Renaud Road Traffic Calming Plan

Introduction

Over the fall of 2020, an online survey was conducted to gather feedback about the recommended traffic calming plan along Renaud Road. The deadline to complete the survey was October 9, 2020. Since then, the results from the survey have been reviewed and analyzed. All of the survey results are included in the As We Heard It Report (link provided below). Based on the results, the recommended traffic calming plan for Renaud Road has been updated and finalized.

This April 2021 update includes the final recommended traffic calming plan for Renaud Road and the rationale for the recommended traffic calming measures.

Final Recommended Traffic Calming Plan

The final traffic calming plan for Renaud Road includes the following recommended roadway modifications:

• Four centre-island medians along Renaud Road between a point 150m west of Joshua Street / Percifor Way and Saddleridge Drive.
• A painted centre-island median between Saddelridge Drive and Pagé Road.
• Corner tightenings (curb radii reductions) at the intersection of Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way.
• A new sidewalk along the east side of Percifor Way from Renaud Road to Ziegler Street.
• Single File signage and sharrows along different sections of Renaud Road.
• A dashed green thermoplastic surface treatment to the eastbound floating cycling lane at the intersection of Renaud Road and Navan Road.

Final recommended traffic calming plan [ PDF 9.378 MB ]

Rationale for Recommended Traffic Calming Measures

One of the factors taken into consideration when finalizing recommended traffic calming plans is community feedback. The As We Heard It Report [ PDF 166 KB ] includes the recent online survey results.

Based on the survey results, the community is generally supportive of the recommended roadway modifications. However, there are some concerns that the recommended centre-island medians will “squeeze” cyclists. As a result, several different options were considered before finalizing the traffic calming plan. These options included:

• Adding cycle tracks from a point 150m west of Joshua Street / Percifor Way to the existing edgelines (approximately 195m east of Joshua Street / Percifor Way) – The Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Program (which is funding this project) does not have the level of funding required to implement complete cycle tracks along this section of the road. The City’s various cycling programs do not have funding earmarked for new facilities along this roadway either. The request for new facilities on this roadway will be reviewed as part of the on-going update to the City’s Active Transportation Plan which prioritizes projects city-wide.
• Adding cycle tracks solely around the centre-island medians – This option would create additional safety issues including cyclists merging on and off the road several times at different points along the road.
• Adding designated cycling lanes – The road is not wide enough to include consistent bare minimum 1.5 metre designated cycling lanes due to the existing left-turn lanes and the proposed centre-island medians. The purpose of the centre-island medians is to reduce speeds which in turn will make it safer for all users including cyclists.
• Add Single File signage and sharrows – This option is feasible and should encourage cyclists to take the lane and remind drivers to proceed in a single file.

In the end, Single File signage and sharrows were added to the recommended traffic calming plan to help improve cycling safety along this section of Renaud Road.

Together with the other recommended roadway modifications including the centre-island medians, corner tightenings (curb radii-reductions), a sidewalk, and pavement markings, speeds should reduce along this stretch of road and make the road safer for all users.

Next Steps

This project will be funded through the 2021 Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Program. The next step in the process is to undertake the detailed design (which typically requires one year) with the construction typically following the year after.

The City’s Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Program (NTC) is conducting a traffic calming study along Renaud Road from a point 125m west of Joshua Street / Percifor Way to Navan Road. In 2018, a flyer containing an initial traffic calming plan for this section of Renaud Road was mailed to residents for their feedback. Since then, the feedback from residents has been reviewed and new traffic data has been collected. As a result, the initial traffic calming plan has been updated. The link to the updated plan can be found in the Recommended Traffic Calming Plan section below.

We want your feedback on the new recommended plan! Once you have had a chance to review the information provided on this webpage and view the recommended plan, we strongly encourage you to provide your feedback by completing the online survey. The link to the online survey is provided in the Online Survey section below.

Background

In May 2014, the Bradley Estates Community Association (BECA) voiced their concerns to the National Capital Commission (NCC) about traffic volumes and vehicles travelling at high speeds through the community and suggested alternative new road construction. In October 2014, the Transportation Committee directed City staff to further investigate the Bradley Estates Community Association’s concerns. The City completed an assessment of the transportation impacts of the proposed road network changes proposed by the Community Association and presented the results to the Transportation Committee in March of 2016.

