Staff Report #6
August 28, 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.
Wilton Grove Road
Construction on Wilton Grove Road between Hubrey Drive and Commerce Drive was completed on July 5, with Route 30 able to return to regular routing after nine months of detouring. A new construction project on Wilton Grove Road between Highbury and Old Victoria has commenced and will be completed in five phases. Phase 3, between Highbury and Commerce Road will again have significant impacts on transit operations, given the intersection of Wilton Grove Road and Commerce will be closed for approximately two months again resulting in no service to the Commerce, Max Brose and Cheese Factory area. It is currently anticipated that this work will begin in spring 2020. London Transit continues to work with the City of London and the contractors to determine if a safe stop location east of Highbury can be established during the construction to provide closer transit access to the businesses in this area.
The road work on Pond Mills Road between Buchanan and Enterprise that was originally scheduled to commence during the 2019 construction season in six month intervals for approximately three years has been delayed until spring 2020. London Transit administration will continue to work with civic administration to ensure this work is coordinated to start after Wilton Grove is reopened as another significant detour will be required on Route 30.
Richmond and York Intersection
Work in the intersection of Richmond and York is scheduled be completed on September 3, 2019. 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 impact to the customer.
Oxford and Talbot Intersection
The traffic signal rebuild at the Oxford and Talbot intersection is anticipated 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 and are anticipated to be further impacted in the fall with the increase in traffic.
Western O-Week
During orientation week at Western (September 3-7), all roads in the center of the campus will be closed to vehicle traffic between 6pm and end of service. Eleven routes will be required to be detoured around campus, 2, 6, 10, 13, 27, 31, 33, 34, 102 and 106, noting that Natural Science will continue to be serviced as there will be police stationed at the Middlesex and Perth Intersection to allow transit vehicles through the area. London Transit will monitor the impacts on schedule adherence and will make adjustments to the detours as required.
Devonshire/Cathcart
Construction on Cathcart started on April 8, 2019 and is scheduled to be completed early 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 impacts however has 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 is anticipated to be completed by September 5, 2019.
Grenfell
Road rehabilitation is anticipated to be completed by mid-October. Currently Route 25 is on detour and starting September 1, 2019 with the fall service changes Route 34 which will then service the Grenfell neighborhood will require to be detoured.
Recommended by:
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager