Engineering

The Town of New Tecumseth's Engineering department oversees our roads, water and wastewater systems, and storm water drainage.

Our Engineering department's practices include:

  • Assessing and designing municipal infrastructure
  • Commenting on municipal service issues
  • Preparing site plans and agreements
  • Managing engineering studies and assessments
  • Developing budgets for long-term and short-term development
  • Managing Site Alteration Applications and Permits

Engineering Design Criteria and Standards

The Town of New Tecumseth Engineering Design Criteria and Standards are intended as a guideline to provide a good engineering basis for subdivision design, to establish a uniform criteria of minimum standards, and to improve processing of subdivision plans and agreements in the Town. 

Changes and revisions will be made to these standards from time to time and it the responsibility of the Developer or the Developer’s Consulting Engineer to obtain and make use of the latest version available at the time of engineering design.

Engineering Design Criteria and Standards 

Submitting Your Site Plan

Please use our Site Plan Submission Guidelines to help you through completing your Site Plan Agreement Application. The Guidelines explain our submission procedure, different drawing requirements, and includes a full copy of our Site Plan By-law. It's helpful to address each point in order to speed up your approval process. It is recommended to set up a pre-consultation meeting with the Town Staff to understand the submission requirements.

Please refer to the Planning and Engineering Fees By-Law for fees schedule.

Get Your Site Plan Agreement Application Here 

Speed Limits

In New Tecumseth, the default urban speed limit is 50 km/hr in urban areas (Alliston, Beeton, and Tottenham) and 80 km/hr in rural areas unless otherwise posted.  These speed limits are in keeping with the standard speed limits established by the Province.

Speed limits may be reduced in sensitive areas such as those near schools and parks.  Reduced speed limits may also be in place due to the existing road geometry in select locations.

Speed limit reductions will not be considered to address speeding concerns.  For more information about speeding concerns, please refer to “Speeding & Traffic Calming” below. 

Speeding & Traffic Calming

Speeding concerns must first be addressed through front-line mitigation measures, such as the use of temporary radar speed signs or speed enforcement.  These methods often have a positive effect to address sporadic speeding and can be implemented much faster than permanent speed control devices.

Requests for temporary radar speed signs can be directed to the Engineering Department by filling out the request form available here.  Requests for speed enforcement should be directed to the Nottawasaga OPP.

Should speeding concerns continue following the use of front-line mitigation measures, residents may request that the need for traffic calming on their street be reviewed by Engineering staff.  Traffic calming devices can alter driver behaviour to reduce vehicle speeds and/or volumes.  Examples of traffic calming devices include radar speed signs, on-street parking, lane narrowing via pavement markings, speed humps, curb bump-outs, etc.

Requests for traffic calming measures can be directed to the Engineering Department by filling out the traffic calming concern form.

The Town’s Traffic Calming Guidelines establish the traffic calming review procedure, as well as minimum criteria which must be satisfied for traffic calming to be considered.  The traffic calming review procedure is outlined below:

Step 1: Initiation & Initial Screening

When a traffic calming request is received, Engineering staff will determine if the road or road section satisfies the initial screening criteria to be considered for further traffic calming review.

Only those roads or road sections which satisfy all initial screening criteria will be considered for further review of traffic calming need.

Engineering staff will contact the requestor to explain the results of the initial screening and next steps.
Step 2: Neighbourhood Petition

Engineering staff will direct the requestor to complete a neighbourhood petition and provide information about which properties must be surveyed as part of this step.  A neighbourhood petition will only be accepted if a road or road section has satisfied the initial screening criteria and Engineering staff have directed the requestor to proceed with the petition.

The purpose of the neighbourhood petition is to establish whether there is sufficient local support for traffic calming measures.  At least 51% of the properties surveyed must be in favour of traffic calming measures being employed on the subject road for the traffic calming review process to continue.
Step 3: Data Collection

Engineering staff will conduct the necessary traffic studies to quantify the traffic concern.  The exact timing of these studies is dependent on weather conditions and available budget.  For traffic calming measures to address vehicle speeds to be considered, the 85th Percentile Speed on the subject road must exceed the speed limit by the values provided in the table below.  The 85th Percentile Speed is the speed at or below which 85% of all traffic is travelling.


