{"id":31577,"date":"2022-07-09T12:18:31","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T16:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31577"},"modified":"2022-07-15T19:09:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T23:09:51","slug":"traffic-calming-could-be-coming-to-wells-street-after-residents-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/traffic-calming-could-be-coming-to-wells-street-after-residents-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic calming could be coming to Wells Street after residents\u2019 concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Traffic calming measures could soon be coming to Wells Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council voted last week to install four way stops where Wells Street meets both Connaught Avenue and Harrison Avenue, should these measures be supported by 80 per cent of the surrounding community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision came following a delegation to Council by area resident John Hartman who said speeds have long been a factor in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe current issues are excessive speed and safety of kids in a growing neighbourhood,\u201d he told Council. \u201cDriver behaviour needs to change on Wells Street and throughout the Town. Town Square, once completed, will increase our traffic volume and most likely speed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exacerbating traffic in the area of Wells Street, he added, is its proximity to the Aurora GO Station, with many commuters taking up on-street parking, although summer events like the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market and Concerts in the Park, while a traffic factor, were more manageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To underscore his point last fall, Mr. Hartman invited Councillor Sandra Humfryes to see the situation for herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of last week\u2019s Council meeting she brought forward a motion to get these four-way stops in place, but some Councillors were less than convinced it would achieve the desired outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWells at Connaught and Harrison are two-way stops right now [and] when you\u2019re driving along you almost think it should be a four-way but it is not\u2026 It\u2019s a street that allows itself to have that type of behaviour,\u201d said Councillor Humfryes. \u201cIt would really help safety measures in this area. I am worried about not doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Council supported the idea overall, more information was needed before any four-way stops are put in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Council, Mr. Hartman said he had done an informal survey of residents but Council members pressed for staff to continue the process of gauging neighbourhood support, a door-to-door effort that was halted due to the global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI appreciate the process,\u201d said Councillor Rachel Gilliland. \u201cI drive Wells Street every single day and can definitely agree Connaught could probably use a stop sign. I personally believe Harrison is too close [and] could potentially cause traffic to be more clogged up and actually cause more disruption than what it\u2019s intended to. I just want to see those numbers\u2026I would really hate to see us installing the stop sign\u2026without having that data and all of a sudden we have a bunch of residents saying, \u2018I didn\u2019t know about this. Nobody told me.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would not want to say today, \u2018Let\u2019s put that in\u2019 and then have a backlash because they didn\u2019t feel they were properly notified. I would like to believe everything the delegate is saying, but I want to have that proper process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerns over process were also voiced by Councillors John Gallo and Michael Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing that a traffic study of the area showing that existing traffic warrants weren\u2019t met to justify the placement of the stop signs, both suggested it was time to review the entire warrant process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we have [these matters before Council] enough times that warrants aren\u2019t met there are safety issues then maybe look at the warrants,\u201d said Councillor Gallo. \u201cIf we\u2019re responsible for stop signs, surely we can look at the warrants and say they don\u2019t fit our community\u2026and we should fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Thompson on the traffic warrants, \u201cIt\u2019s true, we\u2019re all over the place. I think it is a true comment that perhaps the warrants aren\u2019t necessarily reflective of the needs we have [in Aurora].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Councillors ultimately supported the installation of the signs should the threshold of community support be met \u2013 as did Councillor Harold Kim, who said he agreed it was time to revisit existing traffic warrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of us have known all along that anything that is born by the Province, any Provincial regulations, are essentially a one-size-fits-all type\u2026that [don\u2019t] often fit the community that it is supposed to regulate,\u201d he said. \u201cI think these warrants are definitely one of those regs\u2026that does not fit the Town of Aurora in many cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpeed on a narrow road like this is critical. I will vote in favour because I do believe that the local residents know their neighbourhood better than someone outside their neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for a four-way stop at Wells and Connaught pending neighbourhood approval passed on a vote of 6 \u2013 1 with Councillor Wendy Gaertner voting against the measure. The vote for the four-way stop at Wells and Harrison passed 5 \u2013 2, with opposition coming from Councillors Gaertner and Gilliland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of Councillor Gaertner\u2019s opposition to both crossings was the view that the southeast quadrant of Yonge and Wellington needs to be looked at through a broader lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we have learned from past experiences, for example, putting parking restrictions in place, that a comprehensive approach is needed,\u201d she said. \u201cRoyal Road is extremely scary because trucks use it to cut through from Yonge to Edward Street and my experience with Wells and Kennedy, there is quite an incline there and there\u2019s a problem with sightlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of issues in this neighbourhood that have to do with speed and improper use. I would personally like to see a study of the area because putting a stop sign here may cause problems there. I think much more is needed and I don\u2019t want to set up one situation that causes a problem [elsewhere].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAVE YOUR SAY \u2013 Are traffic calming measures needed on Wells Street? Are there other problem areas in the historic downtown area? Send your thoughts to brock@lpcmedia.ca.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traffic calming measures could soon be coming to Wells Street. Council voted last week to install four way stops where Wells Street meets both Connaught Avenue and Harrison Avenue, should these measures be supported by 80 per cent of the surrounding community. The decision came following a delegation to Council by area resident John Hartman […]<\/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_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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8dj","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-03 03:02:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31577","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=31577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}