The municipality received a petition asking for a reduction of the speed limit from 80 kilometres an hour to 70kph along a section of the road between the CN Rail crossing and the Baker Road intersection.
Route 500 West is also known as County Road 3 and falls under the jurisdiction of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR). A 2016 UCPR traffic study indicates that 7.2 per cent of drivers on the road go faster than 100kph. The section named in the petition is not considered a “built up” area and lowering the speed limits for that part of the road would just create a “speed trap” for all unwary drivers.
A report to council from The Nation public works department recommended asking the UCPR to consider to advancing plans to pave the road shoulder to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. Council also agreed to ask the OPP to give greater priority to enforcing the school speed zone limit in the neighbourhood of Cambridge Public School.