As part of this assessment, speeds along this section of Renaud Road were reviewed by collecting and analyzing traffic data. The results from traffic surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015 concluded that there was a speeding issue along this section of Renaud Road. As an initial first step, the City installed flex stakes and speed radar boards as traffic calming measures until a permanent traffic calming study could be initiated.

As recommended through the broader transportation assessment, locally the Renaud Road Traffic Calming Study was initiated. In order to re-assess this section of Renaud Road for speeding, new traffic data was collected in 2017 and 2019. The results from these traffic surveys show that there continues to be a speeding problem along this section of Renaud Road, however the recent traffic survey results are significantly lower than the 2014 and 2015 traffic survey results. The results from the traffic surveys are provided in the Traffic Data section below.

In 2018, a flyer containing an initial traffic calming plan was mailed to residents for their feedback. After the City received the feedback, the study continued but there were some delays due to the municipal election and a desire to collect additional traffic data. All of the feedback from 2018 has been reviewed and new 2019 traffic data has been collected and analyzed. As a result, the City has updated the traffic calming plan with the support of the Ward Councillor and is seeking feedback on the new recommended plan through an online survey.

Traffic Data

In order to verify vehicle speeds along this section of Renaud Road, traffic surveys were initially conducted in 2014 and 2015 and again in 2107 and 2019. The posted speed limit along this section of Renaud Road is 50km/h.

The first traffic survey was conducted in July 2014 at a point 125m west of Joshua Street / Percifor Way. The results from this survey show that speeds in the westbound direction were considerably higher than those in the eastbound direction as drivers anticipated entering the 80km/h speed zone within the Greenbelt. In both directions, the 85th percentile speed* exceeded 70 km/h which indicates that 15 percent of drivers were travelling 20 km/h over the speed limit or higher.

The traffic survey conducted in May 2015 between Joshua Street / Percifor Way and Saddleridge Drive only measured traffic speed in the eastbound direction. The results from this survey indicate that the 85th percentile speed* exceeded 87 km/h.

The most recent traffic surveys were conducted in July 2017 and August 2019 between Joshua Street / Percifor Way and Saddleridge Drive. The results from these surveys show that in July 2017 the 85th percentile speed* was 62 km/h and in August 2019 the 85th percentile speed* was 59 km/h.

As previously mentioned, there continues to be a speeding problem along this section of Renaud Road however, the recent traffic survey results are significantly lower than the 2014 and 2015 traffic survey results.

*85th percentile speed – The 85th percentile speed is the speed at or below which 85 percent of vehicles travel.

Public Consultation

In the fall of 2018, a flyer was mailed to residents to gather feedback about a proposed traffic calming plan for Renaud Road from a point 125m west of Joshua Street / Percifor Way to Navan Road. In order to alleviate the traffic concerns raised by the community about this section of Renaud Road, traffic calming measures including speed cushions (raised areas, similar to speed humps which are designed to have less impacts to emergency and transit vehicle operations) and centre-island medians were proposed.

Feedback (2018)

The feedback that the City received from residents indicates that the majority of respondents are not supportive of speed cushions. The feedback indicates that traffic volumes are the main concern along this section of Renaud Road. Some other common suggestions and concerns that the City received included: implement roundabouts at the intersection of Renaud Road and Navan Road and at the intersection of Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way; implement traffic lights at Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way; and address cut-through traffic on the side streets.

Recommended Traffic Calming Plan

Based on the most recent traffic survey data and feedback from residents, the City has updated the recommended traffic calming plan. The main change to the traffic calming plan is that the speed cushions have been removed from the plan. The updated traffic calming plan focuses on the intersection at Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way. This intersection is considered the western “gateway” into the Bradley Estates Community. The purpose of the proposed traffic calming measures is to slow down vehicles entering into the community from the long, straight, rural section of Renaud Road and increase pedestrian safety at this intersection. View the updated traffic calming plan.

Recommended Traffic Calming Measures

There are many benefits to implementing traffic calming measures along a street including reduced vehicular speeds and increased pedestrian safety. The following section will provide an overview of the recommended traffic calming measures including centre-island medians and corner tightenings (curb radii reductions).

Centre-Island Medians

Centre-island medians are elevated medians constructed on the centreline of a two-way roadway to reduce the overall width of adjacent travel lanes.

