Lack of traffic lights cause of frustration among some in King Township

King Connection
April 15, 2014
By Tim Kelly

Nobleton Ward 2 Councillor Peter Grandilli was seeing red Monday night over York Region’s refusal to go green on a traffic light for the intersection of Park Heights and Hwy. 27 before 2015.

The councillor expressed his frustration to his colleagues and King Township staff by telling them residents were upset and wanted the traffic light installed this year.

“This is a safety issue. Is the region going to wait until we have a bad accident at that corner before they react?” said Mr. Grandilli.

He added the long delays leading to motorists finally getting on to a backed-up Hwy. 27 leads to road rage, speeding and drivers not stopping.

Mr. Grandilli said he received an email from York Region staff telling him traffic lights would be installed this summer. Now, he said he’s been led to believe the lights may be delayed until 2016 at the outside, maybe 2015 at the earliest. He implored Mayor Steve Pellegrini, Township council’s regional representative, to push for the lights to be installed by the end of this summer.

Mr. Pellegrini explained the region’s policy is dictated strictly by numbers, mandated by traffic warrants that are counted based on the number of vehicles turning from or onto regional roads from Township roads.

“The Region has warrants and they say the counts don’t meet the warrants," Mr. Pellegrini said. "They say they will review that again. When I spoke to the residents, as well, I said I will advocate and I will push for Hwy. 27 and Park Heights lights. I know that you’re passionate about Nobleton and these issues are there, but you know what? On Keele Street, they call us because they have to wait 15 minutes in the morning. Everybody has issues within their villages and there are policies and warrants and as soon as the counts meet these numbers they (region) will do it,” said Mr. Pellegrini.

Ward 1 Councillor Cleve Mortelliti is also anxious to see traffic lights installed at Springhill and King Road. He pointed out that post holes have been dug already for the lights and said residents have been complaining they need a crossing to get students to and from school across King Road.

Mr. Mortelliti said, as a parent with high school-aged children, he knows first-hand about the need for traffic calming measures along King Road, calling it a “nightmare” when he tries to drop off his children at the high school.

“Aren’t there something like 28,000 vehicles a day on King Road?” said Mr. Mortelliti.

Director of engineering and public works Rob Flindall said the warrants don’t yet meet the need for traffic lights at Springhill and King Road, but he said the township could try to accelerate the timing with the region to get the lights installed.

“We can sense the frustration building up from when people first move in to when the warrants build up to put in the traffic lights,” said Mr. Flindall.