The County of Brant is proposing that Mile Hill Road in Paris become a one way road heading South (up the Hill).

The County says this change is a means to improve the safety of the road for vulnerable users. The County claims it will calm traffic by changing to a one way road, narrowing the vehicle lane. The County also states this will prevent cut through traffic from new developments that currently travel north down the hill.

This one way Mile Hill Road proposal caters specifically to a small number of seasonal users and disregards numerous daily residential users. It will have a great negative effect on traffic in the surrounding community as well as emergency services for several areas of the town of Paris. This One Way Mile Hill Road proposal ultimately does not address the root cause.

This proposal will no longer allow residents of South Paris that live on Mile Hill Road or down at the bottom to enter their neighbourhood from Powerline Road at the top of Mile Hill Road. Residents wishing to get home to South Paris from the Brant Sports Complex, the 403 Highway, or West Brantford will have to travel north on Rest Acres Road closer to downtown in order to get home.

If this proposal becomes a reality, it will cause more congestion towards downtown Paris by forcing a large group of residents to use roads they normally wouldn't use to get home. This proposal will also cause more cut through traffic in the neighbourhoods behind the Pioneer gas station as residents attempt to avoid traffic congestion to get to their homes in the South Paris area. This in turn will cause safety issues for those neighbourhoods.

This Mile Hill Road One Way proposal will also require emergency service vehicles to go around on Rest Acres Road. For argument sake - If there is an emergency situation in the neighbourhood at the bottom of Mile Hill Road that requires urgent Police attention, drive time for the OPP will increase from 2 minutes to 7 minutes to get to the same destination if starting at the Brant Sports Complex on Powerline Road.

This proposal also fails to address the actual safety concern of Mile Hill Road which is the speed used while vehicles are driving North and South on Mile Hill Road. This includes cyclists.

Mile Hill Road is a 40km/hr road and there are no traffic calming countermeasures installed on the road to ensure that speed limit is followed. If that speed limit of 40 km/hr was followed there would be no safety concerns for any of the users of Mile Hill Road.

Please sign this petition it is free- you do not need to donate. If the site asks for a donation simply close the page, DO NOT DONATE, we are not asking for any funds. You will have already signed the petition.

If you did, thank you for attending the public meeting on January 11 from 4 - 6 pm at the Brant Sports Complex (944 Powerline Road).

Going forward, let your Local representatives know that you expect a better, more creative solution which forces users of Mile Hill Road to abide by the speed limit in order to create a safe two way road for all users. Council will vote on this proposal soon (early Spring).