A concerned resident in North Kawartha has approached Council to consider asking the County of Peterborough to lower the speed limit on HWY 620 around Chandos Beach.
Guy Sprung spoke to council during the July 14 regular meeting, suggesting that North Kawartha press upon the County to lower the speed limit from 80 km/hr to a 60 km/hr speed limit around the beach.
He said that the current speed limit is particularly dangerous during the summer months around Chandos beach, not only due to the many swimmers but also the boat launch area.
Sprung explained that many times, the parking lot fills up fast with trucks and trailers, leaving boaters to park on the side of the road. This becomes dangerous with the speed in which vehicles travel down the road in this area.
“At the moment the speed limit is 80 km/hr, which, as we know, means about 90, and for some people 100 or more.”
Sprung said that he took a video that he shared with council to make his point. The video was taken on the long weekend of May near the boat launch and showed the road lined with trucks and trailers along the highway.
“I live right close to there so I can tell you that over the years the traffic is not decreasing. It is slowly and incrementally increasing.”
He also said that leaving the parking lot at the beach is a precarious venture in itself as there is a curve in the highway that only allows for 30 or 40 yards of visibility according to Sprung.
Not only is there a curve but there is also a blind hill along that stretch of road with many driveways nearby.
“I don’t think it’s a question of ‘if’. I think with the increased traffic, especially with the popularity of the beach, I think just a question of ‘when’ some kind of an accident is going to happen. So I really strongly press upon you the idea of lowering that speed limit.”
Sprung said that he recently had the opportunity to travel to neighbouring townships and notices that many other neighbourhoods have lowered speed limits in beach areas.
“I hope that our neighbouring Townships do not care more about our safety than North Kawartha does. I hope that’s not what’s going on.”
Sprung went on to say that what he finds odd about the speed limit in the area is that if travelers go past the blind hill, they come across a very sudden change to a 60 km/hr long before they reach Glen Alda.
“It’s no more built up than the highway before it, and certainly a heck of a lot less precarious than the beach zone. But it’s suddenly 60 kilometers. So, what I’m suggesting is that you’ll press upon the county to advance that 60 kilometers speed limit to just west of the beach itself.”
He also told council that that morning, on his way to the chambers to speak in front of them, he drove by the beach and experienced exactly why the speed limit should be reduced.
“I drove by the beach, I was doing my 80 km/hr and a black pickup truck passed me while I was doing 80 right at the beach. So I suggest that section of the beach and the boat launch, and ideally up to the Blind Hill, be a no passing zone.”
Mayor Carolyn Amyotte asked for Sprung to provide them with a written submission so that the township is able to forward it to the County for their response.
She also told Sprung that it is a bit less cumbersome to go through a speed limit change through the county rather than the province. She said the township has been trying to get HWY 28 speed limits reduced for quite some time but the County is agreeable and even had speed limit reductions on their agenda in July for other townships.
Coun. Colin McLellan said that while there were points he did agree with that were made by Sprung, he doesn’t agree with all that was said.
McLellan stated, “I find that heading into Glen Alda, that 60 Zone does start earlier than I expect. I don’t like the idea of having just a three kilometer gap. But I don’t actually support taking that 60 and extending it all the way past to the beach. So there might be some opportunity to re-jig and make sure that there are appropriate distances between [speed limit] drops… As it stands as the entire section, I can’t support that, but I would generally be in support of lowering the speed limit at the beach because when driving around it, I do think I’m driving too fast.”
Amyotte said that there may be other traffic calming measures the County could look at as well in addition to or instead of a speed limit change.
The delegation was received and will be passed on to County Council, who has jurisdiction over HWY 620.
