Agenda Item No.:__D.2.b.________
Downstream Effects of the Whitemud/Terwillegar Plan (W. Kinsella)
7. Will the consultation take into
consideration the area as a whole,
that is the combined communities or
will it look at individual
neighbourhoods only?
Recommendation:
That the following report be received for
information.
Report Summary

This report responds to an inquiry from
Councillor W. Kinsella regarding the
downstream effects related to the
Whitemud/Terwillegar plan.
Previous Council Action

At the June 12, 2001, City Council
meeting, Councillor W. Kinsella made
the following inquiry:
“Last week the Transportation and
Public Works Committee received for
information a report on the downstream
effects of the Whitemud/Terwillegar
plan. The report said that ongoing
monitoring and consultation would
occur. My questions are to the
Transportation and Streets Department:
1. How will consultation with the
affected communities take place?
I would like the report to come back to
the July 17, 2001 City Council meeting.”
Report

2. What benchmarks have been put into
place to measure changes against?
3. Will monitoring include air and
noise as well as traffic numbers?
4. What is the proposed schedule for
ongoing monitoring?
5. How will the results of ongoing
monitoring be acted upon? How will
any necessary changes be funded?
6. How will the effects of
neighbourhood calming measures be
evaluated, particularly the impacts on
adjacent neighbourhoods?
Routing:
Delegation:
Written By:
June 20, 2001
File: 2001TS8832
City Council
Rick Millican, P. Eng.
Brice Stephenson, P. Eng.
Transportation and Streets Department
(Page 1 of 4)
The downstream impact assessment
report considered at the June 5, 2001,
Transportation and Public Works
Committee meeting outlined the
following course of action that
Administration would be undertaking:
“Based on the conclusions reached
regarding each of the issue areas, no
specific actions have been identified for
follow up at this time, with the exception
of ongoing traffic volume monitoring
activity (undertaken as part of the
ongoing Department data collection) and
pedestrian vehicle counts at five
crossings. If this monitoring activity
indicates a requirement for mitigation in
specific areas, these mitigation measures
would be followed up at the local level.
The review of baseline data and results
of anticipated traffic growth do not
indicate a requirement for a
comprehensive, area wide study”
1. How will consultation with the
affected communities take place?
Consultation would only occur if
traffic volume monitoring indicated a
requirement for mitigation measures
D
2
b
Downstream Effects of the Whitemud/Terwillegar Plan (W. Kinsella)
on local or collector roadways, or
where a specific local issue (such as
traffic concerns near schools or a
pedestrian crossing) required
revisions to traffic controls. In these
instances, staff would work with the
school, or respond to the individual
or community raising a concern
regarding the need for control
upgrading. Comprehensive
neighbourhood traffic plans, if
warranted, would follow the standard
neighbourhood consultation
processes that have been utilized in
Crestwood and other communities.
and minor collector roadways are in the
order of 5000 veh/day. Benchmarking
will also establish changes over time. In
the case of established residential
communities, volume increases,
particularly during peak periods, would
generally not be expected (with the
possible exception of streets adjacent to
schools where drop off activity is a
function of programs).
It is also noted that collision data is
monitored on an ongoing basis.
3. Will monitoring include air and noise as
well as traffic numbers?
The City of Edmonton does not monitor
air quality. This is a Provincial mandate
under Alberta Environment’s
jurisdiction. In the case of noise, the
City would only monitor noise for
locations that are eligible for
consideration for noise attenuation under
the City Noise Policy. The locations
along Whitemud Drive will be addressed
as part of the design phase of the
Whitemud/Terwillegar project. Other
arterial roadways downstream from
Whitemud Drive would be dealt with
under the Urban Traffic Noise Policy.
2. What benchmarks have been put in place
to measure changes against?
The key in establishing benchmarks is to
define a base case situation. In the fall
of 2001, the West Edmonton
Transportation Coalition was requested
to provide locations where they felt that
there was potential concern regarding
traffic volumes and/or speeds. Based on
the feedback received from WETC, as
well as an inventory of historical concern
areas, the Transportation and Streets
Department outlined a data collection
program in the report considered in
October, 2000 by the Transportation and
Public Works Committee. Data was
subsequently gathered through the Fall
and results summarized in the April,
2001 report. Key benchmarks that are
utilized are that traffic volumes within
predominantly single family
neighbourhoods on local roadways are
typically in the order of 1000 veh/day,
4. What is the proposed schedule for
ongoing monitoring?
(Page 2 of 4)
Traffic volume counts every two years
will allow the tracking of changes over
time as a result of general growth, as
well as assessing the effects caused by
the implementation of network changes.
Downstream Effects of the Whitemud/Terwillegar Plan (W. Kinsella)
The pedestrian surveys referenced in the
report have been completed, and further
pedestrian counts would only be
repeated if a significant change in site
characteristics (either traffic volume or
land use) takes place.
5. How will the results of the ongoing
monitoring be acted upon? How will
any necessary changes be funded?
If traffic volumes indicate that a serious
neighbourhood shortcutting problem has
developed, the location would be
considered as a candidate for a
neighbourhood traffic plan. The
community league would be approached
to determine if there was interest in
pursuing such a plan, and if interest was
expressed, then the plan would be added
to candidate locations. If the plan
determines that modifications to
roadways are required, these measures
would be funded through the annual
capital budget process.
If traffic volumes or other information
(such as collision data) indicate a
requirement to implement traffic or
pedestrian control changes, these would
be initiated by the Transportation and
Streets Department.
6. How will the effects of neighbourhood
calming measures be evaluated,
particularly the impacts on adjacent
neighbourhoods?
(Page 3 of 4)
In developing a terms of reference for a
neighbourhood traffic plan, one of the
issues identified is the potential for
changes in one community to impact
local or collector roadways in another
community. Representation of the traffic
committee is normally designed to
include adjoining communities, and
traffic volumes on local and collector
roadways in adjoining neighbourhoods
are assessed. As an example, the
Crestwood Traffic Committee included
representation from Parkview, and a
number of roadways within Parkview
(91 Avenue, 146 Street) were also
monitored to ensure that traffic did not
shift from one community to another.
The traffic counts undertaken following
the implementation of traffic calming
measures in Crestwood indicated a
decline in use of 146 Street, and no
change in 91 Avenue volumes.
In the case of traffic diversion from a
local or collector roadway to an arterial
roadway, which is typically also a
neighbourhood boundary, the
neighbourhood traffic plan objective is
to relocate through traffic to an arterial
road (for example, the implementation of
traffic calming on 95 Avenue, a collector
road, resulted in a shift of traffic to
87 Avenue, an arterial road). The
implications of additional arterial traffic
on pedestrian control requirements are
evaluated, as are the capacities of arterial
roads to accommodate the diverted
traffic.
Downstream Effects of the Whitemud/Terwillegar Plan (W. Kinsella)
7. Will the consultation take into
consideration the area as a whole, that is
the combined communities, or will it
look at individual neighbourhoods only?
The data collection undertaken in fall,
2000 did not indicate any justification to
look at a comprehensive area wide study.
In general, if it is necessary to undertake
mitigation measures, they would be
focussed on individual neighbourhoods
as outlined in the response to question 6.
Staff Hours to Prepare Report: 2.5
Staff Cost: $117
Peripheral Cost: N/A
Total Cost of Inquiry Preparation: $117
(Page 4 of 4)