The project presented by Châteauguay’s elected officials to reduce speed limits on many of the municipality’s streets entered a new phase on June 8th.
Translation courtesy Amanda Bennett
Gathered together for an extraordinary virtual city council meeting, the council adopted a first draft regulation to that effect. According to the regulation, speed limits would be reduced to 40 km/hr in all residential streets and to 30 km/hr on streets offering a panoramic view of the Châteauguay River- that is to say D’Youville, Salaberry Sud and Salaberry Nord, as well as Chemin de la Haute-Rivière.
The adoption was preceded by discussions during which officials expressed divergent views concerning sections of specific streets, including boulevard Pierre-Boursier, for which a section must be considered to belong to a residential zone.
They decided to move ahead given that there will still be time to make changes before the final regulation is passed.
“It is clear that there are still a few details to be ironed out before presenting a final regulation,” noted Mayor Pierre-Paul Routhier.
Mike Gendron, for whom this issue has been a concern for a number of years, pleaded for quick implementation. “Protecting people, families, is extremely important,” he exclaimed. He thinks that Châteauguay is “well behind” other municipalities when it comes to street speed limits.
Poll
Reducing speed limits did not garner unanimous support within the population. Mayor Routhier presented the results of an “unscientific” poll on the topic which had been posted online by the city. 57.5% agreed with the 40 km/hr speed limit for residential streets and 36.8% disagreed, the Mayor informed.
As for the 30 km/hr limit on all streets that border the river, 30% of those polled indicated that they “completely agreed” and 33% “completely disagreed.”
