Vehicles 'blasting' down St. Vital Road have residents fed up, worried about safety

People living on St. Vital Road in the city's south end are are fed up with high traffic volumes and speeding cars racing down their residential street.

"[Cars] are blasting down this street and it's dangerous," said Mike Nadwidny, who lives on the stretch between Dunkirk Drive and River Road.

"On a daily basis we have people hitting at least an 80 to 85 kilometre [per hour] range, this is a 50 kilometre zone," he said.

Nadwidny said the street is often used as a short-cut from either St. Mary's Road or Dunkirk Drive to travel to River Road and then access Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

At rush hour the traffic flow is constant, he said, and because there are no stop signs on the 900-metre stretch, there's nothing slowing drivers down.

"They see buses on [the street] and they think it's 60 [km/h], which therefore opens it up to 70 [km/h]."

"There are no speed limit signs end to end on this entire street," he said.

Nadwidny's neighbour, Chris Toews, works in landscaping and pulls a trailer with his equipment behind his vehicle. 

He says he's forced to park on the street and wait for traffic to die down before he can park his truck in his driveway at night because traffic volumes won't allow him to back his vehicle in, and it's too risky to pull in and have to back out later.

"I'm at the mercy of the traffic,"said Toews.

"When we first moved here 10 years ago it was a fairly quiet neighbourhood, now it seems to be literally a thoroughfare," he said.

Further down the road, Kenneth Rudolf, who has lived in his home since 1973, said his residential street feels more like a highway at times, and getting out of his driveway safely is a battle.

"This year's the worst I've ever seen it, it's constant," said Rudolf.

Collision sparks concern

Nadwidny plans to take his and his neighbours' concerns to their city councillor this week after a serious collision near his home on Sunday.

A motorcycle collided with a vehicle at about 2:30 p.m. near the intersection of Dunkirk Drive and St. Vital Road.

Police say the motorcyclist was rushed to hospital in critical condition but later upgraded to stable. The area was closed for several hours while police investigated the crash.

Nadwidny is no stranger to motor vehicle accident scenes. His job includes working with the medical examiner's office and various funeral homes, picking up people who are deceased.

"I can tell you the absolute horrificness of the effect of even someone doing 70 km/h and impacting something," he said.

"It's over and it's messy and you can't come back from that."

Nadwidny said he's picked up several dogs and cats who have been killed by cars on his street over the years and says he fears one day it could be a child.

"It's just a matter of time," he said.

"It's statistically going to happen when you have people crunching into a lane and a half and doing 80 km/h on a residential street with kids all around."

Speed limit should be posted, resident says

Nadwidny wants to see speed limit signs installed to remind drivers it's a residential area and some kind of police enforcement.

"I'm not asking for a stop sign, I'm not asking for bumps or a red light, give me a 50 sign and give me some police officers in an unmarked now and again," he said.

"Daily, I'm coming into my home and going I can't handle this anymore, it's that bad," he said of the traffic.

Councillor for the area Brian Mayes said this isn't the first time he's heard the concern about traffic on St. Vital Road.

He said a study was completed in 2018 and the city's public works department did not make any recommendations for changes.

"We do the studies and sometimes things do change over time, but in this particular instance the studies have been saying 'no,' the speeds here don't warrant a lower speed limit or some sort of speed bumps," said Mayes.

The study said St. Vital Road saw about 6,000 vehicles per day crossing the path of 80 private driveways, but found the majority of cars were traveling just over 50 km/h.

'People have moved away'

A few years ago, bump-outs — curbs that extend out into the lane to force drivers to slow down — were installed but residents complained they were a hazard, Mayes said.

"Those were staggeringly unpopular with most people in the neighbourhood, they thought they actually made it more dangerous so I don't think we'll be repeating that," he said.

The street is designated as a collector route, which means the speed limit likely won't ever be lowered and it's also a bus route, so speed bumps aren't an option, Mayes said.

"I don't blame people for being concerned, my kids have crossed this street to get to school, many kids do, so you've got to keep your wits about you."

Mayes said it's possible now that the city has more control over residential speed limits they could look at installing signs.

"If we could get some sort of signage that might help and it's certainly cheaper than doing a lot of traffic calming."

Nadwidny said he won't stop until the signs are installed, even if he has to pay for them himself.

"It's been going on too long, people have moved away," he said.

"I don't know what an average citizen can do beyond this."