Report to: General Committee Date of Meeting: May 15, 2006

SUBJECT: Markham’s Safe Streets Strategy - 2005 Results and 2006/2007 Plan

PREPARED BY: Arup Mukherjee, ext. 8120

Domenic Smarrelli, ext. 4055

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report entitled “Markham’s Safe Streets Strategy – 2005 Results and 2006/2007 Plan” be received;

AND THAT the Engineering Department be authorized to undertake Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Studies in 2006 for the proposed 2007 traffic calming projects and that staff report back upon completion of the EA studies;

AND THAT Council endorse the 2006/2007 Top 25 List of Enforcement Streets as listed in Attachment C;

AND THAT Council endorse the 2006/2007 Top 5 List of Education Streets as listed in Attachment D;

AND THAT implementation of the Safe Streets Strategy including traffic calming in 2007 be subject to the approval of funding allocation in the 2007 Capital Budget;

AND THAT staff review speed limits on 4 lane major collector roads and report back to the Traffic Safety Committee and Council.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Markham’s Safe Streets Strategy combines education, enforcement and engineering initiatives to achieve the primary objective of changing driver behavior through increasing compliance with the Highway Traffic Act, including the control of speeding and other aggressive driver behaviour.

The 2005 Top 25 Streets for Enforcement and Top 5 Streets for Education were approved by Council in late 2004 (see Attachment ‘A’). Through the assistance of the Traffic Safety Committee, the Engineering Department and York Regional Police (YRP) have implemented the 2005 program. One full year of enhanced police enforcement has been deployed and staff have closely monitored the compliance for these streets. Effectiveness studies have been conducted at year end and have been endorsed by the Traffic Safety Committee. Based on the effectiveness levels, the Traffic Safety Committee recommended the following treatments for the 25 streets (See attachment ‘B’):

• Maintenance Plan – occasional enforcement and monitoring recommended to ensure compliance is maintained (15 streets)
• Additional Enforcement – additional year of enforcement is recommended (3 streets)
• Alternative Solutions Evaluation – review pavement markings, signs and speed limit (2 streets)
• Physical Traffic Calming Measures –traffic calming candidate (6 streets)

The implementation of physical measures must follow the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process. Given the time, cost and effort involved in the EA process, staff will undertake a preliminary survey to ensure that the residents on the candidate streets support physical changes to roads in their community.

The 2006/2007 Top 25 Streets for Enforcement and Top 5 Streets for Education were reviewed by the Traffic Safety Committee in April. These streets where selected according to the point ranking system identified in Markham’s Safe Streets Strategy, and are recommended to Council for approval.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Physical Traffic Calming Measures – Environmental Assessment Studies

Pending community support for each of the six candidate streets, staff will retain a consultant in accordance with the Town’s purchasing By-law to implement Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Studies for all six streets by the end of this year. The expected cost to conduct the six studies is approximately $120,000. The Consultant’s activities will include the following:

• Gather background data and information for the subject street
• Propose specific traffic calming devices for each street
• Provide preliminary traffic calming design drawings for public viewing
• Conduct Public Meetings
• Provide detailed traffic calming designs to reflect community feed back
• Provide design specifications and detailed construction cost estimates

This component of the traffic calming project will be funded through the 2004 Traffic Calming account number 83-5350-6143-005. Funds in the amount of $283,966 are available to undertake the EA Studies, educational and marketing activities, traffic data collection and monitoring, and staff support (co-operative student).

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial 5. Environmental

6. Accessibility 7. Engage ^21st 8. Affected Units 9. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

This report updates Council on the 2005 Markham Safe Streets Strategy and seeks endorsement of the 2006/2007 Markham Safe Streets Strategy.

BACKGROUND:

3-Point Strategy

In late 2004, Council approved Markham’s Safe Streets Strategy comprised of a 3-point strategy: Education, Enforcement and Engineering. The strategy was developed to better combat speeding and other aggressive driving behaviour on Town streets. The following table provides a description of each strategy that was approved by Council.

