After finding success through its initial run in Cambridge, a pilot project run through Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region could be seeing expansion to other schools in that city.
The "Enhanced School Zone" program was made possible back in 2020 through $30,000 in funding received from the Ontario Active School Travel fund, allowing for the installation of "various interventions" at four elementary schools in Cambridge for the purpose of both controlling traffic speeds and encouraging modes of active transportation by decreasing traffic in school zones. Those schools include:
- Avenue Road Public School on Gail Street
- St. Peter Catholic Elementary School on Avenue Road
- Clemens Mill on Saginaw Parkway
- St. Margaret Catholic Elementary School on Cowan Boulevard
Interventions typically installed around school frontages and areas where pick-up and drop-off activity are common included enhancements like school area or zone signs with solar powered flashing beacons, permanent radar message boards, pavement stencilling and curb markings, flexible bollards and more.
According to a staff report set to go before Cambridge council on Tuesday, those interventions generally decreased speeds in all locations - with the exception of one portion of Saginaw Parkway between Green Vista Drive and Longhurst Crescent.
With $30,000 in funding secured by STSWR for that initial pilot, staff report that the use of lower-cost equipment resulted in only $9,138 being used for all materials and contract services related to the pilot - leaving close to $14,000 in unspent grant funding. STSWR would now like to see the Enhanced School Zones program expanded across the city to more locations, receiving consent from the Ontario Active School Travel fund to utilize the remaining funding in that matter.
Schools that could see the program implemented include those actively working with the STSWR's School Travel Planning program, as well as those identified through the City of Cambridge Speed Management Program.
City of Cambridge staff have noted that, with council approval, the ESZ program could be implemented at an additional 6 to 8 elementary schools this summer, with potential for further expansion to all schools in the city. Schools eligible for ESZ this summer include:
- Central Public School
- Elgin Street Public School
- Hillcrest Public School
- Moffat Creek Public School
- Saginaw Public School
- St. Augustine Catholic Elementary School
- St. Elizabeth Catholic Elementary School
- St. Michael Catholic Elementary School
Costs are expected to be covered by the remaining, unspent grant funding - though City of Cambridge staff note that any costs beyond that amount could be subsidized through the Transportation Operating budget.
