40km/h Neighbourhood Speed Limit Pilot

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40km/h Area Speed Limits are coming to four Cambridge neighbourhoods the week of June 28, 2021.

This pilot project will evaluate the effectiveness of neighbourhood wide 40km/h speed limits and will take approximately two years to complete.

All streets within the pilot areas will have a speed limit of 40km/h marked with 40km/h Area signs at each boundary point. As of May 2018 the Highway Traffic Act allows speed limits other than 50km/h without block by block signage in bounded zones. While supplementary Area signs may be used within the pilot neighbourhoods, speed limits will not be signed along the street except where existing for school and park zones.


Gateway/Boundary speed limit signs displaying "Maximum Speed 40", "Area" in blue and gold, with "Begins" and "Ends" tabs below Why Pilot 40km/h Neighbourhoods?


Approximately 25% of all traffic inquires received by the City are concerns about speeding in residential areas.

Reduced speed limit neighbourhoods are intended to set an expectation for more conscious driving in residential neighbourhoods. If this project is successful, neighbourhood reduced speed limits could be adopted in other individual neighbourhood areas (an expansion of this pilot) or adopted City wide in residential areas


map of cambridge highlighting pilot areasPilot Areas

Detailed area maps are available under Resources.


40km/h Area Speed Limits are coming to four Cambridge neighbourhoods the week of June 28, 2021.

This pilot project will evaluate the effectiveness of neighbourhood wide 40km/h speed limits and will take approximately two years to complete.

All streets within the pilot areas will have a speed limit of 40km/h marked with 40km/h Area signs at each boundary point. As of May 2018 the Highway Traffic Act allows speed limits other than 50km/h without block by block signage in bounded zones. While supplementary Area signs may be used within the pilot neighbourhoods, speed limits will not be signed along the street except where existing for school and park zones.


Gateway/Boundary speed limit signs displaying "Maximum Speed 40", "Area" in blue and gold, with "Begins" and "Ends" tabs below Why Pilot 40km/h Neighbourhoods?


Approximately 25% of all traffic inquires received by the City are concerns about speeding in residential areas.

Reduced speed limit neighbourhoods are intended to set an expectation for more conscious driving in residential neighbourhoods. If this project is successful, neighbourhood reduced speed limits could be adopted in other individual neighbourhood areas (an expansion of this pilot) or adopted City wide in residential areas


map of cambridge highlighting pilot areasPilot Areas

Detailed area maps are available under Resources.


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  • Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this link

    How are you going to determine if the speed reduction works? Without hard data itโ€™s just a guess.

    J asked over 2 years ago

    Speed studies are being conducted throughout the pilot but two core batches of speed studies are scheduled to be conducted in the fall and spring to identify speed behaviour changes over the course of the pilot project. Data collected during the pilot will also be compared to historic data for pilot streets

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    The only place in the south preston neighbourhood where speeding is a regular problem is Eagle street south when school goes back to in person learning. The students speed up and down that street every day. Why isn't increased/daily police monitoring not considered the solution and instead forcing all the law abiding citizens to drive slower? After a week or two, the speeders will have lost their licenses and the safe drivers will continue to be safe. Penalizing everyone is a poor solution IMHO.

    Kathryn Wagner asked over 2 years ago

    There are many possible tools to address speeding on City streets, each of which has different impacts and costs.  The pilot project will evaluate if 40km/h neighbourhoods is a viable speed management tool for Cambridge.  Pay duty police enforcement is a different tool that may be evaluated and implemented in the future.  Automated Speed Enforcement is also being trialed provincially, including two locations in Cambridge.

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    Are they planning to take down the Maximum 50 sin on Grand Ridge? The 50 sign is posted 1 street light PAST the 40 Begins sign. ๐Ÿ˜–

    KarenS asked over 2 years ago

    Hello,

    All conflicting 50km/h and "Begins" signs within the project areas should be removed by the end of the week

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    Is there any increased enforcement in these areas? Reduced speed zones already exist in some of these areas and are routinely ignored.

    qdppjyKz2ZiBBkVFc9Vj asked almost 3 years ago

    The purpose of the pilot is to review if a lower speed limit throughout a neighbourhood has an impact in itself. Tickets issued within the pilot areas will carry higher fines due to the lower speed limit but the volume of enforcement will remain largely consistent with the rest of the City.  Prioritizing the pilot neighbourhoods over the rest of the City would skew the results of the pilot and would not be a sustainable initiative.  In and out of the pilot areas, locations of concern may have heightened enforcement through the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.

    Part of the pilot review is to identify if neighbourhood wide 40km/h zones are more impactful than isolated stretches of 40km/h speed limits.

    Residents can use the Waterloo Regional Police’s online reporting form to request enforcement for any location.

    While regular enforcement is not changing, Elgin Street North at  Elgin Street P.S. and Guelph Avenue at St Gabriel C.E.S. are to be part of the Region of Waterloo’s rotating Automated Speed Enforcement program.

Page last updated: 15 Aug 2023, 09:46 AM