Traffic Calming

We receive many requests for traffic calming to help with speeding and short-cutting through neighbourhoods. The City’s Traffic Calming Policy and Traffic Calming Procedures were updated in 2023 to improve how traffic calming requests are reviewed and evaluated. The updated process prioritizes streets based on established criteria, including eligibility, resident support, data collection, priority ranking, and available funding.

Understanding Traffic Calming

Our street network consists of local, collector and arterial roads. We classify roads based on their function:

  • Local roads provide access to adjacent properties. Traffic volumes and speeds on these roads are expected to be low.
  • Collector roads serve to collect and distribute traffic between local and arterial roads.
  • Arterial roads provide links for through traffic. Traffic volumes are expected to be high. Traffic calming measures are not used on arterial streets.

Traffic calming uses mostly physical traffic management techniques that aim to reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behaviour, and improve conditions for all street users. While the purpose of traffic calming is to make improvements, there are sometimes drawbacks to traffic calming. Some measures may cause minimal delays to emergency response times and buses. Also, during the winter, they can delay snow removal operations because of the added time needed to clear snow around the traffic calming measures.

Common Traffic Calming Measures

The following are traffic calming measures:

  • curb extensions, mini roundabouts, raised median islands, and chicanes
  • speed humps, tables and cushions, raised crosswalks, and raised intersections
  • directional closures, right-in/right-out islands, and raised medians

The most common traffic calming measures implemented in our city are:

a speed cushion

Speed Cushion

Speed cushions have channels cut into them, approximately the width of a large vehicle, to allow vehicles to pass over them without slowing down considerably. Speed cushions are often used on transit and emergency routes because larger buses and emergency vehicles can drive over them more easily.

a raised crosswalk

Raised Crosswalk

Raised crosswalks are typically used on lower-volume roads. They are essentially a ramped speed bump with a flattened surface placed at a location with a marked crosswalk. They reduce vehicle speeds and improve pedestrian visibility. They may be constructed with asphalt or concrete and can be combined with curb extensions.

shows the extension of a curb on a local roadway

Curb Extensions

Curb extensions are also known as bump-outs. They reduce the width of the roadway by extending the boulevard and/or sidewalk into what is currently either a travel lane or a parking lane. Curb extensions are often used at intersections to reduce crossing width.

Request Traffic Calming

If you would like to request traffic calming, or discuss a concern about traffic in your neighbourhood, please contact our Transportation Division, or contact Access St. John's.

Each spring, the City begins trial installations for new traffic calming projects at the top of the priority list. If temporary traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps, are installed on your street it is possible that they could be implemented permanently.

In the fall, when temporary measures are removed before snowfall, residents of streets with trial traffic calming will receive a survey about the project. This survey is your opportunity to vote and have your say on whether you would like to see the changes become permanent. To keep informed on the progress of a project in your neighbourhood you can contact the Transportation Division directly.

On average, we aim to complete approximately five temporary and five permanent traffic calming projects each year.

Traffic Calming Process Flow Chart

Frequently Asked Questions

There is no set time frame for traffic calming.

If your street is eligible to go through the traffic calming program and there is enough support from residents on the street, the City will collect speed and volume data for evaluation. This data needs to capture when speeding is most likely to occur on the street and is therefore not typically done during the winter months.

After the data is collected it is analyzed. If measured traffic volumes on a street are too low, or drivers are generally respecting the posted speed limit on a street, it is not eligible for traffic calming. If this is not the case, your street will be ranked among other streets that have qualified for traffic calming.

Generally, priority is given to streets where measured speeds and volumes are highest.

The type of traffic calming that is suitable on your street depends on where you live.

If your street is a local road, almost any traffic calming measure could be suitable. If you live on a collector street or if your street is a transit route or primary emergency response route, then some measures that restrict the movement of larger vehicles will not be appropriate.

Our traffic calming policy does not permit traffic calming on arterials. The design and primary function of these streets is to move traffic. Installing restrictive measures will likely cause traffic to re-route through neighbourhoods.

Our staff in Transportation are here to help you work through this process. Before you petition your neighbours and ask if they want to see traffic calming on their street, you must first contact us to confirm your street meets the criteria needed to begin the process.

If your street is too steep, if you live on an arterial or a short cul-de-sac/crescent, or if your street has recently gone through the process, it may be ineligible for traffic calming.

Once staff has confirmed your street is eligible, they will provide you with the petition form, the area of your street being considered for the project (if you live on a really long street), and the number of signatures you required to proceed to the next steps. 

You are welcome to submit suggestions regarding what types of traffic calming measures you’d like to see on your street for City staff to consider. Staff are responsible for deciding which measures can be trialled or permanently constructed on a street.

Your street may be ineligible for traffic calming or may have already been evaluated and is waiting to begin the process because it ranked below other qualified streets. Staff can provide you with an update on the status of your street if requested.

Historically the City receives over 30 requests for traffic calming each year for evaluation. Our capacity is to trial about five new traffic calming projects each year.

We are making progress on the list of streets qualifying for traffic calming, and we now have an updated policy in an effort to see more streets successfully move through the process. 

After a given street has been approved for traffic calming it is ranked among other streets based on an evaluation score. Priority is given to the top scoring streets, generally where the measured speeds and volumes are highest, and is not based on when the request was made. This means that if a new request comes in for a street with more traffic and higher speeds, it will be placed higher on the priority list than other streets that may have had traffic calming requested first. Streets may also be given priority to coordinate with planned construction projects.

Contact Us

City Hall
10 New Gower Street, St. John's, NL
P.O. Box 908, St. John's, A1C 5M2
Phone: 311 or 754-CITY (2489)
Email: access@stjohns.ca

Traffic Calming
P.O. Box 908, St. John's, A1C 5M2
Email: trafficcalming@stjohns.ca

 

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