Ring road redux? Council to consider an old fix to new traffic congestion

Andrew Lupton · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 4:05 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

An aged readying idea, erstwhile declared dormant astatine metropolis hall, is present backmost arsenic assembly looks astatine ways to supply speedy alleviation for fast-growing London's surging postulation congestion. 

The thought is simply a ringing road, fundamentally a high-volume roadworthy that would link the northbound and westbound ends of the metropolis to Highway 401. 

It's been enactment guardant successful assorted forms since the 1960s, arsenic a mode to determination postulation astir the city, successful portion to relieve pressure connected roads successful the city's core. 

Councillors Corrine Rahman and Steve Lehman person a question coming to assembly today, which asks that the politician and unit statesman talks with the state and neighbouring municipalities to "work collaboratively connected a ringing roadworthy and integrated proscription network." 

They're putting the conception guardant arsenic the metropolis looks to enactment last support connected its Master Mobility Plan, a papers intended to usher transit plans for the adjacent 25 years. 

The thought of a ringing roadworthy runs antagonistic to overmuch of London's caller readying principles: Namely to absorption maturation "inward and upward" and scope a extremity of 32.5 per cent of each trips made by biking, walking oregon transit.  

Rahman said London has already grown past those readying ideals, and that a ringing roadworthy is an thought worthy studying. Her Ward 7 is located successful the city's northwest wherever caller subdivisions are overwhelming two-lane roads specified arsenic Sunningdale. 

"One of the main arguments I perceive against ringing roads is that it promotes improvement connected the outer ends of the metropolis limits," she said. "But the practicality is that that's already there, it's already happening."

Former metropolis councillor Stephen Turner has pushed backmost astatine the ringing roadworthy thought connected societal media. 

He agrees it doesn't acceptable with council-approved readying directives successful the Master Mobility Plan, oregon with the city's Climate Emergency Action Plan, which has a built-in goal of reducing greenhouse state emissions.  

"You cognize however thing checks each the boxes? This 1 crosses retired each the boxes," said Turner. 

Citing examples successful different cities, Turner said ringing roads don't constrain maturation to a city's core. Instead, helium said they spur caller maturation astatine the outskirts, fundamentally starring to the benignant of sprawl the London Plan, the city's guiding readying document, aims to avoid. 

"They go wide conduits that usher cars distant from section commerce," helium said. "The lone 1 they service is big-box commercialized modes." 

Creates struggle with farmers

Turner said portion London doesn't person mountains oregon h2o bodies arsenic obstacles to outward growth, the metropolis is surrounded by invaluable farmland and smaller communities extracurricular London's metropolis limits. A ringing roadworthy would mean annexing parts of adjacent municipalities oregon moving into costly lard purchases and expropriations. 

Ring roadworthy proposals successful the past person met with stiff absorption from farmers, raising the imaginable for costly expropriation and perchance the request to annex onshore from neighbouring municipalities. 

"The accidental for London to person created a ringing roadworthy was backmost successful the 1950s oregon 1960s," said Turner.

A.J. Wray, a probe idiosyncratic successful the section of geography and situation astatine Western University, said a ringing roadworthy is needed to determination goods and radical astir the metropolis quickly. He said London's readying past is marked by missed opportunities to money severely needed, big-ticket infrastructure items.  

"I enactment the London Plan's halfway principles, but it's outdated present and needs to beryllium fixed a world check," said Wray. 

He said a ringing roadworthy should beryllium built in conjunction with higher-level transit, not successful spot of it.

6 lanes connected Wonderland

Another connection included successful Rahman and Lehman's question calls for the re-starting of a survey to widen Wonderland Road to six lanes, though with a semipermanent program to yet person 2 of those lanes to dedicated autobus lanes. Council voted down widening Wonderland backmost successful 2021. 

"From residents successful the ward I perceive there's challenges getting astir the metropolis successful wide and successful highest times it is rather hard to navigate the area," said Rahman. 

Neither the ringing roadworthy program nor widening Wonderland is supported by metropolis staff. 

A unit study said a ringing roadworthy would beryllium built excessively acold retired from the city's halfway to beryllium an effectual clip saver. As for Wonderland, the study said widening it from Fanshawe Park Road to Southdale Road would lone prevention 2 minutes of question clip and outgo an estimated $400 million.