PORT HAWKESBURY: According to the mayor, a traffic study has recently started to examine the 1.5 kilometre (km) section of the Granville Street corridor from Prince Street to Sydney Street.
Following the regular towm council meeting on April 2, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, Port Hawkesbury’s Mayor, said the traffic study comes from discussion at their November council meeting in which councillors expressed their concerns, along with the concerns of business owners and residents of the street.
She indicated the town moved a speed radar sign from Reeves Street and re-stationed it along Granville Street to look at data collection and other traffic patterns.
“That will be moved to different sections along Granville, so we can have all the appropriate data in regards to speeding, what are the numbers of vehicles travelling on the particular sections of Granville at particular times,” she indicated. “So that it will give us a little bit of an indication on what are some of the potential solutions.”
The traffic study by WSP Canada Inc. comes with an $8,350 plus HST price tag and has a primary objective to consider the existing operational and safety considerations.
Along with establishing the traffic conditions along Granville Street, the study will also determine the expected traffic changes at the study intersections resulting from the proposed development, determine lane improvements to the street network that may be required to mitigate the impact of the proposed development, and to consider access management, parking and other changes that could be made.
Chisholm-Beaton said being able to take the data and marry it to the feedback they received from the community will make it a collaborative approach to finding solutions for Granville Street.
“The data collection will be going on for the majority of the summer, and we’ll be talking about potential solutions at the end of the summer, early fall,” she advised. “If all things go according to plan, we could see some changes in the fall, depending on how that timeline fares out, if the fall isn’t feasible, we’d be looking to implement changes in the early spring.”