Traffic Management Strategy

On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, the Traffic Management Strategy was adopted by Council to put processes in place to address traffic concerns through engineering, education, and enforcement measures. The final strategy is a made-in-Haldimand solution to deal with our unique local needs, including short- and long-term recommendations.

Background information

Addressing traffic concerns and developing actionable solutions is a Council priority for the 2022 to 2026 term. To work toward achieving this, in 2024, Haldimand County retained R.J. Burnside & Associates Ltd. to develop a Traffic Management Strategy.

Read the Traffic Management Strategy (PDF)

Next steps

Some of the short-term recommendations from the Traffic Management Strategy are currently underway and can be expected to be implemented within the next 1 to 2 years.

Adoption of the Traffic Calming Implementation Framework.
Develop a Centralized Roadway Safety and Traffic Calming Reporting Tool and Database to track and monitor public and internal requests related to traffic concerns.
Establish a Road Safety Committee to create a forum of collaboration to review road safety concerns with Haldimand County staff in coordination with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Implement a Comprehensive Education Strategy.
Invest in temporary traffic calming measures and identify some pilot locations.
Update Haldimand County policies, practices, and criteria that align with the Traffic Management Strategy, allowing for future traffic calming measures.
Strengthen Haldimand County's role in the Agricultural Advisory Committee by establishing a permanent engineering role in the Committee to ensure timely acknowledgement of issues and mitigative measures.
Adopt an automated data collection and monitoring system for Haldimand County's existing speed display device program to share data with stakeholders and the Road Safety Committee in real-time.
Improve the safety and efficiency of signalized intersections by modernizing the traffic signal management software.

Medium to long-term recommendations

Assess third-party automated enforcement program: engage in discussions with adjacent municipalities on opportunities for a coordinated third-party automated enforcement program for speeding issues.
Update Haldimand County Design Specifications to incorporate traffic calming devices and active transportation facilities for urban and rural roadways.
Continue to advocate for bypass/highway extensions to manage truck traffic by reviewing the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) truck traffic for Highway 3/Highway 6.
Expand and develop in-school safety programs by engaging with school boards to introduce in-school road safety programs.
Engage corporate citizens to promote roadway safety through corporate engagement programs.
Review county-wide posted speed limits to ensure they align with the Traffic Management Strategy.
Establish consistent capital budget/reserve funding for traffic management initiatives, starting with an annual budget of $50,000 in 2025 and building out to align with the demands/success of the program.

Education strategy

Our education strategy for traffic management is still in development. Check back soon for updates.

Pilot projects

We are reviewing the feedback received throughout the study to identify some potential locations for traffic calming pilot projects in 2025.

While no permanent process has been finalized at this time, some temporary measures are being considered, and Haldimand County will solicit feedback from residents upon completion and monitor the traffic pattern changes throughout.

Flexible bollards

Flexible bollards are placed in narrow travel lanes and encourage motorists to slow down.

They are used to:

Create lane narrowing features by placing the flexible bollards adjacent to the curb lane and on the centreline of the road.
Create curb bump-outs by placing flexible bollards adjacent to the curb
Bring enhanced awareness to pedestrians crossing the roadway by placing collapsible bollards at pedestrian crossovers

Speed display devices

Staff work alongside Ward Councillors and residents to determine exact speed display device locations. These devices can be relocated throughout the year to help staff analyze traffic data and notify motorists of their speeds.

Speed display devices provide visual queues to educate motorists to help reduce their operating speeds. Statistics gathered from the City of Barrie's speed display devices show that vehicle speeds are reduced by an average of 6 to 10 km/hr in areas where the devices are present.

The speed display devices also allow staff to collect information regarding vehicle speeds and daily traffic volumes. This data can be used to provide detailed information to assist in recommendations to address operational and safety concerns. This information and data can be provided to the Haldimand OPP regarding peak hours for evidence-based enforcement to help increase efficiencies.

See a map of speed display locations

Other projects

More pilot projects will be posted here as they are rolled out.

Documents and resources

Project information and supplementary resources/documents will be added here as they become available.

Not all documents may be accessible to all users. If you require any special accommodation to access the above documents, please submit an accessibility request and we will work together to best share the information with you.