London council could shelve Wonderland Road widening, citing climate concerns

City council may suspend plans to widen Wonderland Road following a climate lens screening report that looked at major transportation projects in London, Ont.

In early 2019, the city launched an evaluation of one of its busiest corridors to gauge the need for an additional two lanes. Later that year, the City also approved a declaration of a climate emergency. 

Now, the report submitted by transportation staff to the city's Civic Works Committee is advising against the expansion from four lanes to six on Wonderland Road, which carries up to 50,000 cars a day. 

"It is a $200-million project," deputy mayor Josh Morgan said of the expansion. "And so I do think it is appropriate for us to pause a project of that scale when we could have options that do less damage to the environment, but still deal with some of the challenges that we have along that roadway." 

Morgan said that the Wonderland Road expansion was among a number of transportation projects what were analyzed using the climate emergency screening tool. 

According to the report, the results show that the project would have significant impacts to the environment and climate change due to increased greenhouse gas emissions. 

"We could contemplate things instead of six lanes of asphalt, like intersection improvements or queue jumping lanes, things like that," said Morgan. "That may help deal with the current traffic congestion on Wonderland Road, but not at a cost of $200 million, and not with the same level of impacts on the climate that is contemplated via the climate screening tool." 

A 'wrong direction'

But the current rate of congestion on Wonderland already poses a threat to London's air quality, and hitting the brakes on the expansion could be counterproductive, argues Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen. 

"This is clearly a wrong direction for London," Van Meerbergen said. "Most people know that cars pollute the most when they're idling. So by not widening, we're simply increasing congestion and idling."

The report suggests a new focus on high-occupancy vehicle use and public transit as alternatives to the expansion. Morgan also referenced improved traffic management systems. 

Van Meerbergen said this may not be enough to keep up with London's growing number of drivers. 

"You're just encouraging more congestion in the short to medium term, which therefore increases pollution," he said. "And then in the longer term, we won't have that infrastructure necessary to accommodate clean electric vehicles that will be increasingly on the market."

The report will be discussed at Tuesday's meeting of the Civic Works Committee.