Markham’s Safe Streets 3-Point Strategy
Strategy	Description
Education	Comprised of safe driving marketing activities - Town-wide and the Top 5 Education Streets
Enforcement	Partnership with York Regional Police in the deployment of the Top 25 Enforcement Streets
Engineering	Conduct effectiveness studies and identify traffic calming measures following 1 year of police enforcement

2005 Traffic Safety Committee

The 2005 Traffic Safety Committee was formed as an advisory committee to the Town’s General Committee. The Traffic Safety Committee is comprised of residents, police, and Councilors and staff. The primary roles of the Committee are the following:

• provide input on key activities of the 3-point strategy;
• monitor enforcement effectiveness results on a monthly and year-end basis;
• review the need for physical traffic calming measures after one year of police enforcement, if required.

2005 Top 25 Enforcement Streets

In 2004, staff had a list of candidate streets for traffic calming based upon inquiries made by residents and subsequent speed studies completed by staff. The Traffic Safety Committee (TSC) endorsed the point ranking system that staff utilized to prioritize traffic calming projects in previous years to review all the candidate streets.

Based on their review, the TSC recommended the top 25 locations for enhanced enforcement by York Regional Police (YRP) as shown in Attachment ‘A’. On October 12, 2004, Council endorsed this list of 25 streets.

2005 Top 5 Education Streets

In addition to the Top 25 Streets for enforcement, the TSC also recommended an additional 5 streets for an educational/marketing plan about safe driving as per Attachment ‘A’. These streets were also endorsed by Council on October 12, 2004. The residents of these streets, and the surrounding streets, received educational/marketing material to increase awareness about safe driving. The following provides a sample of the educational/marketing material that was distributed to the community:

• Community wide mail drop with Safe Streets litter bag
• Markham’s Safe Streets brochure
• Markham’s Road Watch brochure
• Monitor Your Speedometer stickers
• Region of York’s Road Safety brochures
• Driver Training refresher course

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

2005 Top 25 Enforcement Streets – Results and Solutions

The Traffic Safety Committee was charged with evaluating the effectiveness of the enhanced police enforcement deployment on the twenty-five streets. Through staff assistance, the Traffic Safety Committee applied a set of criteria to consistently and fairly assess the twenty-five streets. The criteria included a review of the enforcement level, the change in compliance and the final compliance level on the street.

Upon applying the criteria and assessing the streets, the Traffic Safety Committee recommended one of the following four solutions to each of the twenty-five streets:

Solutions for the 2005 Top 25 Enforcement Streets
Results	Proposal
1. Successful Enforcement Strategy	Maintenance Plan Street will be transferred to a maintenance plan for decreased level of police enforcement and vehicular data collection and analysis
2. Street has shown some improvement	Additional enforcement Street will be transferred to 2006/2007 Top 25 for one additional year of enforcement
3. Street has shown no improvement and does not qualify for traditional traffic claming because the road is a 4 lane major collector	Alternative solution evaluation Pavement markings, signs, and a review of posted speed limits is recommended
4. Street has shown no improvement	Traffic calming measures Street has not responded to police enforcement and will be transferred to traffic calming list

The Traffic Safety Committee identified one of the four solutions for each of the 2005 Top 25 Enforcement Streets as shown in Attachment ‘B’.

Traffic Calming Measures – Next Steps

Pending Council’s approval of the streets identified in “List 4 –Traffic Calming Measures”, staff recommends we first confirm the support of the community before retaining a consultant to conduct a Schedule ‘B’ Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Study. This is recommended to ensure that the community is in support of traffic calming on their street before staff undertakes a formal EA Study.

Pending the community’s support, staff will then retain a consultant in accordance with Town purchasing by-law to implement and complete the Environmental Assessment Studies for all six streets. The expected cost to conduct these six studies is approximately $120,000. Funds in the amount of $284,108 are available in the Engineering Department Capital budget (Account #083-5350-6143-005) for these studies and other Safe Streets programme elements.

