Leduc to ask Alberta gov't to lower Hwy 2 speed limit through city

Leduc will be asking the province to reduce the speed limit of Highway 2 through its municipal boundaries.

The city's seven-member council voted unanimously at its meeting Monday evening in favour of lobbying Alberta's transportation ministry to lower the limit of its portion of the major north-south corridor between Edmonton and Calgary to 80 kilometres per hour from 110.

Leduc, population 30,000, is located 10 kilometres south of the Edmonton city limit beside the international airport.

The move comes from a recommendation from the city's traffic advisory committee, which endorsed it after reviewing collision data and anecdotal experiences after a speed-limit reduction to 80 km/h on the highway at the 65 Avenue interchange construction project, and considering 2018-19 provincial data that shows the Leduc portion of the corridor experiences double the average collision rate for Alberta divided highways.

The speed limit between Edmonton and Calgary is 110 km/h from Edmonton's Ellerslie Road on the north end to Calgary's Beddington Trail in the south.

"What really has sold me on this is the current 80-kilometre zone for the 65 Avenue interchange," said Mayor Bob Young, who referenced traffic open-house talks with the province over the last 20 years mulling about improvements to interchanges in the Leduc corridor that would likely cost hundreds of millions.

"I haven't had anybody complain to me yet about it being 80 ... Some people say, 'Well, they're not going 80.' Well, you know what? They're not doing 150 either or 140, so to me, this is a very logical thing to do. Rather than spending $500 million to physically change it, if we turn it into an 80 zone, it'll help noise (and) it'll help with safety."

An unnamed spokesperson for Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors said the ministry will review Leduc's request.

"Setting appropriate speed limits is an important part of highway safety, and Transportation and Economic Corridors takes this responsibility seriously," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CTV News Edmonton, adding that any municipality can request such a review.

"Once received, department staff re-examine the safety criteria to determine if the speed limit is appropriate or if it could benefit from a speed limit amendment."

Coun. Glen Finstad pointed out the relatively large number of on- and off-ramps along Leduc's portion of Highway 2, wondering if the community would stand to lose some of them "as a result of this initiative."

"I don't think the province was too receptive the last time we asked for something like this, but maybe their appetite has changed, especially if we show them the collision numbers and near misses, not to mention the RCMP and the sheriffs but also the tow truck operators are in grave danger when they're trying to help someone out," he said during the meeting.

The report authored by Cameron Chisholm, the city's manager of RCMP administration and enforcement services, and Shawn Olson, its director of engineering, also stated the province is considering raising the speed limit on Highway 2 to 120 km/h

"Given the researched relationship between speed and collisions, a higher collision rate would be expected with a higher speed limit," said the report to council.