Notes from Meeting with Ministry Officials 

April 6^th, 2010

Attendees:

      Mayor Marolyn Morrison

      Sylvia Jones, MPP and Lavinia Trask (Parliamentary Assistant)

      Rob Harrison and Jim Hope, V.P.(s) Valleywood Residents Association

      Sheralyn Roman, VRA (representing residents)

      Sgt. Greg Sweeney, OPP

      Gord McClure and Allan Thompson, Area Councillors

      Tim Manley, Town of Caledon

      Jason White, Fabio Ciccone and Lou Politano, Ministry of Transportation representatives

      Louis Zidar, Town of Caledon

 

Readers are cautioned that these minutes were recorded informally, and to the best of the writer’s knowledge are an accurate account.  They are presented for information purposes only. Readers, please note the writer is not responsible for any errors or omissions.

 

Mayor Morrison opened the meeting and welcomed and thanked all for attending.  She produced a thick black binder with every piece of correspondence related to the highway that she has received to date (from residents) and gave to Ministry officials.

Her comments reflected the following in terms of a synopsis of the issues:

• Signage is not good enough
• Sidewalks and pedestrian safety are huge concerns
• Traffic signals are required, particularly at the exit from #10 sb. Into Valleywood
• She, and residents, are worried about the potential for fatalities
• Signs should reflect both Hurontario and Hwy#10 and signs should also state south for Brampton and Orangeville north.
• An overhead sign is needed – to better and more adequately direct traffic. Road width and turning radius in Valleywood were not built to accommodate large trucks entering and turning in the neighbourhood and it needs to stop now.

Sgt. Sweeney spoke next:

• One of the major issues is that MapQuest, Magellan, etc...all the major search and GPS engines, do not include the Hwy#410 configuration so people relying on these tools to navigate are part of the process of people getting hopelessly lost.
• Signage needs to reflect both Hurontario and Hwy#10 as this stretch of road is known by both names.

 

• You can “depend” on people to miss signs and the OPP did their own traffic flow studies and his recommendations are that we need to have “actuated signals” at sb Hwy#10 exit into Valleywood as a viable solution to slow down traffic before it gets into Valleywood and this would also help pedestrian safety as they could activate the signal to cross the road at this intersection.  

 

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•  Additionally, he suggests that we consider opening the temporary or emergency exit, via a ramp system, to allow exiting from Valleywood onto the #Hwy10 north only as a means of redirecting lost truckers back onto the road and minimizing the number that get into Valleywood.

 
Lou Politano from the Ministry of Transportation:

Thanked everyone for coming and commented first that “from Day one” they have taken the concerns and emails of Valleywood residents seriously.  He agrees that our situation is outside of the norm and it is not a surprise to them that this area will need to be “tweaked” as it becomes operational.  He commented that a number of alternatives are possible, both short term and long term and that our initial goal is to have the short term solutions in place within 4 -5 weeks (before the May 2010 holiday long weekend).

Fabio spoke next:

The Ministry conducted their own traffic surveys and found over 3 separate occasions in last 3 weeks that at peak times (morning am and evening traffic included) they were witnessing 15 – 20 U-turns per hour.  He agreed that the “fundamental underlying issues” here are several including: the name Hwy#10 vs. Hurontario, truck permissive signing, Valleywood “north” causing confusion and more.  One immediate solution on the table is to change all signage to be “co-designated” to say both Hwy#10 and Hurontario St.  This labelling will start as far as 4km back, on the Hwy#410 at Mayfield rd.   In the span covering that 4km there will be four new signs mounted all clearly referring to Hwy#10 and Hurontario, all reflecting Valleywood in smaller writing so as not to draw attention to it, and all stating correct north and south directions for those seeking Brampton or Orangeville.

There was also discussion between Fabio and the Mayor of moving the pedestrians to the south side sidewalk if it could be extended across the Reinhart property and the church property all the way to Mayfield Rd.  Allan said that Brampton was working on this.

 

The group then became more of a working focus group with much round table discussion about the many issues that we are facing.  The VRA representatives spoke up about their various concerns and Allan Thompson and Sylvia Jones supported much of what was being said and added to the various conversations.  The CBC was also in attendance and filmed some of the work going on and interviewed after the meeting anyone who chose to be interviewed.  This included Sylvia Jones, Robert Harrison and Sheralyn Roman but the Mayor was frustrated by the media presence (stating that she had asked for this meeting with Ministry staff to resolve outstanding issues amicably) and she chose not to speak to them.  Further results of the round table discussion are highlighted below in the order that they were discussed (which may appear random) and conclusions are offered at the end of this recording.

 

·         It was strongly suggested by all participants that signage in and around Valleywood reflect wording along the lines of “residential area  only” or “no exit” or “not a through street” or “local traffic only” anything that would better exemplify to lost drivers that entering Valleywood subdivision proper will not provide them with an alternate access to Hwy#10 north.

 

 

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• Residents asked for an overhead sign to better advise travellers of lanes they should be in and for better visibility regardless of truck traffic and lane placement.  Ministry officials advised typically overhead signage is not used on anything other than major highways and that use of an overhead sign might actually make Valleywood Blvd. look more like a highway.

