KENILWORTH ‒ Despite some residents' demands to pave what they believe is a problem section of Concession Road 4 North, most councillors believe additional traffic counts will suffice.
In a new report presented to council Monday evening, while staff recommended additional traffic counts in 2024, both the posted speed limit and traffic control signage on Concession Road 4 North (4N) will remain unchanged.
An earlier delegation from Victoria McHugh, representing Citizens Advocating for Rural Roads, requested more traffic control on Concession 4N including a speed reduction to 60 km/hr from 80 km/hr between Highway 89 and Sideroad 7 East and a four-way stop sign at the Sideroad 3 East intersection.
"To us, it is long overdue that our road and other rural roads need to be paved," said McHugh, during her delegation. "(Gravel truck traffic) is constant on our road...and it causes tremendous wear and tear, which in turn creates numerous problems."
However, the report said Concession 4N's traffic volumes are typical of rural gravel roads and while it is a candidate for hard surfacing, it will continue to perform adequately as gravel roads with regular maintenance and the application of dust control chemicals.
Traffic counts in October found a 70 per cent increase in traffic volumes since May which staff said is "not explainable by normal circumstances" and indicates "there may have been an issue with some of the counts."
Siding with staff recommendations, Coun. Steve McCabe said local Mennonite families are also concerned paving the road would turn it into "a speedway" and "greatly increase the chance of an accident happening."
The report estimates hard-surfacing Concession 4N between Highway 89 and Sideroad 6 East, would cost $1,680,000 with HST.
Coun. Sherry Burke, the sole councillor to vote against the proposals in the report, argued it's council's "due diligence" to revisit increasing the road's safety measures as "a gesture" to residents.
According to senior project manager Tammy Stevenson, it costs $39,500 annually to maintain the road as a gravel road whereas it would cost $93,750 annually to maintain asphalt.
Mayor Andy Lennox warned councillors to "be cautious" about what they implement.
"A lot more goes into the speed people drive than just the posted speed limit," said Lennox. "I think if our expectation is we're going to post the speed at 60 and it's going to be significantly different than it is today, we would be disappointed."
Council directed staff to continue to monitor traffic on Concession 4N, in addition to completing additional traffic counts in 2024 and future years and present results in a future staff report.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.