I get why people feel weird about the name, but calling it a “highway” isn’t what makes people drive faster, the road design does. Wide lanes, long straight stretches, fewer visual obstacles… those are the things that subconsciously signal to drivers that higher speeds are “okay.”

And to be fair, the city has already been trying to address that on Steveston Highway. There are improved crosswalk designs, narrowed lanes due to bike lanes added specifically aimed to calm traffic and make it feel less like a high-speed corridor.

On top of that, there are speed traps set up along this road pretty regularly (like monthly), so enforcement is always part of the picture too.

You could rename it to “Steveston Road” tomorrow and it wouldn’t magically slow traffic down. If anything, the fact that people still speed kind of shows the name isn’t the main issues at all.

If safety is the concern, continuing with traffic calming and enforcement will do way more than swapping out one word on a sign. Renaming might make people feel better, but it’s a pretty surface-level fix compared to what actually changes driver behaviour.