Our project aims to reduce vehicle speeds in the areas of highest concern within the community and create safer conditions for children, Elders, families, and drivers. As a rural and remote Tahltan community, Iskut experiences seasonal shifts in how people move around; during the warmer months, walking is a common way for residents to travel throughout the community and access daily activities and services. Maintaining safe vehicle speeds is essential to community well-being and reflects long-standing Tahltan values of protecting one another, especially our youth and Elders.
To address this, the project proposes installing removable speed humps at priority locations, including the first and last entrances from the highway and along the main corridor where speeding most commonly occurs. Removable humps are a practical choice for northern communities like Iskut: they can be taken out before winter to avoid interfering with snow plowing and reinstalled during the warmer months when speeding occurs more frequently. This approach offers a flexible, durable, and cost-effective way to improve safety year after year.
This initiative responds directly to long-standing community concerns and strengthens road safety in areas where pedestrian activity is highest. By calming traffic at these key points, Iskut will be better able to protect children walking around the community, Elders accessing services, and families moving between community spaces. This project reflects the community’s commitment to creating safer roads and supports Iskut’s long-term vision of a healthy, protected, and connected place for all who live here.
Pedestrian activity increases in the warmer months, and because Iskut’s geography channels most movement along a single main road, the lack of effective speed control leaves children and Elders particularly vulnerable. Permanent traffic-calming infrastructure is not practical in the winter due to snow plowing, which is why the community requires seasonal, removable traffic-calming tools that can operate during high-risk months and be removed during winter.
The community has long identified speeding as a priority safety concern and has expressed strong support for action that directly reduces vehicle speeds where most daily life occurs. Installing removable speed humps responds to this need in a practical, northern-appropriate way, ensuring that drivers slow down where pedestrians are most active while allowing for safe winter maintenance.
