After erroneously moving speed limit signs for westbound traffic on Highway 101, city staff is looking to permanently lower the speed limit.
At tonight's Timmins council meeting, staff's looking for the green light to extend the 50 km/h zone to Porcupine Creek for westbound vehicles heading out of South Porcupine.
Recently, speed zone changes were approved for eastbound traffic on Highway 101 heading into South Porcupine from Timmins.
The speed drops are the same — 70 km/h from 80 km/h, then another decrease to 50 km/h — but now start before the Bruce Avenue wye instead of after. Timmins council approved the changes at its March 22 meeting and the signs were moved Wednesday, April 6.
When the speed limit signs were changed, city crews also moved the westbound signs in error. That moved the start of the 80 km/h zone to after Finn Town (the residential area on the north side of the highway) instead of shortly after the OPP station. Westbound changes were not included in the bylaw that council approved. The signs have not been moved back to reflect the current bylaw.
"It was the intention of the previous report to change the speed zones for traffic in both directions. The traffic flow between Porcupine Creek and Legion Drive will have the same posted speed limit at 50 km/h. This allows for simpler patrol for the police and allow the residents on the north side of the Connecting Link to egress their driveway safely and transition into traffic," reads the report at tonight's meeting.
Changing the speed limit for westbound traffic was talked about at the March 22 meeting.
“It’s a more difficult thing to try to slow people down when you’re entering a higher speed. You’re going into four lanes, you’re getting into that faster area,” explained Pat Seguin, Timmins director of growth and infrastructure, at the March meeting.
He said it wasn't something staff looked at because they were trying to deal with the issue of drivers speeding heading into an urban area.
Last week, Timmins Police sent out a traffic advisory about enforcing the speed limit changes in both directions. Police said no tickets were handed out to westbound drivers.
Timmins council meets at 6 p.m. in city hall. The full agenda is available here. You can watch the meeting online here.
