If you pave it, they will come. And the commuters have indeed turned out, speeding along Chilligo Road, much to the residents’ chagrin.
Once a gravel route, the road in Woolwich’s southeast end has become a favourite for drivers seeking a shortcut between Cambridge and Guelph. In the township, Chilligo Road runs from the Woolwich-Guelph Townline to Kossuth Road before crossing into Cambridge and down to the intersection of Maple Grove and Beaverdale roads.
Since first being paved, the route has become popular with commuters looking for a shortcut. Now, with the road newly repaired and repaved, residents are worried that speeding and dangerous passing will become more commonplace.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, resident Scott McDonald, bearing a petition signed by every one of the 17 homes along the Woolwich stretch of Chilligo Road, called for the township to look at traffic-calming measures for the route.
“It was a quiet country road that’s been paved,” he said. “Now it’s getting dangerous.”
Residents would like the township to consider measures such as speed bumps, a stop sign (perhaps at Lerch Road) and a reduction in the current speed limit of 80 km/h.
The suggestion of a stop sign caught the attention of Ward 3 Coun. Murray Martin.
“A stop sign might be a good thing,” he said, pointing to a similar arrangement at Maryhill and Crowsfoot roads.
He also suggested the township place its portable speed-tracking sign on Chilligo Road to track the scale of the problem, which McDonald noted was most problematic during the morning and evening commuting times.
Director of engineering and planning Dan Kennaley said his department already has plans to use the sign at five locations along the road, mapping speeds and taking a count of traffic.
Noting there are no posted speed limit signs on the roadway, making the speed 80 km/h by default, Martin added that staff should look at dropping the rate to 70 km/h.
Coun. Mark Bauman agreed with looking into reducing the speed limit, but dismissed the idea of speed bumps, saying they would penalize all drivers, not just those who speed and pass dangerously. Additionally, he called on staff to request Waterloo Regional Police to set up speed traps on the stretch of road.
In a later interview, McDonald said he was satisfied with council’s direction, adding he got the reaction he expected having spoken previously with engineering staff and Waterloo Regional Police. Speed bumps, for instance, seemed like a nonstarter.
The petition was done in advance to indicate the residents’ solidarity on this issue when presenting the request to council.
“I’m sure they’re going to do something,” McDonald said of council.
The hope is to have some kind of action to solve what he described as an accident waiting to happen as soon as the road reopens with the final layer of new asphalt, possibly as early as this weekend.
“It’s gotten to be quite bad lately. When the road reopens, it’s going to be a real racetrack.
“The passing is the biggest problem – that’s where it gets dangerous.”
The narrow road, with very little in the way of shoulders, poses a danger to pedestrians and cyclists, said McDonald. In collecting names on the petition, he discovered that every resident had a story to tell about a near-miss or similar incident on the road.
Reducing the speed limit and posting some signs would let the police enforce the new rules by setting up speed traps – “word will get around that you can’t speed through here.”
While the limit is currently 80 km/h on the Woolwich stretch of Chilligo Road, it drops to 50 km/h on the Cambridge side.
An engineering staff report on the traffic analysis and residents’ requests is due back at council early in December.
