City of Brantford Council supported a variety of traffic improvements to the Balmoral Drive neighbourhood during its Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Balmoral Drive is considered a major collector road with a posted speed limit of 40 km/h. It currently serves as an access way to three elementary schools, several parks and the arterial road network that connects Powerline Road to King George Road.
Ward 2 Councillors Gino Caputo and John Sless had received several concerns about the neighbourhood such as excessive speeding, incomplete sidewalk networks, and an absence of dedicated protected bike lanes to name a few.
In response, staff conducted a technical review of the area in the spring of 2024 and after developing a traffic safety plan, it was presented to residents in the area through a Let’s Talk Brantford campaign in the fall of 2024.
According to the report submitted by Inderjit Hans, Commissioner of Brantford’s Public Works Commission, the changes proposed to the residents were generally accepted and any feedback or additional suggestions were included in the final plan if possible.
The seven proposed improvements to Balmoral Drive in the final plan included the following:
- Adding designated parking lane lines on both sides of Balmoral Drive to assist in narrowing the roadway width.
- Adding stop bars (thick painted lines that signal where to stop) and crosswalks on all side streets.
- Installing flexible bollard curb extensions at intersections from Powerline Road to Oxford Street.
- Installing speed cushions north of Smith’s Lane; between Thistledown Drive and Woodlawn Avenue (south intersection); and between Wiltshire Drive and Shaftesbury Avenue.
- Installing Type “D” pedestrian crossovers with raised crosswalks at Allensgate Drive (north leg), and north of Myrtleville Drive by the community mailbox.
- Installing reflective accessory panels (RAP) and ladder crosswalks on Woodlawn Avenue’s north intersection, Ewing Drive, Cambridge Drive and Oxford Street.
- Remove the all-way stop at Kent Road and Balmoral Drive and install a roundabout in its place.
The three proposed improvements to Somerset Road in the plan included:
- Replacing damaged and faded “No Parking” signage.
- Painting stop bars and crosswalks on side streets.
- Installing speed cushions between Pembroke Avenue (west intersection) and Pembroke Avenue (east intersection); between the Balmoral Drive east intersection and Miles Avenue; and between Miles Avenue and King George Road.
Other suggestions regarding active transportation included enhancing “share the road” signage and bike route directional signage along Balmoral Drive.
Caputo later complimented staff’s work on the report, stating that many of the changes will certainly have a positive effect on the area, however he did move an amendment to remove the recommendation to add designated parking lane lines on both sides of Balmoral Drive.
The vote for the amendment was then carried on a vote of 8-2, noting that Councillor McCreary did not partake in the vote due to a conflict of interest.
Afterwards, Caputo then moved another amendment to remove the suggestion for a roundabout at Kent Road and Balmoral Drive. He instead suggested that the stop sign on Kent should stay, but that the stop signs on Balmoral should be removed.
“The removal of that three-way stop should be in play because we have another three-way stop at Oxford [and Balmoral], which is basically 75 feet away,” said Caputo.
When Mayor Kevin Davis asked him what his rationale for removing the roundabout was, the councillor said it would make it difficult for nearby homeowners.
“It looked great on paper until I drove it,” responded Caputo. “The actual roundabout would be situated directly in front of two homes which I believe is going to make it extremely difficult for the homeowners to get in and out of their driveways. …Usually roundabouts of that nature should probably take place at a four-way stop versus a three-way stop.”
Sless later said that he agreed that scrapping the roundabout and removing the stop signs on Balmoral would certainly get traffic moving along more efficiently.
“…If you were shifting gears, you wouldn’t even get out of first gear and you’d be stopping again so it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “…“I think it’s the right thing to do. It’ll get traffic moving a little better in that area and it’s taking a stop sign out where a stop sign really isn’t needed.”
The vote to remove the roundabout from the final plan, as well as to remove the Balmoral Drive stop signs at the Kent Road intersection, was then carried unanimously.
Before voting on the item as amended, Sless extended his gratitude to staff for all their hard work.
“There was a very comprehensive review of that corridor that was done and there were close to a thousand flyers distributed to the residents that were affected, and very little pushback on the recommendations coming forward from staff,” he said. “It appears as though we’ve got a win here. The neighbourhood is happy with what’s being proposed for the most part …so I’m certainly pleased to support this as it’s amended, and I think it does leave the door open in the future, as things start to develop on the northern portion of Balmoral.”
The vote on the item, as amended, was then carried unanimously and the final vote to approve the plan will take place during the Tuesday, March 25 council meeting.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
