Parents on Neeve Street didn’t wait for the city to put up signs asking motorists to slow down. They put
some up themselves.
“For our children, please slow down” read one homemade lawn sign. It was about six feet tall
with orange florescent lettering.
Neeve Street runs south of Wellington Street to
York Road and highway 24. It has handled a
greater volume of traffic since it became
part of a detour route.
Wyndham Street South, a usual route from
Wellington, has been closed for the last few
weeks while the bridge over the Speed
River is being replaced and other service
repairs are done.
“It can be a racetrack,” Pat Jewel said of Neeve
which her home faces.
“We noticed more transports especially (since
the detour). We were concerned about our
kids. So some of us put up signs.”
A few of members of the neighborhood also went to the city to ask for official signs. About week and
a half ago, the city responded by putting up signs
that read, ‘Residential area, 40 km/hour’.
Some of the traffic has also been taking Ontario Street which cuts east off further easing the
volume. But the city did not want to
elementary school that fronts onto the
street. encourage taking Ontario because
of an
Jewel said the signage has helped and will stay up for the duration of the detour.
“The traffic has really slowed down. But some people still say, “The hell with it’ and press it to
the floor.”
City traffic engineer Peter Hillier said volume jumps are typical in this kind of situation and the
city maintains an active file on the Neeve
Street traffic situation.
Hillier said he recently received a thank-you letter from the neighborhood.
“The letter said they applauded our quick action. We don’t usually get letters like this.”
