Spruce Grove is dropping its speed limits to 40 km/h this week

If you are taking a trip to Spruce Grove or live there, you’ll have to slow down in residential areas soon with new speed limits coming into place.

The City says on its website that its move to reduce speed limits from 50 km/h to 40 km/h in a flurry of areas “brings Spruce Grove into alignment with many other Alberta municipalities which have made the same changes, helping to provide a consistent travel experience between communities.”

Starting August 31, 2024, City Council has approved the following speed limit adjustments to take effect:

• Residential neighbourhood streets and neighbourhood collector roads will be reduced from 50 to 40 km/h.
• McLeod Avenue from Calahoo Road to King Street will be reduced to 30 km/h.
• Main arterial roadways will remain at 60 km/h and larger collector roads will remain at 50 km/h.

The City added on its website that the change is expected to have very little impact on commute times and traffic flow within neighbourhoods. Most residential neighbourhood streets in Spruce Grove are within a one-to-three-minute drive of an arterial road such as Grove Drive, Century Road, Calahoo Road, or Jennifer Heil Way. The 60 km/h speed limit on these roads is not changing and therefore the impact on overall commute times is expected to be negligible.

Enforcement of the new speed limits will be conducted through regular traffic patrols by Enforcement Services.

In Edmonton, the default speed limit changed to 40 km/h on most residential and downtown streets back in August 2021, with the City of St. Albert and the City of Calgary having similar measures in place.