All of the options London city council has at its disposal for bus rapid transit are starting to come into view.
A new report published to the Shift London website details all of the options for the north corridor, including the Wharncliffe route, which was the focus of Wednesday’s meeting with property owners.
About two dozen people attended the event at Centennial Hall, many with concerns about the loss of land to road widening.
Richard Gilligan owns five properties in the area. He said one of them was built in 1890 and already shakes when trucks pass by.
“I only have 10 or 12 feet from my front door to the sidewalk and I have a hydro pole out in front of my window, and now that hydro pole is going to be moved in six or seven feet, the sidewalk is going to be moved in six or seven feet,” Gilligan said. “That’s not ideal for me.”
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City engineer Kelly Scherr tells AM980 staff believe ridership would be overall lower on a Wharncliffe route and it would lead to more traffic.
“The Richmond route serves the hospital well, it serves the downtown very well, and serves Western University as well as Masonville, whereas when we end up on Wharncliffe we don’t see some of that same level of service or demand from the downtown and the hospital and the west side of campus as well,” she said.
Scherr added more research is being done to determine the impacts to parking, traffic congestion and road widening measures should the city swap the routes.
The options included in the Shift London website report are building an underpass at an estimated cost between $226 million and $258 million, putting BRT on Richmond with no tunnel or underpass at a cost estimated between $111 million and $121 million, moving the north corridor to Wharncliffe and Western Road at an estimated cost of between $136 million and $166 million or continuing with the plan for the tunnel, which now has an estimated cost of $258 million.
Each option comes with its own issues.
The report says building an underpass would require one side of Richmond to be “completely demolished” between Pall Mall Street and Oxford. Due to its size, this alternative is considered to have “very significant impacts.”
Meantime, the Wharncliffe option would impact the most property. There would be some savings by avoiding the tunnel, but additional costs would be incurred for property acquisition.
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The document also touches on the impact of construction on businesses. It notes food service, entertainment and retail-oriented business would be more sensitive than office buildings, and an estimated 28 per cent of businesses located along Richmond Street between Central Avenue and Oxford Street are considered to have a low tolerance for construction disruption. The Richmond Street corridor with the tunnel would have the longest duration of construction of the alternatives detailed in the report.
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The report doesn’t include any recommendations.
A public meeting on rapid transit will be held May 3 at Budweiser Gardens. Council could potentially finalize the routes on May 16.
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