Intersection / traffic circle - Forest Hill/Beaverbrook St/Waterloo Row

Idea: Intersection / traffic circle - Forest Hill/Beaverbrook St/Waterloo Row

The city needs to seriously consider replacing the current intersection with a proper traffic circle at the above location. The current set up looks like it was built by accident and was never corrected. It's always caused issues for locals and anyone new to the city doesn't stand a chance. The city seems all-in (for good reason) on upgrading these in other parts of the city, but this location should be a TOP PRIORITY. I capitalize this because of the approved development on forest hill for almost 400+ new residents which will drastically increase traffic in this area. I remember reading the planning advisory documents for these new builds and that was a common concern of local residents. I've yet to hear anything related to a plan to address this increased congestion.

Staff Feedback:

The feasibility of a roundabout has been explored at this intersection, and ultimately it was concluded that this isn't a great location and it would actually increase intersection delay overall if a roundabout were constructed here (as well as having other significant property and grade challenges). It turns out that many of the heaviest movements (such as through traffic on Waterloo Road and Forest Hill Road) at this intersection currently experience no delay, which would increase substantially with a roundabout.

The best overall solution for this intersection to reduce collisions and minimize travel times would be to convert the intersection to a split-T intersection with two coordinated traffic signals. This upgrade would also create more green space and improve the safety of pedestrian crossings.

Typically major transportation upgrades like this are planned to coincide with the renewal and replacement of underground (water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer) infrastructure so that the overall costs and disruptions to the public are minimized. There are no planned underground infrastructure projects in this intersection, so this project would have to come forward as a stand alone transportation upgrade. This project currently is not within the 5 year plan, but we're hopeful we'll be able to advance it someday.