Portage la Prairie Council's hoping to reduce traffic speeds along Crescent Road, without lowering the speed limit. This week council discussed the option of creating bulb-outs at six crosswalks along the road, following a petition submitted to council regarding safety concerns due to increased traffic. The petition called for the addition of several stop signs, as well as the lowering of the speed limit to 40 km/h, and was signed about about 150 people along Crescent Road. 

The idea of lowering the speed limit on the stretch has led to no shortage of discussion in Portage la Prairie, and an alternative solution was discussed at last night's meeting. Transportation Chair Melissa Draycott says one of the challenges of reducing the speed limit is the change falls under provincial jurisdiction.

"However, administration is already aware that Crescent Road is a heavily used traffic location. We do get some congestion in that area, which can be a cause of concern for us for the safety of pedestrians trying to cross over to our active transportation path. We do have some existing pedestrian crossings that we're looking at putting bulb-outs at."

The goal of installing the bulb-outs is to better define the parking lane along Crescent Road, which could help reduce the speed of traffic. However, the traffic calming structures would also create a shorter distance for pedestrians to cross the road, increasing their safety. While these bulb-outs were already being discussed by administration prior to the petition, they're not able to move forward with the work this summer. Draycott says in the meantime, they're going to test the water with some temporary structures at those locations.

"We're going to be looking at putting up some barricades for the remainder of the summer. They'll be temporary barricades just to simulate that bulb-out to see how that goes to slow traffic in those areas, and hopefully reduce some of the danger for pedestrians crossing Crescent Road."

The creation of improved crosswalk infrastructure was already included in Council's 2016 budget, but Draycott notes because of the time it takes to study the area, and the impact of the changes, the work likely couldn't begin until next year. Council has yet to approve the creation of the bulb-outs, and will further discuss the issue at their August Council meeting.