City proposes speed reduction in BU area

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This article was published 21/10/2024 (648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Streets around the campus of Brandon University could be the next to join the City of Brandon’s speed reduction pilot project.

At tonight’s Brandon City Council meeting, a vote is scheduled for the first reading of a bylaw that would reduce the speed limit of the 200 and 300 blocks of 20th Street, as well as the 1800 and 2000 blocks of Louise Avenue, from 50 km/h to 30 km/h.

Those blocks of Louise Avenue include the university’s Healthy Living Centre and parking lots and on the south side, and access to the John R. Brodie Science Centre and Flora Cowan Hall on the north side.

On 20th Street, the affected blocks include access to the physical plant, power plant and parking lots on the west side of the street and to Darrach Hall, the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building, the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium and other parking lots on the east side.

Speaking to the Sun on Friday, Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) said he met with university officials a few weeks ago to discuss traffic and pedestrian safety.

Cameron’s ward encompasses the entirety of BU’s campus. If approved, the reduction would be the first implemented by the pilot project in Ward 4.

Some of the university’s concerns, he said, included near misses where people on campus were almost hit by vehicles.

“As with any campus, there’s a lot of pedestrian movements and with Brandon University having the Healthy Living Centre there, that increases it exponentially from there,” Cameron said. “Any way that we can kind of improve the ability for people to navigate that campus safety, I think it’s incumbent on us to do that work.”

Following that discussion, Cameron said, city staff were gracious enough to work with them to recognize some opportunities to make campus safter for all modes of transportation.

While there are other ideas to improve pedestrian safety in the future, the initial effort will just be the speed reductions on those streets considered internal to the university campus.

The councillor said the reduction would still allow drivers to navigate through campus in their vehicles if they choose to do so but recognize pedestrians’ right to safety.

The university’s health and safety advisor, Al Trotz, said that in the 8 1/2 months he’s been on the job, he’s been trying to learn more about the safety culture on campus.

He told the Sun on Saturday that in reviewing reports and speaking with the Brandon Police Service, records indicated there were lots of motor vehicle and pedestrian incidents being reported on campus.

The meeting with Cameron came after a couple of incidents where students got hit on crosswalks, one on Louise Avenue and another on 18th Street, though these incidents didn’t lead to serious injury.

There was also a near miss where a university employee reported having to jump out of the way of a vehicle who failed to stop for her at the intersection of 18th Street and Lorne Avenue.

During BU’s peak months, between late August and early spring, Trotz said there are around 5,000 people who access campus on a regular basis. That includes students and staff and visitors to the Healthy Living Centre and Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.

Then, during the summer, there are also programs like the Mini U program for kids, which uses buildings on campus.

According to Trotz, the biggest problem area for traffic safety around campus is Princess Avenue, which is not included in the proposed speed reduction. He said he doesn’t know why it’s not included but expressed hope it would be added later on.

As for 18th Street, which is part of Highway 10 and administered by Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure, Trotz said he’s also hopeful that something can be done there.

He said that when the current reconstruction project on the street started last month, a lot of traffic was diverted through Louise Avenue, 20th Street and Princess Avenue, which led to increased safety concerns for pedestrians on campus.

At one point, he said he was able to speak with someone from MTI, who worked with the city to get a temporary speed reduction to 30 km/h set up on 20th Street on campus. After that successful partnership, he’s hopeful both parties will be open for further discussions.

Beyond the speed reductions, Trotz said the university would like to add more crosswalks on campus, something he said he’s bringing up with the city’s Vision Zero Task Force.

Areas where the speed limit has been reduced to 40 km/h already through the pilot project include streets in the Parkdale and River Heights as well Princess Avenue East from the 000 to 1100 blocks of Princess Avenue East.

Franklin Street, Lorne Avenue East and Park Street adjacent to Rideau Park have had their speed limits reduced to 30 km/h.

From what Cameron has heard about those other reductions, there have been safety improvements as a result, but the city feels that motorists’ compliance with the new rules has been low.

Other items on tonight’s city council agenda include:

• An annual update from the Brandon General Museum and Archives,

• A report from the Age Friendly Committee,

• Votes on second and third readings for amendments to the city’s procedures bylaw and

• First reading of a bylaw that would rezone the properties at 2637 and 2641 Princess Avenue from residential low density to residential medium density so that a nine-unit residential development can be built.

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