The benefits of centre-island medians include reducing speeds by narrowing travel lanes. Although the centre-island medians proposed along Renaud Road are not located at official crossing areas, these medians can also increase safety for some pedestrians who decide to cross the street mid-block regardless. The centre-island median allows them to cross one direction of traffic at a time and provides them with a refuge to wait on until it is safe to cross the second half of the street.

One of the proposed centre-island medians is located adjacent to a bus stop. The reason that it is located adjacent to this bus stop is to prohibit vehicles from passing the bus while it is stopped. This increases the safety of people getting on off of the bus and improves the efficiency of the transit route.

There is a portion of Renaud Road that contains dedicated cycling facilities, however not at the locations where the centre-island medians are proposed. At the locations where the centre-island medians are proposed, there is not enough space to implement dedicated cycling facilities. As a result, one disbenefit of centre-island medians is that cyclists can feel “squeezed” as there are no dedicated cycling facilities present.

Corner Tightenings (Curb Radii Reductions)

Corner tightenings (curb radii reductions) involve modification of intersection corners to implement tighter corners.

The benefits of corner tightenings include reducing speeds of right-turning vehicles and shortening pedestrian crossing distances. Implementing corner tightenings at the intersection of Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way will increase safety for pedestrians crossing the street at this intersection.

The disbenefits of corner tightenings (curb radii reductions) include the potential for larger vehicles to mount the curbside space and larger vehicles may need to cross into adjacent travel lanes.

Community Requests / Planned Future Projects

The Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (NTC) Program focuses on addressing requests for permanent, engineered, traffic calming on existing local and collector streets within neighbourhoods. This Program is reserved for streets that cannot benefit from roadway modifications through other City Programs.

The NTC Program recommends and implements localized roadway modifications to existing roadways, the NTC Program does not implement complete street redesigns. As a result, the NTC Program, which is funding this project, does not have the level of funding required to implement roundabouts or traffic lights on Renaud Road.

Through other City Programs, there are long-term future plans to implement a roundabout at the intersection of Renaud Road and Navan Road and potentially traffic lights at the intersection of Renaud Road and Joshua Street / Percifor Way. The timelines for these future projects are currently unknown. Please note that the recommended traffic calming plan does not interfere with the future implementation of the roundabout or the potential traffic lights.

Based on the feedback that the City received, high traffic volumes along this section of Renaud Road is the main concern among residents. Implementing measures to reduce traffic volumes is beyond the scope of this study, however there is currently an Environmental Assessment Study being conducted to extend Brian Coburn Boulevard westerly. The Brian Coburn westerly extension may help relieve some of the traffic volumes on Renaud Road and redirect traffic onto the new section of Brian Coburn Boulevard. The timelines for implementation of the Brian Coburn extension is within the 2031 planning horizon, subject to the City's Affordability Plan as per the Transportation Master Plan. In the meantime, the proposed traffic calming measures should help encourage lower speeds and reduce aggressive driver behaviour along this section of Renaud Road. More information is available about the Brian Coburn extension.

Cut-through traffic was another concern raised by some residents. Cut-through traffic is traffic that travels through a neighbourhood on smaller local streets to bypass congestion on major road networks. The initial traffic calming plan included speed cushions which can slow vehicles down and as a result, increase travel time. They may also cause some discomfort for some motorists. Residents were concerned that drivers would try to avoid the speed cushions on Renaud Road by using the local streets instead.

Due to the feedback that the City received, the speed cushions have been removed from the recommended plan. As a result, the recommended traffic calming plan should not impact traffic volumes on the local streets within the Bradley Estates Community.

Furthermore, an origin destination survey was conducted in 2017 to collect data on cut-through traffic within the Bradley Estates Community. The origin destination survey included Joshua Street, Saddleridge Drive, and Spring Valley Drive. The results from the origin destination survey concluded that the levels of cut-though traffic along these streets were not significant.

Online Survey

In order to gather your feedback on the recommended plan, we strongly encourage you to complete the online survey which will be available until October 9, 2020. After the deadline has passed, an update will be posted on the webpage with the results of the survey and next steps.

Thank you for your participation!

Contact
Lindsay Thomas
Project Manager, Area Traffic Management
Transportation Services Department