Construction of the physical traffic calming measures will be undertaken in 2007 subject to funding in the 2007 capital budget.

2005 Top 5 Education Streets

The first 2 out of 5 streets have been successfully implemented and approximately 2,000 Safe Streets litter bags were circulated to the communities. The litter bag contained a letter from the Town’s Traffic Safety committee and brochures including the Markham Safe Streets Strategy and Road Watch Program.

A refresher driver training course was also offered to the communities. The refresher courses were advertised via the litter bag and Town page. Both courses reached class capacity of approximately 35 participants and were considered a success. The remainder of the three streets will receive similar communication material and will be completed by June of this year.

2006/2007 Top 25 Enforcement Streets

As part of their primary role, The Traffic Safety Committee has also reviewed the 2006/2007 list of candidate streets and are recommending the new 2006/2007 Top 25 Enforcement Streets as per Attachment ‘C’. These streets were prioritized according to the point ranking system that has been utilized to prioritize traffic calming projects in the past (See attachment ‘E’). “These streets were prioritized according to the point ranking system that has been utilized to prioritize traffic calming projects in the past. The Town’s point ranking system was developed according to other Transportation agencies methods which include Institute of Transportation Engineers and City of Seattle, Washington. Because “percent driver compliance” was a useful factor in identifying successful streets in the 2005 program, the Traffic Safety Committee and staff modified the point ranking system to include this component. Specifically, streets with compliance less than 70% were prioritized first according to the point ranking system. If additional streets were needed, as in the case of the Top 5 Education list, then streets with compliance greater than 70% were included.

Based on the experience from the first year of the strategy, it was determined that a shorter period of time for enforcement would allow the programme to be completed in one year including the selection of streets, the enforcement/monitoring and assessment. In this regard, this year’s program will start June 1, 2006 and end February 28, 2007. A total of nine months of enhanced police enforcement and data collection will be allotted. Upon completion of the nine months, traffic studies will be conduced in March/April 2007 and the result brought forward to the Traffic Safety Committee for review in Spring 2007. This will provide sufficient time to assess the results and report back to Council

for authorization of the next top 25 locations for 2007/2008 and start the Class EA process for roads that do not respond to enhanced enforcement.

2006/2007 Top 5 Education Streets

The 2006/2007 Top 5 Education Streets will receive similar marketing material to the 2005 Top 5 Education Streets including litter bag drop, community displays, radar message board, Young Drivers training course (subject to confirmed partnership agreement).

FINANCIAL TEMPLATE (Separate Attachment):

Not applicable

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Municipal Class Environmental Studies will be undertaken for the activities relating to six physical traffic calming projects identified in this project.

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

ENGAGE 21^ST CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Not applicable

RECOMMENDEDBY:

________________________ _____________________________

Alan Brown, C.E.T. Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Director, Engineering Commissioner, Development Services

ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment A – List of 2005 Enforcement and Education Streets

Attachment B – Proposed Solutions for 2005 Streets

Attachment C – Recommended List of 2006/2007 Top 25 Enforcement Streets

Attachment D – Recommended List of 2006/2007 Top 5 Education Streets

Attachment E – Point Ranking System

P:\Development\Engineering\REPORTS\2006\May\Safe Streets 2005 Results and 2006 Plan\Safe Streets 2005 Results and 2006 Plan New version 042706.doc

List of 2005

Top 25 Enforcement Streets

Street Name

1a Carlton Road, west of Kennedy Road

1b Carlton Road, east of Kennedy Road

2 Rodick Road

3 Hillmount Road

4 Clark Avenue

5 Village Gate Drive

6 Henderson Avenue

7 Proctor Avenue

8 Church Street

9 Paramount Drive

10 Royal Orchard Boulevard

11 Clayton Drive

12 Hollingham Road

13 Highglen Avenue

14 Village Parkway

15 Grandview Avenue

16 Lockridge Avenue

17 Robinson Street

18 Raymerville Drive North

19 Townley Avenue

20 Eden Avenue

21 Corby Road

22 Romfield Circuit

23 Wooten Way North

24 Randal Avenue

25 Elgin Street

The 2005 Top 5 Education Streets has been listed below:

List of 2005 Top 5 Education Streets (26 to 30 ranking)

26 Highland Park Boulevard

27 Macrill Road

28 Highgate Avenue

29 Huntington Park Avenue

30 Mary Pearson Drive

ATTACHMENT A

List 1 – Maintenance Plan (15 Streets)	Enforcement (Hours)	Compliance Change (%) *	Final Compliance (%) **
Street Name
3 Hillmount Road	12	23	81
4 Clark Avenue	49	1	78
6 Henderson Avenue (south of Doncaster)	31	154	91
11 Clayton Avenue	13	10	83
12 Hollingham Road	14	25	69
13 Highglen Avenue	40	15	72
15 Grandview Avenue	14	14	67
17 Robinson Street	12	16	80
18 Raymerville Drive North	24	-6	74
19 Townley Avenue	28	33	91
20 Eden Avenue	23	16	80
21 Corby Road	10	-7	76
22 Romfield Circuit	19	16	79
24 Randall Avenue	18	20	99
25 Elgin Street	30	37	86
List 2 – Additional Enforcement (3 Streets)	Enforcement (Hours)	Compliance Change (%)	Final Compliance (%)
Street Name
8 Church Street	30	30	55
9 Paramount Drive	17	-25	61
23 Wootten Way North	20	1	68
List 3 – Alternative Solution Evaluation (2 Streets)	Enforcement (Hours)	Compliance Change (%)	Final Compliance (%)
Street Name
1b Carlton Rd (Kennedy Rd to McCowan Rd)	55	37	51
2 Rodick Road (16^th Ave to Woodbine Ave)	36	6	40
List 4 –Traffic Calming Measures (6 Streets)	Enforcement (Hours)	Compliance Change (%)	Final Compliance (%)
Street Name
1a Carlton Road (Warden Rd to Kennedy Rd)	55	-18	60
5 Village Gate Drive (Hwy 7 to 16^th Ave)	43	8	66
7 Proctor Avenue	118	13	61
10 Royal Orchard Boulevard	49	17	58
14 Village Parkway	34	17	42
16 Lockridge Avenue	18	7	57

Note: Streets are prioritized with lowest compliance ranking highest

* % Change in compliance (% traffic less than 50 km/h) after 1 year of enforcement

** Final compliance level after 1 year of enforcement

ATTACHMENT B

Recommended List of 2006/2007 Top 25 Enforcement Streets
Street Name	Points*
South Park Road	12
Church Street	11
Stonebridge Drive	11
Paramount Road	11
Calvert Road (Rodick Rd to Woodbine Ave)	10.5
Lee Avenue	8
Huntington Park Drive	7.5
Castan Avenue	7.5
Manhattan Drive	7
Castlemore Avenue	7
Cachet Parkway	6
Wootten Way Drive North	6
Waggoners Wells Avenue	5.5
Macrill Road	5.5
Legacy Drive	5.5
Dickson Hill Road	5
Glenbourne Park Drive	5
Simonston Boulevard East	5
Woodward Avenue	5
Southdale Drive	4.5
Ramona Boulevard	4.5
Riverbend Road	3.5
Sir Lancelot Drive	3.5
Noble Street	3
Forester Crescent	2

* Points are based upon the point ranking system established in the Markham Safe Streets Strategy (see Attachment E)for streets with compliance less than 70%

ATTACHMENT C

Recommended List of 2006/2007 Top 5 Education Streets
Street Name	Points*
Fairway Heights Drive	3
Risebrough Circuit North	8
Worthing Avenue	8
Karma Road	6.5
Colonsay Road	4

* Points are based upon the point ranking system established in the Markham Safe Streets Strategy (see Attachment E) for streets with compliance greater than 70%

ATTACHMENT D

ATTACHMENT E

ATTACHMENT E