Sudbury considers lowering neighbourhood speed limit to 40 km/h

Greater Sudbury eyes lowering residential speed limits to 40 km/h to improve safety, though some councillors question the effectiveness and cost.

Meeting next week, a committee in Sudbury will vote on whether to lower the speed limit in all residential areas to 40 km/h, in an effort to improve road safety.

Known as gateway speed limits, one area in each ward has had the lower speed limit in place since 2023 as part of a pilot project.

“Since then, monitoring has shown mixed results,” said a staff report on the plan.

“While some roads experienced noticeable speed reductions, others saw little change or even increases. These findings reinforce that signage alone has a limited impact.”

When combined with the now-banned automatic speed cameras, speeds were reduced. However, the report said that “coverage is limited and cannot address every street within a neighbourhood.”

Impact was limited

More study was conducted in 2025, which found that speed reductions from the cameras were limited to the site where the cameras were installed.

“While ASE (automatic speed enforcement cameras) had a direct and measurable impact on reducing speeds on the roadway where it was installed, its influence on surrounding streets was negligible,” the report said.

However, imposing the gateway speed limits to all residential neighbourhoods “provides a legal and visual framework for lower speeds.”

“The implementation of gateway speed limits across all residential areas should be approached with the understanding that it will not produce an immediate reduction in driver behavior or the 85th percentile operating speed,” the report said.

“However, over time, this policy can influence long-term driver adaptation toward lower operating speeds, contributing to safer neighbourhoods and improved compliance.”

More tickets, more revenue

Ward 4 coun. Pauline Fortin said drivers who go too fast will feel the impact.

“I’m hoping that the police are going to give more tickets,” Fortin said.

“I mean, I think that’s the only thing that could solve this. When you don’t know where there’s going to be a police officer, where there’s going to be traffic enforcement, it could be on any street at any time. You’re going to slow down.”

Revenue from speeding tickets goes to the city, she said, which in turn could pay for more policing.

“You know, it’s all works hand-in-hand,” she said.

“I really don’t feel that we can speed bump and sign our way out of this problem that we’re having. You know, with the lawlessness going on on our roads, I’m not sure that turning the entire city into a school zone is going to fix our problem.”

In addition, a 40 km/h speed limit paves the way for more traffic calming measures and allows city planners to design narrower streets when roads are being rebuilt.

Narrow lanes, traffic calming

“Residential streets will now be constructed and re-constructed with reduced lane widths, further supporting lower posted speed limits,” the report said.

“This approach aligns closely with the city’s active transportation goals … ensuring that new infrastructure supports safer, more accessible, and sustainable mobility options for all users.”

The cost – mostly involving new signage – is about $260,000, which will be funded through leftover revenue from fines collected when speed cameras were in place.

In addition to residential streets, the report recommends increasing the speed limit in school zones to 40 km/h, but only outside of school hours. Flashing speed limit signs would be installed to signal to drivers when the lower speed limits are in effect.

The city’s operations committee will vote on the plan at its meeting March 23. Read the full report here.