TAKING AIM AT GRIDLOCKS
Coun. Borrelli seeks funding for two projects
Hopes are high that two traffic bottlenecks in Coun. Paul Borrelli’s Ward 10 will soon be fixed.
Improvements worth $2.1 million to the very congested Dominion Boulevard and Northwood Street intersection have been pushed forward to next year in the proposed six-year capital budget that goes to council for approval Jan. 15-16.
And city officials should learn in early 2018 whether the Ontario government will provide the funding necessary to accelerate the $7.2-million pedestrian and bicycling tunnel project proposed to solve the so-called Dougall Death Trap. If funding from Ontario’s municipal commuter cycling program is approved, “that would be a project we would plan on moving forward very quickly with,” deputy city engineer Dwayne Dawson said, estimating it would take until 2019 to get the tunnel built because of time-consuming negotiations with the owner of the railway overpass, CN Rail.
Borrelli said if funding is approved by the province, he expects the tunnel project will be accelerated from it’s current spot — several years down the road. “If not, I have to figure out how to get the funds from council. It’s just one of those things. You have to fight for them.”
Council has already approved $2.5 million toward the project but needs another $4.7 million to get it done.
“It’s pretty important,” Borrelli said of the tunnel project, referring to the potentially dangerous situation cyclists and pedestrians face trying to get through the overpass. There are no sidewalks or bike lanes in this busy, congested stretch, and a “goat path” is all that’s available north of the overpass. “People who go through there are taking themselves into harm’s way. It’s a very challenging area.”
The Dominion-Northwood intersection is also a big source of complaints. The traffic congestion there has worsened in recent years due to continued growth at nearby Holy Names High School, the Windsor Mosque and Northwood elementary school. It features a peculiar setup where there’s an advanced green light for northbound cars but no left-turn lane, and two lanes quickly merging into a single lane immediately north of the intersection.
“People are just tired of having these real challenges every morning,” Borrelli said.
The decision to move the project forward to 2018 is big, according to Borrelli, who pointed out that it and the death trap projects are part of a much bigger study of the area bounded by Howard Avenue, Dominion, Eugenie Street and West Grand Boulevard. All of the projects coming out of the study will end up costing tens of millions of dollars many years into the future.
“This is being pulled out early because there’s an immediate concern, to solve the congestion, gridlock and all the difficulties that occur every week from Monday to Friday, ” Borrelli said.
Dawson said if council approves the Dominion-Northwood project in January, city engineers will start planning. They have to determine if the city needs to acquire land for it, and whether utilities must be relocated. The new intersection will have a left-hand turn lane and wider turning radius for each approach. There will also be bike lanes and other improvements.
But Dawson said the ultimate solution for the traffic congestion won’t arrive until the two-laned portion of Dominion to the north is improved in future years.