Staff Report #4
September 25, 2019
To All Commissioners
Re: 2019 Road Construction/Detour Update
Recommendation
The report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
LTC administration has been working closely with civic administration as well as the specific contractors on each major construction project to ensure regular communication regarding the status of the projects in an effort to mitigate the impact of construction on service and ridership by allowing buses to operate in work zones where it is deemed safe to do so. LTC administration attends weekly meetings with civic administration specifically to discuss the impacts of ongoing and upcoming downtown construction projects.
In addition, a communication strategy has been developed and implemented with respect to service interruptions in an effort to ensure passengers and Bus Operators are aware of the detours with as much advance notice as possible, including stop level notifications of upcoming closures, website and Infoweb alerts, Twitter and internal Marlin postings.
Richmond and York Intersection
Work in the intersection of Richmond and York was originally scheduled to be completed on September 3, 2019, however at time of writing the work was still ongoing and scheduled to be completed on September 23. The work requires all north/south buses to be detoured to Horton and Wellington. This has resulted in all southbound stops between King and Horton and all northbound stops between Horton and Queens on Richmond being closed for approximately three months leading to significant adherence challenges. Tripper resources have been applied specifically to the routes detouring away from this area during peak hours to mitigate the negative impact to the customer.
Oxford and Talbot Intersection
The traffic signal rebuild at the Oxford and Talbot intersection is scheduled to continue until September 20, 2019. As with the previous manhole work at this intersection, significant slow-downs impacting schedule adherence on Routes 17, 20 and 91 are being experienced which are anticipated to continue until the completion of the project.
Western FoCo
Administration has been working closely with London Police and Western University in preparation for the upcoming FoCo on September 28 at Western University. In order to ensure the safety of our operators, passengers and equipment, all buses will be detoured around Western Campus. Buses operating along Richmond will be detoured at Cheapside and will operate along Adelaide and Windermere. Buses operating along Western Road will maintain service along Western and not enter the University Campus. University Hospital has agreed to allow buses to turn around on the access road so service can be maintained to the hospital. It is expected that additional on-road London Transit Inspectors will be available to assist as required.
Devonshire/Cathcart
Construction on Cathcart began on April 8, 2019 and is scheduled to be completed late September 2019. The road work requires Route 15 to detour onto Edward. While the impacts of this specific construction project have been minimal on Route 15, when combined with the three other construction areas the route has had to navigate this season, the route is experiencing significant schedule adherence issues. Tripper buses have been added to help mitigate the impact however; they have had minimal effectiveness to-date.
Wellington Road
The construction on the sidewalk adjacent to Wellington Road north of Dundas has resulted in a reduction of northbound lanes. No detours have been implemented to date; however, impacts to schedule adherence have and continue to be experienced. The project was originally scheduled to be completed by September 5, 2019, however at time of writing the work was still ongoing and a completion date was unknown.
Grenfell
Road rehabilitation is anticipated to be completed by mid-October. With the September service changes, Route 25 is now on regular routing across Fanshawe Park Road and Route 34 will be detoured around the Grenfell neighbourhood until the construction is completed.
Recommended by:
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager