I was looking at some old road and transit plans for London today, and saw some interesting proposals that never came to fruition.
- In 1990 there was a study involving intersection improvements at Wellington and Commissioners, as part of the widening of Wellington from 4 to 6 lanes between there and Baseline. One of the proposals was to build a SPUI (Single Point Urban Interchange) to replace the intersection, with Commissioners passing underneath Wellington. Another option was to build a grade separated ramp from Commissioners westbound to Wellington southbound, travelling underneath the intersection.
- To the east at Adelaide in the same era, one proposal would've had Commissioners passing over both the CN railway and Adelaide, and Adeliade being extended to flow onto Pond Mills at Southdale. A "jug handle" would have been built as a southerly extension of Leathorne Street, to connect Commissioners and Adeliade.
- Dedicated bus lanes and bus roads, not unlike Ottawa's Transitway, were proposed way back in 1974 in the London Urban Transportation Study (the predecessor to the Transportation Master Plan). The bus lanes would've run along Wellington from Commissioners to downtown, north on Richmond, west on the CP railway corridor, and north along Platt's Lane and Western Road to UWO. Other rapid transit routes would've existed along Dundas east to Highbury and west to Wharncliffe and then onto Springbank west to Wonderland, and the CP corridor one continuing west to Hutton (Wonderland) Road.
- Same 1974 plan called for a southerly extension of Colborne Street to meet Wellington between Baseline and Grand, as well as changing Richmond and Wellington into one-way streets, with Wellington being 3 lanes northbound and Richmond being 3 lanes southbound, converging via either Grey or Simcoe Street. The plan also called for not only the Horton westerly extension which opened in 1985, but also an easterly Horton extension to Trafalgar Street, just west of Highbury, running along the south side of the CN mainline. The long-discussed King Street extension was also shown.
- Also in the 1974 plan was a proposed realignment, in conjunction with Middlesex County, of Hyde Park Road to bypass Hyde Park Corner to the east. Boler Road was also supposed to be realigned to run easterly to Colonel Talbot Road between Baseline and Southdale. The Oxford west extension is also shown, and what later became Veteran's Memorial Parkway.
- The 1974 plan included various road widenings, many of which have never been built. Springbank was called to be widened to 6 lanes east of Wonderland, Wellington to 6 lanes south from downtown to the 401, and Western/Wharncliffe to 4 lanes in the section which is still 2 lanes.
Some of the projects that did come out of this plan included the VMP (1977-1997), the Wonderland/Hutton link (1978), the Oxford extension (2003), the Horton west extension (1985), widening Wharncliffe to 4 lanes from Mount Pleasant Ave to Oxford (1982), widening Fanshawe Park Road to 4 lanes between Wonderland and Adelaide (1995-1998), and the Highbury/Bradley interchange (c. 1993).
Last edited by manny_santos; Jan 27, 2009 at 3:09 AM.
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