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Victoria lowering speeds limits on roads considered ‘local streets’

The Hillside-Quadra neighbourhood will be the first to see the change
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The City of Victoria is lowering speed limits on all local streets to 30 km/h. (Black Press Media file photo)

The City of Victoria is lowering speed limits on all roads that are categorized as “local streets” from 50 km/h to 30 km/h.

The new signs will be put up soon and the bylaw will come into effect over an estimated two-year period.

The Hillside-Quadra neighbourhood will be the first to see the change this spring, and residents are being informed in advance.

The lower speed limit will then come to Burnside-Gorge in the fall and Oaklands in the winter.

The City of Victoria considers “local streets” as streets that do not have a centre line, are used by fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day and are typically in residential areas.

“Slower speeds mean safer streets and creating more livable neighbourhoods,” said Philip Bellefontaine, the city’s director of engineering and public works, in a statement. “This is just one of the ways we are working towards Vision Zero and making roads safer for everyone.”

The change won’t be coming to roads such as Hillside Avenue, Bay Street and Cook Street, said the city.

“Victoria is one of only a handful of Canadian municipalities and the first in the Capital Region to reduce speed limits on all local streets to 30 km/h,” Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said in a news release. “This effort will be supported with ongoing infrastructure investments like speed humps and other traffic calming measures.”

The reduced speed limit follows a bylaw amendment approved by council in 2022.

READ MORE: Victoria council won’t bring in fees on single-use cups, takeout containers


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Brendan Mayer

About the Author: Brendan Mayer

I spent my upbringing in Saskatoon, and in 2021, I made the move to Vancouver Island.
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