PUSLINCH TWNSP. – Residents frustrated with speeding along Lake Road in Puslinch are being heard by the County of Wellington, but traffic calming and road improvements will take some time.
County construction manager Joe de Koning said they are doing design work to improve the road with culvert replacement happening in 2021 and road work being deferred until 2022.
“It was originally scheduled for 2021 but we’re going to take some time with the consulting engineers just to analyze what we can and can’t do,” de Koning said.
For the time being, the county put out traffic counters on Lake Road to gather data on speeds such as the highs, lows and median in the stretch. De Koning said they get a lot of data from this which hasn’t been analyzed yet.
At a July Puslinch township council meeting, a resident put forward a request for traffic calming measures such as increased signage, three-way stops, speed bumps and new paved shoulders among others.
De Koning explained that any traffic calming ideas would have to be approved by the roads committee and county council before any changes could be made.
The next road committee meeting is Sept. 8 after a summer break of county council and committee meetings during July and August.
Traffic calming changes can’t come fast enough for some in the area.
By email, Lake Road resident Laura Todd said drivers often speed down the road and had one particularly troubling incident.
Todd said she was walking with her 10-month old son and husband when she noted a speeder and she threw her hands in the air as a way to tell them to slow down.
Todd said the driver turned around, sped past them again and threw a full pop bottle at them, nearly striking her child.
Her husband followed the car and called police, but Todd stressed this is just one of many bad incidents along the road.
“Someone is going to get killed on this road and I do not want to be here to see it,” Todd said. “Something needs to be done before someone gets seriously hurt. It’s a school bus route with lots of small children who live here and I can’t express how scary it is to see the speed on a daily basis.”
Linda Roganowicz, also a Lake Road resident, echoed Todd’s comments on Lake Road’s traffic issues.
“Each and every resident has stories to tell about bullying, dangerous and reckless driving, daily speeding, racing, illegal passing and illegally parked cars,” Roganowicz said by email, noting that this is a school bus zone.
Roganowicz said that the issue lies with a lack of regular police patrol in the area.
De Koning explained that the county shares data with the OPP and vice versa. This could lead to greater enforcement if there is a significant shift from previous studies.
The only change along the road so far are some centre lane speed signs as part of a trial in the county to note any improvements.
“It’s just another point of information for the travelling public,” de Koning said, explaining the thought process behind these signs. “It maybe gives them a bit of a ‘oh yeah I should be going 50, not 70.’”