Oxford Street Improvements

[CanadianTalk]

The Oxford St W environmental assessment study is complete and awaiting Council approval:

https://getinvolved.london.ca/33843/widgets/140322/documents/136127
https://getinvolved.london.ca/oxfordwest

The recommendations have not changed from what was discussed in the previous public sessions (notes below), very disappointed to see that roundabouts are still not recommended at Westdel and at Commissioners. They are a lot more efficient, and are a lot safer than regular intersections since cars have to slow while going through them.

Construction on the stretch between Westdel and Commissioners is tentatively scheduled for next year

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Summary:

• Oxford will be widened to 4 lanes from Sanitorium to Westdel, along with a centre median or left turn lanes where needed
• Oxford at Kains/Commissioners and Oxford at Westdel will not be converted to roundabouts, as speculated at the 1st public meeting. They will remain as traffic signals
• Looks like dual-left turns are proposed from NB Commissioners to WB Oxford and SB Kains to EB Oxford
• in-boulevard bike paths will be provided in both directions from Sanitorium to Westdel. There is space on the existing Thames River bridge to do this
• Thames River bridge will not be widened (to include a cantilever) in the interim. This will save $5 to $7 million. From the presentation: "Today, pedestrians use the multi-use path on the south side of the bridge. At this time, there is limited need for a pedestrian facility on the north side of the bridge. A cantilever will be constructed when there is pedestrian demand on the north side of Oxford Street West between Kains Road and Sanatorium Road (e.g., land use change, key destinations)."

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

The Oxford St W environmental assessment study is complete and awaiting Council approval:

https://getinvolved.london.ca/33843/widgets/140322/documents/136127
https://getinvolved.london.ca/oxfordwest

The recommendations have not changed from what was discussed in the previous public sessions (notes below), very disappointed to see that roundabouts are still not recommended at Westdel and at Commissioners. They are a lot more efficient, and are a lot safer than regular intersections since cars have to slow while going through them.

Construction on the stretch between Westdel and Commissioners is tentatively scheduled for next year

The reason they did not recommend roundabouts is likely due to demand mismatch at each intersection. Roundabouts work best with two roads that have equal traffic demand. Having a demand mismatch can cause greater issues with traffic backing up on the lower demand roads than it otherwise would with lights, as there might be less opportunities for traffic on the lower demand roads to clear than with lights. The AADT on Oxford most likely far outweighs the AADT on Westdel or Commissioners.

[CanadianTalk]

Here is the council report for the Oxford Street EA: https://pub-london.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=110485

The report says that the construction between Westdel and Commissioners is now set to begin in 2026, subject to all final approvals, and could be undertaken in two construction seasons.

[ssiguy]

^^^^ I don't suppose the city is going to have the foresight to widen the stretch to accommodate future BRT extensions?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

^^^^ I don't suppose the city is going to have the foresight to widen the stretch to accommodate future BRT extensions?

We don't have money to waste today setting up for projects they might not even do, let alone if they do, it will be decades down the road. There are enough projects needing to be done today that are being pushed because of cost overruns of the current BRT project without widening a piece of road from 2 to 6 lanes that might not ever get BRT. Plus there are already obstacles in the way west of Wonderland, namely the CN Rail bridge, the Thames bridge, and the road allowance in West 5 already is too narrow for 6 lanes between the plaza and Sifton Centre.

[MrSlippery519]

Originally Posted by ericmacm

The reason they did not recommend roundabouts is likely due to demand mismatch at each intersection. Roundabouts work best with two roads that have equal traffic demand. Having a demand mismatch can cause greater issues with traffic backing up on the lower demand roads than it otherwise would with lights, as there might be less opportunities for traffic on the lower demand roads to clear than with lights. The AADT on Oxford most likely far outweighs the AADT on Westdel or Commissioners.

This makes perfect sense for these 2 intersections. As long as they have the dual left turn last as they have laid out for the East and West directions this will flow well.

I hope this is a sign the city is looking to add more dual lefts, Wonderland Road congestion would be dramatically reduced if they added these to the major intersections.

[jammer139]

fresh link to the Oxford Street EA report.

https://pub-london.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=110506

[jammer139]

Have started pouring the curbs for the roundabout and approaches.

[jammer139]

Have now got paving on the new roundabout. Could see a traffic shift to start using the roundabout rather then the temp lanes on the north side soon.

[jammer139]

Traffic has now been shifted onto the new roundabout. Working now on the north side where the temp lanes were to clean-up that up.

[CanadianTalk]

Oxford and Gideon roundabout is now open.

CTV London article + video: https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/new-roundabout-opens-in-west-london/

[CanadianTalk]

Looks like the Oxford widening between Westdel Bourne and Commissioners Rd has been postponed to next year.... it was supposed to start this year.

https://getinvolved.london.ca/oxfordwest