City moves to bar westbound vehicle traffic on Dundas Place, add 2 bike lanes

A London city staff report iscalling forthe stretch of Dundas Street through the downtown core to be reduced to one lane of vehicle traffic as part of a one-year pilot project while King Street is under construction.

The proposal is outlined in a report headed to Tuesday's civic works committee. It calls for vehicle traffic on Dundas Place, between Ridout and Wellington Streets, to be limited to eastbound only traffic, with the lone vehicle lane shifting to thecentre of the street with bike lanes on either side.

The bike lanes will be marked on the cobble stones and the report says the changes will notaffect on-street parking, loading zones or event planning.

The move is intended to offer an east-west route for cycliststhrough the downtown core, something that's been missing since the eastbound-only bike lane on King Street was removed last year.

This year much of King Street will be under construction as the Downtown Loop segment of London's Bus Rapid Transit system is installed.

Dundas Place, which has a 30 km/h speed limit, is the route city engineers prefer for east-west bike traffic through the core. However, since the flex street was completed in 2019, some cyclists have complained the street feels dangerous due to its constrained space and lack of a clearly marked bike lane.

"There's kind of an element of not knowing where to be," said Daniel Hall of the London cycling advocacy group London Cycle Link. "I think a lot of people feel that anxiety. You take the lane like a vehicle, but not every cyclist is comfortable with that. I think giving everyone their own space will alleviate a lot of concern."

The upside of routing cyclists onto Dundas is that it fits well with the new cycling infrastructure on either side of Dundas Place, Hall said. To the west, the city has installed improved connections and bike paths between Dundas and the Thames Valley Parkway. To the east, a new cycle track provides a separated bike line into Old East Village from Wellington Street.

"This link become crucial to making the whole system work well," said Hall.

Hall said this year will work as a good test case to see if the new traffic flow works well on Dundas.

"I think it's important that we get it right and I think this is a really good way to test it during this construction season," he said. "I think that this is something that could live on beyond the summer."

If council approves the pilot project, the bike lanes will appear on Dundas in late April to coincide with the start of construction on King Street.

Parking changes

The report also recommends changes to metered parking on DundasPlace.

Right now, paid parking on Dundas Place requires the use of the Honk mobile app and is limited to two hours with the first hour free.

Staff are recommending that two-hour paid parking onDundas Street from Ridout Street North to Wellington Street be removed and replaced with one-hour free parking. The report says this change will increase turnover on the street and that vehicles in need of longer-term parking can use one of the off-street lots.