 

•  Residents conceded this might be the case but that we are a “unique” situation requiring unique solutions and overhead signage might be the only way to safely advise both commercial and commuter traffic alike of the required lane markings for the direction of travel they seek.  Ministry officials declined to consider an overhead sign at this stage but agreed to continue monitoring once short term solutions are implemented and if required at some later date the idea could be revisited.
• The yield sign situation on the nb Hwy#10 ramp was also discussed.  Both collisions that have taken place have been at this location and many of the near misses are also here.  Both Ministry and residents discussed the viability of changing the yield sign to the left side of the road so that Valleywood residents are the ones who would now yield to oncoming traffic attempting to use the ramp to safely exit onto the Hwy#10 nb exit ramp.  From the perspective of ensuring better traffic flow and in consideration of the speeds these vehicles are travelling it makes more sense logistically.  This change will be made however, again, the area will continue to be monitored and should it prove that Valleywood traffic is getting backed up at the left turn and into the ramp, this change is subject to further revision.
• After much discussion, including comments from the OPP about charges under the Highway traffic act it was agreed that the speed limit through this area will be reduced to 50kmh with the subject of who is responsible for this change (Ministry vs. Town of Caledon) to be determined as quickly as possible.
• An extensive and heated discussion also took place concerning signalization at any point on the bridge but in particular at the sb Hwy#10 exit into Valleywood and the changing of the grade, degree and incline of the sb ramp as it curves into Brampton and past the Brampton Christian School entrance.  The Ministry representative advised that the “warrants” or “thresholds” for signal lights at an intersection are 15 accidents over 3 years that would have been correctable through signalization.  Whether the lights are continuous or actuated makes no difference to the criteria and whether there is heavy pedestrian traffic or not also makes no difference.  Fatalities are considered one of the “thresholds” and while all agreed we certainly don’t want that, there was no indication that there would be a change on this portion of the issue at this time.  Lights are not being recommended at which point the Mayor commented that if that is the case, at the very least “traffic calming” measures must be introduced.  Residents are upset that lights are not being considered and some expressed frustration that a serious accident will take place once soccer season starts.  The Ministry did agree to hire a “Human Factors Expert” whose speciality it is to review human and vehicular traffic interaction and make recommendations regarding safety improvements.

 

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• It was suggested by the VRA that if the signal lights were to be installed at the south end of the bridge, a rhythm of gaps in the traffic would occur, thus allowing Valleywood outbound traffic regular opportunities to enter onto the Orangeville bound loop.  This being said, it was argued that had the lights been installed already, this gapping might have prevented the number of accidents that have already occurred to date.  Since it had been previously suggested that a certain “warrant” (or # of correctable accidents) had to occur before traffic lights were installed, the VRA asked if the accidents to date could count towards the statistics required to justify signal lights. The MTO said no. Fabio then stated that there would be liabilities for the MTO if accidents happen because signal lights were installed when not justified by policy of a “warrant”.  The VRA also asked the MTO team if the Minister herself could implement a special circumstances warrant for signal lights.  Mr. Politano of the MTO did not answer the question but instead stated, “staff would not support it”.

·         Another topic of concern was the speed at which southbound Hwy #10 vehicles are exiting onto Hurontario south of Valleywood.  The main reason for concern was pedestrian traffic, especially during soccer season.  The VRA suggested that if the ramp had a tighter radius, it would cause a mandatory slowing of traffic instead of a voluntary slowing of traffic.  As well, this logic would also bring the pedestrians closer to the intersection, (it was a given that signal lights had been installed for this scenario), and the result would make the intersection more typical in design and pedestrians could activate signal lights to cross safely.   An example cited for comparison was the south-west corner of Wanless at Hurontario.  The MTO rejected the logic and stated that the ramp was comparable to the intersection of Keele at the 401 and that there were no problems with that design.

 

 

Other immediate measures to take place include:

• Change to all Valleywood Blvd. Signage to remove the word “north” as it was agreed this was in part causing some of the confusion.
• To install truck restrictive signage.
• To paint “cross-hatches” and install median curbs and signage at all left turn lane locations to calm traffic and provide better visibility as to where turns are and where lanes end.  In particular, the location at the “south” end of the bridge after the left turn exit onto Hwy#410sb which currently dead heads into empty space (and where many drivers keep going thinking a lane is present and end up heading into oncoming traffic).
• To reduce to one lane the bridge where Hwy#10 nb exit ramp is and one lane heading into Valleywood to improve the flow of traffic (giving exiting traffic only one choice, to stay in the curb lane) and then after that exit ramp open it back up to the two lanes travelling into Valleywood subdivision itself.
• To ensure any signs where “Valleywood Blvd” appears that the lettering and prominence of same is reduced.  In other words, it will be placed at the bottom of all signage and in smaller font as only residents and visitors need to know where Valleywood is, not commuter traffic.

 
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Offline discussions also took place about the lack of guardrails on the Hwy#410 sb exit from the bridge, flashing lights at the intersection of Royal Valley and Snelcrest installed about the stop signs and the bridge barrier being too low for cyclists as well as repainting of the right turn only arrow markings at Valleywood Blvd. and Snelcrest and the installation of a sign near the park entrance stating something along the lines of “slow down, children playing”.  Guardrails we were advised are also subject to “warrants” and it was suggested the grade on that particular incline is not great enough to require guardrails and that they in fact may be more dangerous if installed.  The bridge barrier was built to code and cyclists are not supposed to be on the sidewalk so they are built using the road height as the criteria.  The right lane markings and signage will be fixed by the Town of Caledon and the topic of flashing light installation was not resolved although residents agreed to forward documentation wherein this was agreed to by the Mayor’s office in November of 2009 for their consideration.  *note: after the meeting and the documentation, the Mayor forwarded a message to Public Works to ensure that these flashing lights are installed.

 

Target dates for short term changes to be implemented are 4 – 5 weeks and longer term, by year 2011.

 

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