Fort Erie council defers decision on rural road speed limit changes
June 24, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Councillors are holding off on approving speed limit changes to some rural roads that were recommended by Fort Erie’s traffic coordinating committee.
At the committee’s June 4 meeting, the committee recommended reducing speed limits on 16 sections of rural roads. However, Councillor Nick Dubanow was unsure of the motivation behind the recommendation, citing a recent rural roads speeds study.
“There were actually some recommendations on increasing speed limits to ensure consistency rather than reducing,” he said.
“I’m just concerned with what’s motivating these.”
Dubanow went on to say that in these low volume, lightly patrolled areas, motorists tend to ignore speed limits and travel at whatever speed they’re comfortable with.
“It’s just a sign that everyone’s going to ignore,” he said.
However, Jordan Frost, acting director of infrastructure services, said the move was more about allowing them to reclassify roads for maintenance purposes.
“What we’re really seeing, is that because of the speed it’s bumping the classification of these roads up higher and putting priority of these roadways over other roadways for our regular maintenance, our patrols, our winter clearing, our rehabilitation strategy,” he said.
“When in reality some of these are really low volume roads and there are other high volume, higher speed roads that are more interconnected to our other higher volume, arterial and collector roads as well.”
Frost said the focus was on resetting the priorities to get the roads in the right place for maintenance activities. He added there weren’t specific speeding concerns brought up at the committee.
However, Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes, who sits on the traffic coordinating committee, said there were concerns about dust and that the faster people drive on the gravel roads the more dust gets kicked up to the annoyance of residents.
She also said some of the rationale was to ensure consistency in those roads, as some go up and down along different stretches.
Councillors ultimately deferred a decision so staff and traffic committee members can offer a clearer rationale.
Fort Erie approves plan for ‘a more inclusive, accessible community’
Town to offer online voting in next municipal election
Fort Erie to seek consistent name and signage along Niagara Parkway
About The Author
Luke Edwards
Luke Edwards is a longtime Niagara community journalist who has covered a variety of beats, including business, agriculture, the wine industry and politics. When not writing, there's a good chance he can be found at a baseball diamond or curling rink.
Stay Informed