Drivers in London’s busy Hyde Park neighbourhood could soon get some traffic relief, or perhaps more traffic headaches, depending on who you talk to. “It needs some help,” is how Gainsborough Road resident Peter Snow described the stretch of road in front of his house, just west of Hyde Park Road. It’s bumpy with potholes and cracked asphalt, and generally quite noisy. Snow, who has lived in his home for nearly two decades, says the road infrastructure has not kept up with the boom in growth at the Hyde Park and Gainsborough intersection. “It’s one lane and a left turn lane, and the traffic is usually going too quickly. It’s a 50 kilometre an hour speed limit there, and the traffic goes by easily at highway speeds,” he explained of eastbound traffic. The city is planning major rehab for Gainsborough Road, from Hyde Park to a little more than a block west of the intersection. The project is set for this year. Currently, vehicles traveling east use what appears to be two lanes of traffic, with the inside lane becoming a left-turn lane at the light. The new design calls for a single lane both east and west, while maintaining the left turn for eastbound traffic. It would also add a bike lane on each side. “The changes could result in, you know, more congestion in the area,” said Ward 7 City Councillor Corrine Rahman, who’s not sold on the new design. She’s calling for a redesign that would support not one, but two eastbound lanes, with vehicles in the inside lane either turning left or proceeding straight. “It kind of became a situation where people were using it for the purpose of a traveling lane instead of a turn lane, and so it makes sense. We have a lot of density in that area. We have a lot of intensity in that area. So, more cars, more people traveling in that area,” said Rahman. Councillor Rahman is asking fellow councillors to support her call for more community consultation on the project. She’s also asking that city staff draw up a new design which includes two eastbound lanes on Gainsborough. Her motion goes to council committees next week.
