Central Avenue Cycling and Resurfacing Improvements

Background

The City of London plans to install new cycling infrastructure on Central Avenue in late summer or early fall of 2023. The Central Avenue Cycling and Resurfacing Improvements project, which is part of the City of London's Cycling Master Plan, will add new cycling facilities on Central Avenue between Richmond Street and William Street, and resurface Central Avenue from Maitland Street to William Street.

Above: A map showing the project limits on Central Avenue from 30 metres west of Richmond Street to William Street. West of Colborne Street the cycling lanes will be protected; east of Colborne the cycling lanes will be painted. The section between William St and Adelaide St N will be completed through the Adelaide Grade Separation project

View presentation of the proposed design*

*This design has since been updated for the Richmond Street to Wellington Street block, following community consultation. See "Design Update" below for more details.

Design updates

Through public engagement on the proposed design for new bike lanes on Central Avenue, the City of London’s transportation planning and design team heard from the community:

• support for improved cycling infrastructure along Central Avenue
• concerns relating to loss of parking on the north side of Central Avenue, in particular within the Richmond to Wellington Street block
• desire to see both safe cycling infrastructure and preservation of parking next to Victoria Park

After reviewing community feedback and further investigating opportunities to accommodate parking and improved cycling infrastructure, the design has been updated as follows:

• Westbound bike lanes located on the north side of Central Avenue (previously designed to be installed on-street, with curb protection) will be installed in-boulevard, next to the sidewalk.
  • The existing sidewalk in this block of Central Avenue is in need of repair and the City will use this opportunity to replace it at the same time

This change will result in:

• Removal of 9 trees from City of London right of way
  • Replanting of trees behind the sidewalk will occur where possible
• Preservation of 12 parking spots on north side of Central Avenue, which were impacted by the previous design

Above: A cross-section showing the updated design on Central Avenue between Richmond and Wellington Street

Additional parking locations

In addition to preserving parking spots on Central Avenue, additional on-street parking locations spots will be implemented on Richmond Street between John Street and Dufferin Avenue. This will involve converting some temporary parking to permanent and some sections of the vehicle curb lane to time-restricted parking.

The bus bay located northeast of the Richmond Street/ Central Avenue intersection will also be converted to parking spaces. This is made possible by closing the slip lane from Richmond Street to Central Avenue as part of the project.

Next steps:

Construction is currently scheduled to begin in late spring/summer of 2024. Notices with detailed information on construction will be delivered to nearby properties approximately two weeks prior to the start of construction.

We look forward to implementing these active transportation improvements. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the City of London project team using the contact information provided below.

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