Staff Report #7
March 30, 2022
To All Commissioners
Re: Impact of 2022 Road Construction – Conventional Transit Service
Recommendation
The report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
As has been the case over the past number of years, the City of London will be undertaking a large number of construction projects during the 2022 construction season, many of which will have impacts to transit routes and schedule adherence. The city has released the major construction projects that are currently planned to take place during the 2022 construction season. Of the 45 projects, 17 are anticipated to have impacts on transit service resulting in detours and/or stop closures. Table I below, sets out the projects that will have an impact on transit. At this time, the timing and duration of the majority of projects is not known.
Table I – 2022 Transit Impacts of Summer Construction Projects
| Project Description | Location | Duration | Impacted Routes |
| Brydges Street, Muir Street, and Swinyard Street (Infrastructure Renewal) Year 2 of 2 | Brydges Street between Childers St and Highbury Ave | All routes leaving and returning to the Highbury Garage | |
| Fanshawe Park Rd Active Transportation Improvements | Fanshawe Park Road between Adelaide and Phillbrook Drive | 16, 25, 34 & 92 | |
| Ridout/Commissioners (signal modifications) | Ridout/ Commissioners Intersection | 4 & 24 | |
| Brydges Wavell Active Transportation Improvements | Brydges between Highbury and Clarke Road | March to December 2022 | 7 |
| Downtown Loop Phase 2 | Ridout between King and Fullerton | March to December 2022 | 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 19, 20, 106 |
| Queens between Ridout and Wellington | 2,3, 5, 9, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20, 90, 94, 106 4, 6, 15, &104 will be also be impacted during the intersection work at Richmond & Queens |
||
| Victoria Bridge Replacement | Ridout between Horton and Ingleside Place | March 2022 to May 2023 | 4, 15, 104 |
| East London Link Phase 1 | King between Wellington and Lyle | March to December 2022 | 7 |
| Regent St and William St Phase 2 (Infrastructure Renewal) |
Regent between William and Maitland
& William between Huron and Regent |
27 | |
| Adelaide St North at CPR Underpass Year 1 of 3 |
Adelaide 80m north of McMahen to Elias | 16, 92 | |
| Pottersburg Phase 1 Reconstruction | Dundas between Pottersburg Creek and Burdick Place | 2, 94 | |
| Project Description | Location | Duration | Impacted Routes |
| Southdale Road West Improvements (Phase 1) | Southdale between Pine Valley Blvd and 300m west of Bostwick
& The Bostwick/Southdale Intersection |
15A | |
| Huron St Corrosion Protection Improvements | Huron between Adelaide and Clarke Road | 1, 10, 15, 25, 27 | |
| Arterial Road Rehabilitation | Fanshawe Park Road between Hyde Park and Dalmagarry | 19, 31 | |
| Page St – ILRP | Page Street from Veterans Memorial Parkway to the west end | 36 | |
| Local Road Reconstruction Project, Contract #2 (Mat Replacement) | Railton between Trafalgar and Marconi | 35 | |
| Shelborne Street between Deveron Cres and Deveron Cres | 1 | ||
| Burlington Gate between Shelborne and Deveron | 1 | ||
| Local Road Reconstruction Project, Contract #3 (Full Reconstruction/Mat Replacement) |
Hastings Dr between Fanshawe Park Road and Hastings Gate | 19 | |
| Local Road Reconstruction Project, Contract #4 | Richmond between Central and Hyman
& Richmond between Mill and CN Tracks |
4, 6, 13, 15, 90, 102, 106 |
A number of the construction projects this year will have impacts on multiple routes and the overall impacts of the construction are anticipated to cause schedule adherence issues for surrounding routes. Additionally, as was the case over the past four years, the construction work in the downtown will have a significant impact on reliability for all routes travelling through the core area as other vehicles are diverted along transit routes.
There are also a number of traffic signal projects planned for this year to update existing traffic signals as well as install new signals. Many of these projects are anticipated to have schedule adherence impacts to the route traveling through the intersections; however, the impacts are not anticipated to be long term.
Detours
Set out below are details of the upcoming construction projects that are scheduled to commence in the coming days, and their related impacts.
Downtown Loop Phase II
Set-up and construction staging started on March 28 on the second phase of the Downtown Loop for the London Rapid Transit project. Phase II includes Ridout between Fullerton and King as well as Queens between Wellington and Ridout, which will be broken down into smaller sub-phases throughout the 2022 construction season. Throughout the construction, buses will be detoured from Queens to Dufferin and onto Talbot during the Ridout construction. The current traffic control plans reduce Ridout to one lane between Dundas and King. As a result, effective March 28, the southbound stop on Ridout south of Riverside/Dundas will be closed. Ridout will be closed southbound south of King resulting in Routes 5 and 7 being detoured via Queens, Talbot and York. Additionally, the lanes on the north side of Queens are closed between Talbot and Ridout. At this time a detour is not required however, the stop at Queens and Ridout has been closed and passengers are directed to catch the bus at Talbot. Detours and impacted routes will change throughout the construction phasing. Updated information will be provided as warranted.
East London Link Phase I
Construction began on the first phase of the East London Link for the London Rapid Transit project on March 21, 2022. Phase I includes King Street between Wellington and Lyle, which will be broken down into smaller sub-phases throughout the 2022 construction season. Currently work has begun on the eastern limits of the project. Once work commences between Wellington and Waterloo, Route 7 will be detoured onto York. In addition, due to intersection work required at King and Wellington, eastbound buses will not be able to turn off King onto Wellington. As a result, all routes travelling eastbound on King will need to be detoured onto York between Ridout and Wellington from mid-April until October. One lane of traffic northbound and southbound on Wellington is to be maintained through the project and as such northbound and southbound routes should be able to maintain regular routing. However, as there will be only one lane, stops will need to be closed both northbound and southbound throughout the duration of the project to avoid transit vehicles stopping in the only travelled lane.
Victoria Bridge
Construction was set to begin in March on the full replacement of the Victoria Bridge on Ridout between Horton and Ingleside Place. At time of report writing, the date of commencement of the project is not known. Due to limited detour options in the area, Routes 4, 15 and 104 will be detoured off Ridout between Grand Ave and Horton along Carfrae and Richmond for the duration of the project, which is currently scheduled to be completed in May 2023.
LTC administration has been working closely with civic administration, attending weekly meetings 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 has developed and implemented a communications strategy with respect to service interruptions in an effort to ensure passengers and 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 screens and postings.
Updates will be provided to the Commission on a regular basis as the construction progresses.
Recommended by:
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager