Colborne Street Community

The following link will direct you to a PDF file that contains item #5 from the ETC agenda for January 11, 2010: ETC Agenda for January 11, 2010, Item #5  [1mb]

This PDF contains an overview of a traffic calming study performed in Old North. Page 18 of this PDF (which says "page 34" at the top of the page because it is page 34 of the overall agenda document) discusses "Preliminary Traffic Calming Plan Costs," and lists the many traffic calming measures that will be implemented on Regent, Victoria, Cheapside, Grosvenor, St. James, Waterloo, Maitland, and William.

Notable here is the fact that no traffic calming measures will be added to Colborne, but instead bike lanes will be added to Colborne.

On a related note, during the Public Information Centre on January 12th, the city's divisional manager for Transportation Planning and Design, John Lucas, alluded to future plans for running buses along Colborne.

The following link will direct you to London's traffic calming policy: City of London - Traffic Calming Policy

Colborne Street is designated as a primary collector, and item #5 of the ETC agenda from January 11th states on page ten that primary collectors can handle up to 15,000 cars per day.

As of January 19th, the interactive map on the City of London's Traffic Volume web page claims that Colborne Street, North of Oxford, receives somewhere between 3,000 and 6,500 cars per day.

Something important to note here is that Huron Street is designated as a primary collector, and that Huron Street residents have spoken with the city about having their designation lowered.

Something else that may become important is the fact that the city's interactive Traffic Volume map shows Colborne Street as being connected to Waterloo Street, via a route that goes through the Seminary. As I say, this may become important, but we have not heard any official commentary from the city regarding such plans. If there are plans to increase the volume of traffic on Colborne while also connecting Colborne to Waterloo via the Seminary, then that would explain how Huron might be able to have its designation reduced. (NB: This is not to say that Huron's designation should not be reduced, but rather what we're saying here is that it would be great if there was an easy way for residents to find out what the city's full plans are, and an easy way to access all surveys, survey results, studies, and plans. As well, we would prefer to be informed of all plans more than a few months prior to the start of construction.)

The following link will direct you to a blog that contains the delegation speech given by Jane Monteith at the ETC meeting on January 11th, 2010: Greg Fowler's blog

Greg Fowler's web page provides the full audio [45mb] and video of Jane's speech, and includes feedback from city councillors.

Councillor Roger Caranci doubts the efficacy of the proposed traffic calming measures for Old North, while councillor Cheryl Miller questions the wisdom of eliminating street parking from a neighbourhood that has many single car driveways, mutual driveways, and limited visitor parking. In addition, Colborne Street currently provides student parking for King's College, and abolishing street parking from Colborne will result in greater problems for students who are attempting to locate parking spots that are within walking distance from King's College. Further to these concerns, councillor Paul Hubert raises questions about the logic of attempting to route cyclists through Colborne Street, as the other bicycle paths that cyclists will eventually have to connect with are many kilometres West of Colborne.

The following link will direct you to a PDF file containing an analysis of London's Bicycle Master Plan: Bicycle Master Plan Implementation Study  [15mb]

This study was completed by the city in August 2007, and describes a hybrid solution for the segment of Colborne Street that lies North of Oxford Street, thus eliminating any need for widening the street. The study was completed to ensure that the city's 2005 Master Bike Plan remains current and relevant, and specifically notes that revisions should occur.

Please note that pages 14 to 19 of this document describe a situation in which the status quo is maintained -- which is precisely what many residents of Colborne are hoping for. If the contents of this document have not been superseded, then it may be the case that the city does not have to alter Colborne Street as per the two options presented in their initial survey letter, dated November 27th, 2009.