Guelph city council chose to defer a staff report calling for the installation of traffic cushions on Downey Road to help control speeding.
Instead council indicated wants to wait until the Niska Bridge reopens so that it can get a better read on what effect that will have on the the traffic situation on the busy arterial road in the city's south end.
It is possible that the reopening of the Niska Bridge could result in enough traffic travelling through the Downey/Niska intersection just west of the Hanlon Expressway that it would qualify for traffic lights.
Council also wants to consult residents before implementing what the mayor later called "speed bumps" on a road where some previous traffic calming measures caused an uproar.
Staff presented a recommendation at Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting calling for four asphalt traffic cushions along Downey Road - a wider, lower version of a speed bump but with the same intention of slowing down traffic.
Along with a speed radar board showing the speed of cars passing it, the cushions were the next stage of traffic calming measures on the busy arterial road.
But council voted to defer the recommendation, which will now come before the full meeting of council at the end of the month for final decision.
The Niska Bridge is expected to reopen to traffic this fall.
A study done earlier this year shows that some sections of Downey see almost 12,000 vehicles a day.
Several measures have been undertaken control speeders on the road as part of phase one of the city's plans, including curb bump-outs and a pedestrian island. The traffic cushions are part of phase 2.
"Phase 1 hasn't exactly achieved the results we'd hoped it would," said Steve Anderson, traffic engineering supervisor with the city.
Speed studies show that the average speed on Downey has increased in two of the three sections studied.
"Why are we giving such significant work to this particular arterial road?" asked councillor June Hofland, pointing out that other arterial roads don't get this kind of attention.
The response from city staff was because city council directed them to a few years ago, due to concerns from residents living along the road.
Mayor Cam Guthrie said that residents along the street "can't stand Downey Road," something a 191-person petition and people at the door said to him while he was campaigning in the last election.
To date the city has spent $400,000 on traffic calming measures on Downey. The traffic cushions would cost another $60,000.
