Achi news desk-
People living in the Highland Ridge neighborhood of Cambridge are calling on the city to install speed reduction measures at an intersection that also serves as a busy school bus stop.
Parents say Salisbury Avenue is notorious for vehicles speeding around a blind corner and approaching the junction with Hardcastle Drive. They say there have been collisions, and near-collisions, over the past few months.
“It’s very concerning because something tragic could happen and we don’t want that here,” said resident Christopher Papol.
“My daughter was on a school bus two days ago where it turned around and another vehicle also turned around – it hit the passenger side. If they are at a stop sign and someone comes around the corner very quickly and they don’t see them, then the chance of an accident can happen.”
Waterloo Regional Police confirm the school bus crash happened around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday. Children were on board, but no one was hurt. The bus driver was charged with failure to yield.
Residents say the collision has renewed their calls for action for the municipality to survey the area.
The intersection used to be a four-way stop while the developer completed construction in the neighborhood. After he finished, two of the stop signs went down. In 2022, neighbors petitioned Cambridge City Council to have it reinstalled, but it didn’t happen.
“It would be nice to have a stop sign, but it also addresses what’s the best option – does it reduce speed? Is it a combination of a stop sign and speed signs? Because you can have a stop sign but people are still speeding through it,” Papoul said.
“Maybe it’s looking at all the options to determine what would be the best solution.”
Resident Vanessa Love said speed has been a concern for her since her family moved to the neighborhood in 2019.
“There are a lot of children here who play in the street all the time, and people are constantly blowing. Just flying – completely flying,” Love said.
“I really think a stop sign is really what this corner needs. There’s a blind corner there and there are so many kids. The bus that was here with T-bones just a few days ago – it should put something up right away.”
Residents have been working with their ward councilor Sherry Roberts on their concerns.
“It was two weeks ago when I first heard from some residents in this neighborhood that they were concerned about speeding, about some of the safety for kids crossing that intersection just because of the Salisbury curve,” Roberts said.
She contacted the city’s transportation team about the situation.
“They, immediately, put it on the list for the upcoming review of the intersection, which will happen very soon.”
Leah Walter, director of engineering and transportation for the City of Cambridge, said a four-way stop was not in the initial plan to control traffic in the neighborhood.
According to her, since several years have passed and there has been expansion in the area, the team will return to it.
“We looked into it and decided that we would schedule an investigation into the traffic and speeding operations in the area. That should happen in a few weeks,” Walter said, explaining that the city has an outside vendor that will collect data.
“They will monitor the traffic volumes and count the revolutions, and then they will also look at the speed data.”
Once that data comes back, Walter said the city will evaluate it and consider next steps.
“It will take a few weeks after we get the data to do the processing and then if something is needed, we have to go to the board to report,” she said.
“It’s a bit of a long process, so it takes time and patience is appreciated.”
