Can’t move? You must be driving in Preston
CAMBRIDGE — Driving in Preston has become a nightmare.
Imagine your quiet, residential side street suddenly jam-packed with stalled cars during rush hour because the main roads are either closed or clogged.
This is what Melanie Creechan Braniff ’s street looks like these days.
Construction started on Fountain, Shantz Hill and King last year, making it a slow-like-molasses commute down the hill for drivers trying to get to Preston from Kitchener.
It got worse when a small section of Speedsville Road, one of the few ways in and out of Preston, closed last month.
“Sometimes just getting out of my driveway is a problem,” Creechan Braniff said in a Facebook group called “Preston Ontario” when The Record asked residents how road work has affected their commutes.
These two construction projects — one regional and one city-led — have bottlenecked drivers in the area. Cambridge councillors and residents are aggravated by the lack of options getting in and out of Preston.
“What used to take 10 minutes can now take people up to an hour,” Coun. Mike Mann said. “I really understand the frustration from the community. I live there, too.”
While the road work is not in his ward,
Mann said he is getting the “brunt” of complaints from residents.
Although the Region of Waterloo’s two-year road improvement project at Fountain Street isn’t new for area residents, adding yet another closure nearby made things worse for many.
Zipping across Maple Grove Road and down Speedsville to get into Preston isn’t an option anymore. The closed section may be small, from the Highway 401 bridge to Royal Oak Road, but the shutdown is new chaos for drivers.
The City of Cambridge is putting in a pumping station and sewer to service a new subdivision called Hunt Club Valley. Speedsville Road is expected to reopen on June 19.
James Etienne, an engineer with the city, told a frustrated city council last week that servicing work for the new subdivision needs to happen before the developer starts building homes in October.
The development was approved by council last year. It took this long to get going with road work because the developer had to get final design approvals from city staff. That didn’t happen until earlier this year.
The result: Preston is saddled with regional and city road work at the same time.
“We have to work it (our road work) around these multi-year projects,” Etienne said.
“We have been trying to coordinate as much as possible with the region.”
Maple Grove Road is the city’s suggested detour to get around the Speedsville closure. Some drivers take Eagle Street down to Hespeler or Franklin, streets that are already bumper-to-bumper during rush hour. Many have to brave the lane closures on Fountain, Shantz Hill and King.
To make matters worse, the region needs to fix up roads on Fountain Street north of King to Highway 401 at some point this year to wrap up work this construction season.
That will create more congestion in the already busy area. City councillors want the region to hold off on that portion of road work until the city has reopened Speedsville.
“The impact is already farreaching,” Mann said. “We want to see if we can work together to alleviate this.”
The region says it will continue to monitor traffic congestion in the area. It tries to do what it can to alleviate the pressure, Jason Lane, Region of Waterloo project manager, said in an email.
Traffic lights were recently removed at the bottom of Shantz Hill Road to create better traffic flow. Other plans include road work at night and on weekends at King and Eagle when that is set to begin.
There isn’t a planned date yet for when work will begin on the north part of Fountain Street. The city plans to meet with the region this week to figure out how to move forward.
More than 75 people who live or work in Preston shared stories about their long, dreadful commutes in response to The Record’s Facebook post.
Some said it’s excruciating to try to get across King Street in downtown Preston because it is congested with stalled cars.
One woman takes a public bus from Preston to downtown Kitchener and a 45 to 60 minute trip can now take her up to two hours.
A school bus driver vented about delays on her route and how difficult her job has become. Cyclists say it’s nearly impossible to bike to Kitchener and one has given up cycling to work for now.
People are late to work, to appointments and to drop children off at daycare.
The range of comments shows that choices for Preston commuters are very limited.
Options are limited for emergency services, too, but Rick Hembly, a platoon chief with the Cambridge Fire Department, said road restrictions haven’t hindered firefighters’ response times too much.
“I get the public’s frustrations but with us it’s a little bit different,” he said.
“The general public is really good about letting us through and moving over.”
Hembly said he hasn’t had a chance to look at the numbers yet, but there haven’t been any significant delays for fire crews due to overwhelming traffic congestion.
Road work to expect in and around Preston this construction season:
The region is resurfacing Shantz Hill Road and putting in new sidewalks from Fountain Street to the Highway 401 eastbound ramp
Fountain Street from Shantz Hill Road to King Street and on King Street, from Fountain Street to Eagle Street is regional road improvement work that will widen the roads, add bike lanes and new sidewalks
Fountain Street is closed from Blair Road to Preston Parkway to replace the aging bridge
Speedsville Road is closed from the Highway 401 bridge to Royal Oak Road to install a pumping station, sewer and water infrastructure.
Once Speedsville reopens, expected to happen on June 19, the city will close Royal Oak Road between Boxwood Drive and Speedsville to complete infrastructure installation.