Oakville Puts $891K Into Road Safety At Former Speed Camera Sites

Every one of the 25 Oakville streets that used to have a speed camera is in line for a radar speed display sign, the kind that flashes your speed back at you as you drive past.

At its Aug. 10 meeting, council voted to direct $891,274 from the province toward traffic calming and safety work at the former automated speed enforcement locations. The money comes from the Road Safety Initiatives Fund, a $210 million provincial program set up to support safety in school zones and community safety zones after Ontario banned speed cameras in November.

Oakville's camera program had cost the town more than $1.4 million to put in place, and council had previously noted the ticket revenue was meant to pay for traffic calming. The $891,274 is only interim funding, and the town has applied for a further $3.5 million that the Ministry of Transportation is expected to rule on this year. Lin Rogers, the town's director of transportation and engineering, told council the interim money will cover design work and the purchase of the radar speed signs, with the larger amount folded into the 2027 capital budget if it arrives.

What each street gets depends on the street

Muhammad Imran, the town's manager of neighbourhood traffic safety, said in a report that measures were picked from roadway characteristics, operating conditions, traffic data, surrounding land uses and observed speeding. Depending on the location that can mean physical traffic calming, radar speed signs, better pavement markings and signage, or pedestrian crossing upgrades.

Glenashton Drive between Eighth Line and Grand Boulevard is one worked example. The stretch runs past Iroquois Ridge High School and Community Centre and was previously watched by a camera, and it is slated for radar speed signs, enhanced school zone signage, ladder-bar crosswalks and physical traffic calming at a cost of $420,000. Only $20,000 of that comes from money the town already has.

If the $3.5 million application is turned down, Imran said the physical traffic calming and related work would instead be spread over 10 years through the town's annual Neighbourhood Traffic Safety Program and capital budget. If it is approved, the province requires all eligible spending to be finished by March 31, 2028.