A pair of city councillors believe the solution to some of London’s traffic woes might be found in two stalled mega-projects from the city’s past.
Councillor Corrine Rahman and Councillor Steve Lehman have sent a motion to the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC) that would restart the Environmental Assessment (EA) for widening a congested stretch of Wonderland Road from four to six lanes, and ask the mayor to hold discussions with the provincial government and neighbouring municipalities about a ring road around the city’s perimeter.
Lehman says traffic congestion has only worsened along Wonderland Road since council paused the EA in 2021, “We’re seeing much more (traffic) with the residential development in the north and northwest, a huge increase in north-south traffic.”
“Alongside some of the other plans that are mentioned in the Mobility Master Plan, we’re saying we also need to look at changing course on Wonderland Road,” Rahman added.
Lehman’s ward encompasses a large swath of west London, while Rahman represents the northwest corner of the city.
Their motion would restart the Discover Wonderland Road EA to widen the stretch from Southdale Road to Fanshawe Park Road.
Rahman says residents can no longer wait for a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route along Wonderland to solve their mobility challenges.
Much of her ward still lacks neighbourhood bus routes necessary to connect passenger to an expanded BRT system.
The motion would prioritize adding two new traffic lanes as part of the 2028 Development Charges Background Study.
“(The lanes) can be converted to BRT should ridership build and the network be built out. So it’s a bit of a hybrid of those two solutions,” she explained.
Lehman added that he’s responding to what residents told him during recent public consultation sessions for London’s 25-year Mobility Master Plan (MMP), “There’s a huge bottleneck in that section of Wonderland. The city has successfully addressed bottlenecks in other parts of the city and done major road improvements elsewhere.”
The motion would also request that the mayor engage in discussions with the provincial government and neighbouring municipalities about working collaboratively on a ring road and integrated transportation network.
Both councillors believe it would help move people, goods and services throughout the region.
Constructing a ring road around London has been the subject of local debate for more than 50 years, but Rahman isn’t dissuaded.
“Londoners are wanting us to have the conversation,” she explained. “Our job is to ensure that we’ve looked at all options and to ensure that we’ve had the conversations necessary to make sure that we’re improving the lives of everyday Londoners.”
“We’ve got Veterans Memorial Parkway in the east, the 401 down south, 402 up the southwest,” Lehman explained. “We could come up (towards) the north along Westdel Bourne. That just leaves a north (connection).”
However, the Co-founder of Climate Action London suggested the motion would move London in the wrong direction.
“If they had approved (the west route of) BRT years ago, we would now be seeing things in a much different light,” Mary Ann Hodge told CTV News. “Now we’re talking about locking ourselves into car dependency for another 20 or 30 years?”
Rahman says before either project would proceed, the environmental and climate change impacts would be considered during an EA study, “This is about having all those answers, and having that fulsome picture from the environmental assessment.”
According to a staff report on the agenda of next week’s SPPC meeting, a 2001 study determined that a ring road would be very costly and too far removed from the built-up part of London to reduce drive times.
City staff recently confirmed those finding during the development of the new MMP.
But Lehman countered, “This is a Mobility Master Plan for 25 years, so let’s do something bold. Let’s think outside the box.”
The councillors’ motion will be brought forward at Tuesday’s SPPC meeting when members receive an update about public feedback received about the MMP.
