Additional exit point to be built to ease traffic issues around Twin Oaks Business Park

Twin Oaks Drive and Lauzon Parkway seen in Windsor, Ont. in an undated photo. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor)

Action is being taken to take pressure off traffic issues around Windsor’s Twin Oaks Business Park.

During Monday’s 2026 budget deliberations, city council voted to approve a municipal class environmental assessment study, design and construction for an exit point to the eastbound E.C. Row Expressway from Anchor Drive.

There is currently only one way in and out of the business park via Twin Oaks Drive off Lauzon Parkway.

Traffic backups and other issues have developed ever since the city permanently shut down a section of E.C. Row Avenue East, an access road off Banwell Road that ran parallel to the E.C. Row Expressway and was used to access the business park.

The city needed to close the access road to make way for the construction of the $5 billion NextStar Energy battery manufacturing plant.

On Jan. 16, Mayor Drew Dilkens issued a directive to city staff to report back to council during Monday’s budget deliberations on options to create an additional access point.

Windsor’s Commissioner of Infrastructure Services, David Simpson, told city council that currently during peak afternoon rush hour, around 25 per cent of the traffic coming out of Twin Oaks is using the westbound egress off Twin Oaks onto Lauzon Parkway.

“We’re assuming at minimum that same 25 per cent can now egress onto E.C. Row and lessen that demand and pressure on Twin Oaks and Lauzon,” he said.

Simpson told council that actual construction will not begin until Spring 2027.

“By the time we get through the class E.A. study and the detailed design, we’d be very late into the construction season this year,” he said.

“Our belief is we can get all the construction tender packages ready, ideally, before year end and then start that work early in the spring of the following year.”

Simpson said that in the meantime, there have been conversations with officials at NextStar Energy to help address certain traffic concerns during the study, design, and construction period.

“They’ve been very open to the dialogue in terms of repurposing the former E.C. Row Avenue East section,” he said.

“Essentially, in principle, they’ve agreed that in an emergency scenario we could utilize that corridor for egress onto Banwell.”

City administration expects it will take one and a half years to complete the study, detailed design, and construction, not accounting for any time delays related to the presence of species at risk or archeological resources, if identified. Based on the timeline, construction may be completed by mid 2027.

The estimated cost is $1.475 million, with funding currently available in the East-West Arterial drain project being redirected to the construction and work on the drain project being deferred.

The Twin Oaks Business Park is home to several companies, including GreenShield Canada and Jamieson Laboratories.