Traffic calming
We want to make residential streets safe for all road users, of all ages. Our Traffic Calming Program helps us do it.
What is traffic calming
We use traffic calming to slow or reduce traffic through residential areas.
This term is a catch-all for interventions that change the roadway or environment to in turn change driver behaviour. Interventions can be physical (things like speed humps and bump-outs). They can also be regulatory (things like turn restrictions).
When speed and shortcutting are a problem, we use traffic calming measures to do one or more of the following:
- Reduce conflict between cyclists, motorists and pedestrians
- Enhance safety and comfort for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and residents alike
- Create visual cues that cyclists and pedestrians are present
Winnipeg's traffic calming program
We receive up to 200 requests to investigate or install residential traffic calming measures each year.
In 2022, we designed a traffic calming program to create consistency in responding to these requests. This allows us to be fair and efficient with limited resources. It also ensures traffic calming measures go where Winnipeggers need them most.
Intake and program process
Locations can come into the program one of three ways:
- Via request from a City Councillor on behalf of their community
- As a result of residents submitting their concern to 311
- As the result of an existing traffic study or observed conditions
When we receive a request to review a location, we assign it to one of two streams: single-street traffic calming or community traffic calming.
Local and collector streets and lanes within a residential neighbourhood are eligible for the single-street stream. The community traffic stream looks at a larger area of a residential neighbourhood. Regional streets or any street in an industrial area or the downtown are not eligible for the traffic calming program.
The single-street process takes approximately 12-24 months and involves six primary steps:
- Initiation
- Petition
- Engineering assessment (the process can end here if traffic calming is found to not be warranted)
- Prioritization
- Design and engagement
- Installation
The community process is a bit more involved. Locations assigned to this stream undergo a full study. It takes approximately 24-36 months to work through the study’s four phases:
- Phase 1: planning and launch
- Phase 2: issues identification
- Phase 3: solution development
- Phase 4: implementation
Next steps:
- Contact 311 to submit a location for traffic calming
- View current and past traffic calming projects
- Learn more about the process for single street traffic calming
- Learn more about the process for community traffic calming