City looks to address traffic concerns
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
The city is looking into a number of precautions on busy roads in Oshawa.
At the latest city council meeting, councillors voted on a number of initiatives for Oshawa roads. These include looking into a new traffic light on Wilson Road North, reducing the speed limit on Eastlawn Street, and investigating traffic congestion on Wilson Road between King Street East and Bond Street East.
The speed limit on Eastlawn will be reduced from 50 km/h to 40 km/h, after some residents wrote to council expressing concerns over speeding drivers.
According to resident Bryan Hazelton, drivers will use Eastlawn Street as a shortcut from Olive Avenue to the Walmart plaza on King Street East.
“It has reached a dangerous stage and something needs to be done,” he writes to council, adding the streetlight at the intersection of Eastlawn and King Street is “highly problematic” due to traffic congestion.
He wants to see the traffic light reviewed as well.
Chris and Susan Ostler, also residents of Eastlawn, wrote to council about the change they’ve seen on the street since the early 60’s when they first moved there.
The pair have seen Eastlawn transition from a dead end to a busy suburb with access to plazas, schools and a park.
“…we have seen what we believe are vehicles excessively speeding along Eastlawn Street,” they write. “We also believe that the vast majority of these speeders are using it to avoid the busier main streets and intersection.”
They note all of the streets in their neighbourhood, with the exception of Eastlawn, have a 40 km/h speed limit due to the presence of two schools, John XXlll Catholic School and the former Athabasca Public School.
Additionally, the neighbourhood also contains Mackenzie Park.
All three residents proposed to reduce the speed limit to 40 km/h.
Ultimately, council voted in favour of reducing the speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h.
The city has also requested Durham Region investigate traffic concerns at the corners of King Street East and Wilson Road North, and Bond Street East and Wilson, as they are all regional roads.
Council has also asked the region to look into an interruption caused by vehicles using the Tim Horton’s drive-thru on Wilson.