inevitable the arguments will be dusted off again.
\nWhether they\u2019ll be dusted off, argued over, fingers pointed at the Region, and set aside for another Council to resolve remains to be seen.
\nOn the subject of subjects that have been dusted off more than once, there\u2019s Library Square. The focus of the issue is how to develop this space and draw people there, whether it be via new functions in the existing library and senior\u2019s buildings, or by tearing them down and putting up an ideas lab, an arts complex, or similar new structure.
\nHowever, at some point in these discussions someone inevitably asks; \u201cYeah, but if we bring hundreds of more people into the area, where will everyone park?\u201d
\nA valid question, since it has never really been answered or resolved for the places we have in this area now, like the Library and Cultural Centre, let alone any new ones that may draw in even more people.
\nThis is not an exhaustive list of vehicular-related issues being discussed these days, which also includes speed limits, road construction and closures, bicycle lanes, transit and other items.
\nThe answers to these subjects are obviously not easy, or they would all have been unanimously made and implemented by the current or previous Councils years ago, while citizens cheered from the Visitors\u2019 Gallery.
\nBut with thousands more people making their homes in Aurora over the next few years, and with an equal number of cars of various descriptions filling both their driveways and the Town\u2019s roads and parking lots, decisions will need to be made.
\nAnd they won\u2019t always be popular.
\nFeel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston So, with summer and nicer weather finally here, what\u2019s at the top of your priority list; taking time off, puttering around the yard, visiting the Farmers\u2019 Market, or maybe taking in a few concerts in the park? If so, then you\u2019re obviously not on Council, because its fixation these days seems to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3JV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-19 16:02:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}