Leduc city council is asking the Alberta government to lower the speed limit on the QEII Highway through city limits.
In a unanimous vote Monday evening, councillors decided to send a letter to the Ministry of Transportation asking for the speed limit on the QEII be reduced to 80 km/h from 110 km/h along the stretch of highway from Airport Road just past Highway 2A.
“The collision rate is twice as high for any four-lane divided highway in Alberta in that stretch,” said Chris Chisholm, manager of RCMP administration and enforcement services with the City of Leduc.
According to data from Alberta Transportation, Leduc administration said the collision rate between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2019, for the QEII stretch within Leduc’s boundaries was 101.4 per hundred million vehicle kilometres. The provincial average for 2019 for divided highways was 49 per hundred million vehicle kilometres.
“I do have concerns over the speed limit in that area,” Chisholm said.
In his presentation to council, Chisholm raised concerns about the safety of police, EMS, fire crews and tow truck operators along the stretch of highway south of Edmonton.
“Our first responders are put at risk anytime they go out there to help anyone that’s involved in a collision,” he said. “We have to look at the speeds in that area and what’s safe.”
Mayor Bob Young pointed to an area of the highway near the 65th Avenue interchange where the speed limit is currently reduced to 80 km/h due to construction. He believes the lower speed limit is much safer.
“I haven’t had anybody complain to me yet about it being 80. And I get some people say, ‘Well, they’re not going 80.’ Well, you know what? They’re not doing 150 either or 140. To me, this is a very logical thing to do rather than spending $500 million to physically change it.
“If we turn it into an 80 zone, it’ll help with noise, it’ll help with safety. To me, we should have been pushing this sooner.
“Seeing that there hasn’t been outrage and I haven’t seen any combine rallies here to protest it, I think it’s time.”
Coun. Glen Finstad, who supported the motion, said he hopes if the speed is reduced it doesn’t come at the expense of access to the community through on/off ramps.
He said he was “fully supportive of a speed reduction.”
“The tow truck operators are in grave danger when they’re trying to help someone out as well,” he said, adding that he looks “forward to this initiative, hope it goes through.”
Young said the letter will be sent to the province this week, with hopes of seeing a speed limit change by 2025.
“We haven’t talked to the minister yet. We’re going to send the letter out this week and we’ll see how it goes.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors said any municipality can request that the department conduct a speed limit review.
“Once received, department staff re-examine the safety criteria to determine if the speed limit is appropriate or if it could benefit from a speed limit amendment,” a department spokesperson said.
“Alberta relies on economic corridors to move goods and services within the province and to other markets. The Queen Elizabeth II Highway is the longest stretch of highway in the province and is a critical component to growing economic corridors in Alberta and Western Canada.
“Setting appropriate speed limits is an important part of highway safety, and Transportation and Economic Corridors takes this responsibility seriously.”
The spokesperson said they look forward to reviewing the request by Leduc city council.
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