London construction driving you mad? It's a lot and the city knows it
Lane restrictions on major streets causing major pain for London drivers
Consider this list of London streets: Wellington Road South, Highbury Avenue North, Dundas Street East and Adelaide Street North.
Each one would likely make any top 10 ranking of London's major thoroughfares.
All are seeing increased traffic as London continues to be one of Canada's fastest-growing cities and all, at the same time, are undergoing some level of construction-related lane closures.
LISTEN | Londoners have a lot to say about the construction sites that frustrate them the most
The same London roads come up again and again when people talk about areas of the city that slow them down. Some hotspots include:
- Wellington Road South and Highbury Avenue North between Dundas and Oxford Streets. Both are being widened and reconfigured for bus rapid transit, resulting in extensive lane closures. On Wellington, the intersections at Southdale Road East and Bradley Avenue were mentioned repeatedly as traffic trouble spots. One driver who spoke to CBC News described a drive down Wellington as "hell on earth."
- Fanshawe Park Road and Richmond Street: Extensive upgrades to this intersection have been underway all year, creating stop-and-go lines of traffic along this major route.
- Dundas Street East is home to another street undergoing a major upgrade for BRT. Lane closures in the area around Ontario and Florence Streets were mentioned as a frequent source of frustration.
- York Street: Both lanes of this key east-west artery in the downtown core have been closed between Clarence Street and Wellington since summer for underground sewer line work.
Some streets that are not undergoing major reconstruction were also mentioned as traffic sore spots, including Wonderland Road South. The city recently put the brakes on a plan to widen Wonderland.
WATCH | Wellington Road is a major hotspot. Here's the construction plan
Jennie Dann, Director of Construction and Infrastructure Services at the City of London, says construction projects are not made in a vacuum, but consideration is given to which roads are closed and when.
In an interview Friday on London Morning, Dann said funding from other levels of government plays a role, including the work that's being done on Dundas and Wellington, linked to Bus Rapid Transit,
"We do have a timeline that we've established with the federal and provincial government on how long we think it's going to take us to do that work, and when they can expect to be providing the funding to help us do that. And so we do have a schedule," Dann said.
"It's also 15 kilometres. And if we spread it out too much, we'd be feeling concerns later on."