Richmond Hill council approved another 18 locations where traffic calming tools, including speed cushions and pedestrian crossovers, will be installed in 2025, to continue to reduce speeding and improve safety on local roads.
Earlier this year, traffic calming measures, including speed cushions, gateway features, flexible bollards, curb extensions and enhanced pavement markings and signage, were installed at 17 locations across the city.
These were installed as part of the implementation of the city’s traffic safety and operations strategy, which helped improve compliance to the speed limit, reduce speeding in neighbourhoods by up to 22 per cent and decrease traffic volume by up to 17 per cent, according to a City of Richmond Hill news release.
In 2025, in addition to installing more traffic calming measures at the 18 locations (three locations in each ward), the city will also:
- Expand its existing annual pole-mounted radar board program, increasing the number of locations from three per ward to five per ward;
- Create safer pedestrian environments by planning for 13 new pedestrian crossovers (with installation in 2025/2026) at key locations across the city;
- Reduce speed limits from 50 km/h to 40 km/h at 17 locations across the city;
- Pilot a boulevard sign program in each ward.
To watch the city’s traffic safety video and learn more about the priority locations identified for traffic calming, visit RichmondHill.ca/Traffic.
“I am very pleased with the results we have seen so far from the installation of traffic calming measures in our neighbourhoods this year. With more vehicles travelling at reduced speeds and less traffic using neighbourhood streets as shortcuts, we are definitely heading in the right direction," said Mayor David West. "We are using measures that are necessary on the streets where families should feel safe and where children can play to ensure that vehicles travel at slower speeds. We are using the right tools in the right places to achieve the desired outcome, which is making our roads safer for Richmond Hill families.”
QUICK FACTS
- Based on public feedback, the city conducts annual city-wide screening of streets to identify and prioritize areas of concern and implement operational and safety improvements, including traffic calming measures.
- Priority traffic calming locations were selected using an evidence-based network screening process that involves an annual review of all available volume, speed, collision data, and pedestrian activity across all the city’s road network.
- A number of key actions were completed in 2024, including the approval of new and updated policies and 86 community safety zone locations, as well as the installation of traffic calming measures at 17 priority locations. To provide pedestrian connectivity, the city also installed six pedestrian crossovers at various locations.
