Last September we added a new stop sign at the corner of Rembrandt and Kildare Road going West. We did so to address the concerns of Rembrandt Ave. residents who have often been stranded at their stop sign endlessly.
Due to the high volume of cars turning onto Kildare eastbound from Cavendish, we want to avoid a potential back-up onto Cavendish as a consequence of cars stopping at Rembrandt. In addition, Ministry of Transport requirements for adding a stop sign on the approach are not met. Thus the reason why another stop sign was not installed.
Soon after the 2017 election, I asked our Traffic Committee staffed by two engineers and chaired by Councillor David Tordjman, also an engineer, to study the request put forward by Rembrandt Ave. residents for a stop sign. It was agreed that we would review this measure within the first year of implementation. Thus far residents of Rembrandt Ave. are quite pleased. The response is mixed from those on other streets.
In order to get a better handle on how people feel I called a small focus group meeting at City Hall on January 7. Councillor Tordjman was present. We had representation from all five condo high rise building on Rembrandt as well as people residing on Kildare Road, Merrimac, Ilan Ramon, Sir Walter Scott and Marc Chagall.
The stop sign was discussed at the last Traffic Committee meeting. Council has not made any final decision on its future. For now the status quo remains in place. I insisted that residents of Rembrandt should certainly be consulted again and I asked Councillor Tordjman and Police Station 9 Traffic Officer Simon Poitras to join me at a meeting with representatives from the condomiums on Rembrandt. We did so on Monday night, May 27.
The purpose of the meeting was for Councillor Tordjman and Officer Poitras to share any concerns of the Traffic Committee and the Police. At the same time, I invited the condo reps to express their views and provide us with some ideas on how to make that stop safer.
Councillor Tordjman stated from the start that the possibility of any accident occurring at that corner existed prior to the installation of the new stop sign as well.
The Traffic Committee will continue to monitor this intersection. A traffic flow study will be undertaken to measure the volume of traffic and the times they are approaching each intersection.. We have decided to do this after Labour Day when school is back in full swing. It will give us a better portrait of the situation.
We had some excellent suggestions from then condo reps. These will be shared with the Traffic Committee.
One comment that resonated came from resident David Haltrecht who said “Since this stop sign was installed I feel safer! Before that the situation was far more dangerous. Motorists turning left from Rembrandt got impatient and would make illegal turns, wading their way right into traffic.”
I will keep everyone posted.