Speed Limit

Minimum 85th Percentile Speed

to consider Traffic Calming

40 km/h

50 km/h

50 km/h

61 km/h

60 km/h

72 km/h

70 km/h

83 km/h

80 km/h

94 km/h
Step 4: Data Assessment

Engineering staff will quantify the traffic calming need by evaluating road attributes through a weighted point-score system, as described in Appendix A of the Traffic Calming Guidelines.  To be considered for traffic calming measures, a local road must score a minimum of 35 points and a collector road must score a minimum of 52 points.

The point-score will also be used to prioritize traffic calming improvements.  The priority list may be revised from time to time as additional locations are reviewed for traffic calming need.

Engineering staff will contact the requestor to explain the results of the data assessment and next steps.
Step 5: Design Consideration & Community Feedback

Engineering staff will develop a traffic calming plan based on the concerns raised, data collected, site visits, historical information, future maintenance and construction considerations, etc.  The proposed traffic calming plan will be developed at the sole discretion of the Town in accordance with relevant standards and best practices.

The preferred design will be shared with agency stakeholders (for example, emergency services, road maintenance department, transit services, etc.) for feedback about possible impacts to their operations.

A public information meeting will also be held to present the preferred design to the community and obtain resident feedback.

A community support survey will be distributed to those properties which would be most impacted by the implementation of traffic calming measures to gauge community support.  For the traffic calming review process to continue, a minimum of 25% of surveys must be returned and, of that 25%, 60% must be in favour of traffic calming.

 
Step 6: Finalize & Implement the Traffic Calming Plan

The traffic calming plan will be finalized based on agency and community feedback.  The recommended traffic calming design will be presented to Town Council for consideration.  If Town Council approves the traffic calming plan, detailed design drawings may be prepared and the traffic calming plan implemented.

The timeline for implementation of the traffic calming plan is dependent on the approval of sufficient funding by Town Council and the project’s priority as determined through the point-score established in Step 4.
Step 7: Monitor & Evaluate

Engineering staff will monitor the effectiveness of the traffic calming measures implemented.  Corrective measures may be taken to address unintended outcomes of the traffic calming plan.

 

All-way Stop Control

The purpose of all-way stop control is to control the right-of-way at an intersection.  All-way stop control is not to be used as a speed control device, as numerous studies have shown that they are ineffective for this purpose.  

Engineering staff review the need for all-way stop control based on the warrant criteria established by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO).  As per MTO’s criteria, all-way stop control should only be considered following a formal traffic study which concludes that the volume and directional split of traffic warrants all-way stop control.  The exact criteria depend on the classification of the roads. 

All-way stop control may also be considered at intersections with a high accident frequency.  Only accidents susceptible to relief through all-way stop control may be considered. 

All-way stop control may have several negative effects when installed at unwarranted locations, including:

  • driver frustration

  • rolling stops or stop sign non-compliance

  • increased travel speeds to make up for lost time

  • aggressive deceleration and acceleration

  • increased idling and air pollution

  • increased fuel consumption

  • potential for rear-end collisions

  • creating a false sense of safety for cyclists and pedestrians

 Traffic Counts

Traffic Counts can be referenced from Appendix A and Appendix B of the 2018 Roads Needs Study report. Depending on the size and scope of your study / project, the traffic count may need to be updated. We recommend contacting the Engineering Department to verify the counts.

Street Naming Policy

 View our street naming policy and procedure. 

Site Alterations

As defined in the Site Alteration and Fill By-law 2020-007, a Site Alteration, is any activity that involves the dumping, grading, removing, movement or excavating of fill or soil. 

To help you better understand the Site Alteration and Fill Permit procedures please visit the Site Alterations page for additional information.

Plans, Studies and Reports

View the Town of New Tecumseth's plans, studies and reports that improve our community and guide us toward our future goals.

Moving to a New Subdivision? 

 Get answers to frequently asked questions.