Speed cushions could start appearing on some Markham streets after the city's development services committee voted on March 3 to loosen a 2010 council moratorium on vertical traffic calming, a question it had put off in February while backing the city's Vision Zero road safety plan.
Speed cushions are raised sections of pavement with gaps that let wider vehicles, such as fire trucks, straddle them. Under the committee's motion, the moratorium would be amended so the city can install them, subject to traffic analysis, operational and budget considerations, and public consultation. Requests for money to build and maintain new speed cushions would be considered in the yearly budget process.
A guide for school zones
The committee also endorsed the final report of the Markham School Zone Safety Guide, and endorsed School Streets as one of the initiatives in the city's Active School Travel Program. School Streets temporarily close the road outside a school to traffic around drop-off and pick-up times. The motion says any such closures will go through the city's road occupancy permit process.
Funding to put the guide into practice will be weighed alongside future yearly budget requests for Markham's Vision Zero Road Safety Plan. The committee also received a written submission on the guide from the EJ Sand Traffic Safety Parent Group.
Committee members discussed the need to clear snow from sidewalks and pathways near schools. They passed two more motions from Councillor Reid McAlpine. One directs staff to keep finding ways to plow pathways that connect school and city properties, and to expand the winter pathway network so it reaches destinations such as schools. The other asks staff to explore a pilot project that would leave flexible in-road posts in place all year.
Frank Clarizio, the city's director of engineering, told the committee that engineering staff have been talking with operations staff about keeping the flexible posts up year-round.
Cycle tracks on regional roads
In a related item, the committee endorsed Markham opting in to York Region's Regional Ownership and Maintenance of Cycling Paths Policy. It asked the Region to give priority to taking over the Highway 7 cycle track between Town Centre Boulevard and Sciberras Road. Asked who would maintain cycling paths that run beside sidewalks, Clarizio said staff are looking at the logistics, noting that clearing the two could leave a windrow between them that would call for a co-ordinated response.
What happens next
The committee's recommendations go to Markham council for final approval. Regional Councillor Joe Li chaired the meeting. Mayor Frank Scarpitti and Regional Councillor Jim Jones sent regrets.
