Wyandotte Street East was looked at for a 'road diet' That's now off the table

A Windsor active transit advocateis slamming council's decision toscrap a proposalto narrow a section of Wyandotte Street stretching from Walkerville through Pillette Village and into Riverside.

City council approved a last-minutebudget amendmentfrom Mayor Drew Dilkenslast month that will see traffic calming measures added to the four-lane stretch instead of a previously discussed road diet that would eliminatea lane in each direction.

"I feel that the reason why we need that more than anything is because it's unsafe," said Lori Newton, executive director of Bike Windsor-Essex.

"Car drivers, we know, are speeding like mad through that area."

A road diet is when lanes of a street are changed to allow for pedestrian space, on-street parkingand bike infrastructure.

Streets that go on road diets see drivers reduce their speeds as well as the severity and frequency of collisions, according to a report from the city.

People were shown alternative road designs for Wyandotte Street East two years ago during public meetings with options to add bikeways with and without a road diet.

Street would fail with road diet, says mayor

City staff wrote in materials displayed during public meetings in 2022 that anarrowing Wyandotte Street East would add 8to 12 minutes to travel time during the afternoon rush hour.

The near seven-kilometre stretch takes drivers about 16 minutes to travel across.

An updated report including public feedback from those consultations in 2022 has not been presented to council.

Windsor's mayor told council that capital costs for narrowing the street with bikeways would cost $1.2 million and pitched spending $225,000 on crosswalks for people to use on that stretch instead.

"It relates directly to the work that's been done over two years and the public consultations that we've done of possibly narrowing Wyandotte Street," said Dilkens in the final moments of the hours long meeting last month.

"What's happened through those public consultations is it's become quite clear that the roadway would fail if we do what was originally proposed."

Sandwich Coun. Fabio Costante was the lone vote against the motion.

Councilor says decision a mistake

Councillor Kieran McKenzie, who originally supported the motion, said he regrets his decision and wants a report from city staff on the impact of the decision.

"Upon reflection, at least for myself, I think we made a mistake and at the very least we need to see some analysis to whether or not we made the correct decision."

He took issue with how the decision was made without an update from city staff on the outcome of consultations or recommendations from administration.

"The mayor, without any consultation, unfortunately brought forward a proposal to cancel the WyandotteStreet East roaddiet," said McKenzie, who said city staff and stakeholders have put years of work into the project.

"And literally in the blink of an eye, council voted, myself included,to cancel all of that work and to go in a different direction."

Push for pilot project

Shanwa Boakes, Windsor's director of operations, told CBC News that an updated report will head to council shortly.

McKenzie said the next step would be for council to consider designs for the street alongside a cost estimate.

Newton said that she would like to see a pilot project in place.

"I got to tell you, we have been waiting at four years, five years for pilot road dietthrough Riverside and through the villages," she said.

Newton points to successful road diets in Hamilton and Toronto as examples of busy roads that have reduced lanes while improving safety for people.

"You need to physically put things in the way of drivers so that they feel less able to move forward quickly and speedily."

Here's how Windsor plans to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries

11 months ago

Duration 3:30

City council will look at a Vision Zero plan that aims to eliminate deaths and major injuries on Windsor roads.

Road diets are part of Windsor's Vision Zero report that aims to eliminate deaths on streets, with Eugenie Street shifted from four lanes into two with a shared middle turning lane.

Newton said these policies need to be considered so that people have access to roads as a way of transportation.

"It should not be this hard to get protection for people using our roads, and roads are not just for car drivers."