Neighbourhood Speed Limit Reduction Final Report

Thank you to everyone who participated in the engagement process. We are now pleased to share the Final Report on Neighbourhood Speed Limit Reduction. The recommendations outlined in the report will help shape the implementation, scheduled for summer 2025.

The City of Whitehorse identified a strong community desire to enhance the safety of the transportation network, especially within residential areas. Drawing inspiration from the Downtown Speed Reduction project, the main objective of this study was to establish a consistent approach to identify and implement safe and appropriate speed limits along residential streets in Whitehorse both in urban and rural neighbourhoods.

The following key considerations were identified for speed limits in Whitehorse:

Speed and Injury Severity: The risk of serious injury or death for people walking and cycling increases significantly with increases in motor vehicle speeds.
Driver Behaviour and Built Environment: The design of streets impacts the behaviour of people driving, including how fast they choose to drive.
Urban vs. Rural: The context in urban residential neighbourhoods is different than country residential neighbourhoods.

Based on the analysis, public engagement, and industry best practices, the recommended speed limits are as follows:

Urban Residential Neighbourhoods:

40 km/h on all local and collector streets except for Takhini North and Valleyview where the current 30 km/h speed limit will be retained.
Traffic calming has been identified for urban residential neighbourhood streets where the current design encourages higher driving speeds.
A select number of streets in urban residential neighbourhoods have been identified to be posted at 50 km/h because they function as collector or arterial roads that facilitate through movement.

County Residential Neighbourhoods:

40 km/h on local roads (aligning with urban neighbourhoods).
Access roads have been identified to remain at 50 km/h speed limits.
A limited number of roads have been identified for traffic calming to reinforce the reduced speed limit, particularly where drivers will be entering the lower speed residential streets directly from a highway.

School and Playground Zones:

School and playground zones will remain posted at 30 km/h

The rationale for the recommended speed limits is:

Reducing residential speed limits to 40 km/h on local streets, collector streets, and local road (in country residential areas) progresses the City of Whitehorse along the path to Vision Zero*, implementation of the Safe System Approach and supports consistency and equity for all neighbourhoods.
Data from Edmonton indicates a significant reduction in serious injury (25%) and fatal crashes (31%) following a change in speed limits to 40 km/h from 50 km/h.
Public engagement indicates support for reducing speed limits and is consistent with favourable opinions of an initial reduction to 40 km/h supported by traffic calming.
Reducing speeds to 40 km/h will allow the City of Whitehorse to deploy traffic calming on wider streets where compliance with lower speed limits may be challenging.

*Vision Zero seeks to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries while promoting safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all road users. The Safe System Approach is a framework to guide safe mobility policies and programs. It is a recognition that one traffic fatality or serious injury is too many. The City will be implementing a Vision Zero Policy in 2025.