Staff Report #5
June 26, 2024
To All Commissioners
Re: 2024 Road Construction Update
Recommendation
The report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
As has been the case over the past number of years, the City of London has and will be undertaking a large number of construction projects during the 2024 construction season, many of which will have impacts to transit routes and schedule adherence.
London Transit administration will continue to work 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.
Downtown Loop Phase III
Phase III of the Downtown Loop, Wellington between York and Queens, began construction in mid-March 2023. With the ongoing lane channeling not only limiting the ability to have stops along Wellington, but also impacting the operational ability for buses to turn off King onto Wellington, all routes operating along Wellington and King between York and Queens have been detoured since the start of construction.
Work has been slightly delayed and is now anticipated to be completed in early July.
Wellington Gateway Phase I
Construction on the first phase of the Wellington Gateway Rapid Transit leg commenced in mid-March 2023, with work taking place between York and the Thames River (north of Grand). With Wellington being limited to a single lane in each direction, buses cannot stop within the construction zone to allow passengers to board or alight the bus. As such, Routes 13 and 90 have been detoured via Grand, Carfrae/Richmond in order to maintain schedule adherence and provide stop locations for passengers.
Route 1 is remaining on regular routing along Wellington in order to continue to access South Street, Grey Street, and Colborne, noting that there are no stops on Wellington for Route 1 during construction.
Work on this phase of the Wellington Gateway rapid transit project is anticipated to be completed in November 2024. The existing detours will remain in place throughout the 2024 construction season.
Wellington Gateway Phase III
Wellington Gateway Phase III will span Wellington between Harlech Gate and Wilkins. Construction is currently set to be mobilized the week of July 16 with the 2024 works occurring on the east side of the road. During construction, all traffic will be shifted to the west side of the road resulting in the need to close some stops within the project limits. London Transit is working with the City of London and the contractor to ensure that some stops are able to remain open and be accessible for transit passengers.
Similar to Wellington Gateway IV, the work will occur over multiple years with finishing work anticipated in 2026.
Wellington Gateway Phase IV
Wellington Gateway Phase IV was scheduled to begin construction on June 17, 2024 with construction limits between Harlech Gate and 200 meters north of Exeter. At time of report writing, the start of the construction has been delayed and is anticipated to commence sometime the week of June 24. This phase of the Rapid Transit construction is scheduled to last over multiple construction seasons with the finishing work anticipated to be completed by the end of July 2026.
Work will be broken into three stages. Stage one will have construction on the east side of Wellington with all vehicles operating on the west side, stage two will involve the construction of the west side of Wellington with traffic flipped to the east side and the final stage will be the construction of the rapid transit station platforms.
London Transit administration is working with the City of London to ensure that some stops can be maintained within the construction limits for the duration of the project, noting the project limits stretch approximately 1.6 km. Conversations are also continuing with the City and the contractor to ensure that entrance and egress is maintained into White Oaks Mall from Wellington during the construction to allow transit service to continue to service the mall.
East London Link Phase II
Finishing and deficiency work is required along Dundas between Ontario and Egerton as part of the East London Link Phase II Rapid Transit work. Work began in early May. Due to construction delays, work is now scheduled to last until at least the end of July. During this time, Routes 2 and 94 have been detoured to York Street and Route 20 is operating along Dufferin and Princess.
East London Link Phase IIIA
Work commenced on Dundas Street between Egerton and McCormick Blvd for Phase IIIA of the East London Link Rapid Transit project on March 18, 2024. Work for this stage of the construction will be broken down into stages with one lane in each direction remaining open for the majority of the construction period. Work is currently taking place on Dundas between Egerton and Kellogg Lane on the north side of the road, resulting in westbound traffic being shifted to the south side. As there is only a single lane in each direction all eastbound and westbound bus stops within the construction limits will be closed for the duration of the construction.
Phase IB commenced on May 13, 2024. Eastbound lanes were to be closed for approximately three weeks during this phase, however with the current work for East London Link Phase II, buses are already detoured through this section of Dundas and as such there will be no additional impacts to routes with the change to this phase. In early August, work will start on Dundas between Kellogg Lane and McCormick Blvd. As with the previous phases, a single lane in each direction will remain open. Buses will not need to be detoured but stops within the construction zone will be closed.
All work on the East London Link Phase IIIA project is scheduled to be completed by mid-December 2024 and is not anticipated to have any carry-over work into 2025.
