Bruce County council has directed staff to come back with a report about road safety options for Bruce Road 13 through Sauble Beach.
Discussions about the road follows a letter received from a concerned resident, who pointed out that the speed limit along Bruce Road 13 is 80 km/h, and too fast for going through town.
Councillor Jay Kirkland, who is also the mayor of South Bruce Peninsula, shared that there have been many concerns about speed on the road.
“This has been an ongoing concern of a few people. It’s a situation where we have an 80 kilometre an hour county road… the roads are meant to move traffic in a good way.”
He that that a key issue is that the main road passes a school, where children and families are entering and exiting onto Bruce Road 13 every day.
“Just beyond that is the school, which was designed in the beginning with two entrances and exits. And the school thought a few years ago to close off the back entrance and exit, which come out onto the D Line, which was the municipality’s road, which could feather the traffic a lot easier and better to different locations and different intersections.”
Another concern revolved around winter maintenance.
The letter pointed to a fatal collision that took place near the intersection of Bruce Road 13 and 6th Street North, and noted that the road was not well sanded when that collision took place.
After the collision, the letter said, the road was appropriately sanded.
Council will now wait for staff to bring back a report on traffic patterns along Bruce Road 13 through the Town of Sauble Beach.
During discussions Councillor Chris Peabody asked why the road wasn’t included in a traffic study that was done on county roads during the previous session of council. Director of Transportation and Environmental Services Adam Stanley explained that it was because the stretch was not identified as one that required a study, since there were transitional speed limit changes prior to the studies on other roads being done.