East London Link Phase IIIC
Construction along Highbury Ave north of the overpass to Oxford Street began in mid-February.
Construction will be completed in phases with each phase having a different impact on transit. Due to the limited options for detours, Routes 10 and 95 are continuing to operate along Highbury for the duration of the construction. As the work progresses, different stop closures will be required along Highbury as well as at the Dundas and Oxford intersections which will impact transfers with east/west routes.
Currently all stops northbound along Highbury between the Regional Mental Health Lands and Landor (just south of Cheapside) are closed as well as the eastbound stops on Oxford between Highbury and Mornington. This is currently resulting in a 900-meter walk for passengers to be able to transfer from a northbound bus to an eastbound bus. These closures are scheduled to continue until the end of July.
With the implementation of Route 95 on April 29, 2024 as well as the move to phase 1B of construction, northbound buses are unable to turn from Highbury onto Oxford. As such, Route 95 has been detoured via Dundas, First, Oxford to Fanshawe College Blvd. during this phase of construction.
To help passengers understand the stop closures and transfer locations during each phase of the construction, a table explaining which stops within the construction zone are open or closed as well as information with regard to where to get off the bus and where to board for major transfer connections has been posted on the London Transit website.
Victoria Bridge
Work continues on the Victoria Bridge reconstruction, with a full closure of Ridout Street. Routes 4, 15 and 104 continue to detour via Grand and Carfrae/Richmond. The updated completion date is currently scheduled for July 2024.
Adelaide Street North Underpass
On April 19, 2024, two lanes (one in each direction) opened along Adelaide, with vehicles now being able to travel under the underpass. This will eliminate the train delays for Routes 16 and 92 that were experienced on a daily basis at this location. As it is still only a single lane in each direction throughout the construction limits, routes will continue to have no stops within the construction zone. All four lanes are scheduled to open by the end of the year with the full project completion set for Summer 2025.
Fanshawe and Richmond Intersection Project
Work resumed on the rebuild of the Fanshawe and Richmond intersection in early March. The 2024 work is along Fanshawe Park Road between North Centre Road west and North Centre Road east. With the nature of the construction traffic being shifted to either the north side or south side of the road depending on the construction phase. Due to Fanshawe being limited to a single lane in each direction all stops along Fanshawe Park Road (both eastbound and westbound) within the construction limits will be closed for the duration of the project.
This results in approximately a 700-meter walk for Route 19 passengers to access Masonville Mall as well as transfer connections at the Mall terminal. With the construction limits, temporary stop locations are not an option during this work. Work is scheduled to be completed in August.
Pond Mills Road
Construction resumed along Pond Mills Road on May 1, 2024 as part of the ongoing MTO project. This year, the Highbury interchange has remained open, which reduces the distance required for the detour. While the distance for the detour has been reduced, schedule adherence issues are still expected for Route 30 during the construction period.
Construction is scheduled to be completed for the season in October, with work commencing again in 2025 to complete the project.
Special Events
Rides on Richmond
Rides on Richmond will once again be taking place along Richmond between Central and Piccadilly on July 21, 2024 from 11am to 2pm. Buses will have to detour off Richmond during the event. Due to other special events (see below) and construction projects in the area, detours are still being finalized.
London Pride Parade
The annual Pride Parade will also be occurring on July 21, 2024. Due to the delays with finishing construction along East London Link Phase II, the Pride Parade routing will again be taking place along Queens Ave. Participants will form up along Queens between Quebec and Adelaide with the route following Queens, Colborne and Dufferin to Victoria Park. Due to the parade routing as well as the construction on Dundas, Route 20 will not be able to service the Mornington area during the parade and will be detoured via Highbury and York. In order to ensure that the residents in this area are able to have transit service maintained, a special tripper bus will be implemented for the duration of the staging and parade to provide service between Fanshawe College and the Mornington area. Residents will then have the opportunity to transfer to a regular Route 20 bus to continue their travel.
Communications
The underlying goals with respect to communication regarding detours are to provide passengers and Operators with as much information as far in advance as possible, noting that dates and impacts can change without notice. Accomplishing both of these goals requires a balanced approach. A communication strategy has been developed which includes posting information on internal boards, the website, real-time/Infoweb alerts and social media as well as through stop level notifications which will provide passengers with information regarding which stops are closed and direct them to the closest stop location.
Recommended by:
David Butler, Manager, Operations Administration
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager