John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street intersection and pathway improvements

Illustration of people travelling along a sidewalk in an urban setting.

Ahead of scheduled work to reconstruct the intersection in 2025, the City is performing temporary improvements to accommodate increased traffic related to the LaSalle Causeway closure. Read the news release for more details on impacts and construction timelines.

As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to make it easier to get around Kingston through active modes of transportation and improved pedestrian safety, we are reconstructing the intersection of John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street and connecting the new Waaban Crossing multi-use pathway from Ascot Lane west to the K&P trailhead at Elliott Avenue at John Counter Boulevard. In addition, new

Illustration of people travelling along a sidewalk in an urban setting.

Ahead of scheduled work to reconstruct the intersection in 2025, the City is performing temporary improvements to accommodate increased traffic related to the LaSalle Causeway closure. Read the news release for more details on impacts and construction timelines.

As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to make it easier to get around Kingston through active modes of transportation and improved pedestrian safety, we are reconstructing the intersection of John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street and connecting the new Waaban Crossing multi-use pathway from Ascot Lane west to the K&P trailhead at Elliott Avenue at John Counter Boulevard. In addition, new cycle tracks and sidewalks are proposed on Montreal Street close to the intersection.

This project will help fill a gap in the City’s current cycling network and is a project identified in our Active Transportation Master Plan (ATMP) and Five-Year Active Transportation Implementation Plan (ATIP). Please see the map below illustrating the general project location.

Illustration of a map overview of the intersection of John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street in Kingston.

This project is currently in the detailed design stage with construction scheduled to begin in 2024 and be completed by the end of 2024, with limited carryover work into 2025 if needed.

Project highlights

  • New lighting, traffic signals, lanes, paving and signage at the intersection of John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street;
  • The addition of turning aprons (see image and description below) on the four corners of the intersection to help large vehicles turn around the corners while maintaining a safe distance from pedestrians;
  • New multi-use pathway along the south side of John Counter Boulevard from Elliott Avenue to Ascot Lane;
  • New transit stop features such as bus lanes and bus pads near the intersection;
  • New cycle tracks and sidewalks close to the John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street intersection;
  • New road paving along Montreal Street from Briceland Street to Cassidy Street; and
  • Rehabilitation of the Montreal Street bridge north of John Counter Boulevard including new pavement, sidewalks and railings.

Reconstruction of the intersection

The drawings in the News Feed below illustrate the proposed road layout at the intersection. Each leg of the intersection has a dedicated right turn, left turn and through movement to help accommodate the new traffic from the Waaban Crossing.

Turning aprons

Each corner of the intersection has turning aprons proposed to lower turning speeds which helps increase pedestrian safety. These turning aprons have lower curbs to allow larger trucks to drive over them while turning, while also keeping pedestrians safe and highly visible to all users at the intersection. The turning aprons are indicated in deep magenta in the images in the News Feed.

Multi-use pathway

A new multi-use pathway along the south side of John Counter Boulevard from Elliott Avenue to Ascot Lane will replace the old sidewalk that is currently there. The pathway will be three metres wide and include the addition of pedestrian street lighting to illuminate the pathway. The pathway will wrap around the corner of Elliott Avenue and John Counter Boulevard and connect to the K&P trailhead that heads south.

Cycling and sidewalk infrastructure

This project will extend on-road bike lanes:

  • Along the north side of John Counter Boulevard from Maple Street to Tim Horton’s, and
  • Along both sides of Montreal Street from John Counter Boulevard to Briceland Street.

Cycle track ramps are located near the intersection to help cyclists enter and exit the bike lanes from/to the road.

Sidewalks will be replaced where needed along Montreal Street from Cassidy Street to Briceland Street. A new sidewalk is planned for the east side of Montreal Street from John Counter Boulevard to Village Drive.

Landscaping and trees

There may be some trees that need to be removed along the south side of John Counter Boulevard between Elliott Avenue and Montreal Street to accommodate the new pathway and associated lighting. The City will protect any remaining trees that are in the construction area. The landscaping will be soil and grass within the boulevard spaces, including the large area on the northeast corner of John Counter Boulevard at Montreal Street.

Impacts to residents, businesses and emergency services

The City is coordinating the work to ensure that access to residential and businesses in the project area will have minimal impact and will remain open at all times. Some short-term exceptions may be needed during certain construction works such as piping or paving. Emergency services and Kingston Transit will have priority access through any construction zones and will be coordinated once a contractor has been selected for the work.

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

We are improving the intersection of John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street to:  

  • Add new traffic signals and turning lanes; 
  • Accommodate traffic from the Waaban Crossing;  
  • Improve active transportation infrastructure including bike lanes and paths; and 
  • Make it easier and safer for people of all ages and abilities to get around, including pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists. 

After reviewing the proposed design above, please let us know:  

  • What features of the intersection are important to you? 
  • Do you have any questions or concerns to share with the project team?  

Have your say 

Type below and click 'submit' to ask a question or leave feedback about the intersection design. To submit your question by phone or to receive engagement materials in an alternate format, call 613-546-0000. When you participate in the engagement, you will receive project updates by email. 

  • As someone who commutes the Waaban crossing daily the biggest choke point in my opinion is the lights at Ascot Lane. What I've noticed is that the John Counter lights will turn green but then the Ascot Lane lights will change to allow its traffic onto John Counter Blvd or the bridge, stopping the flow of traffic over the East and West causing it to back up (sometimes to the East end of the bridge). I believe the intersection improvements will help the North, South, and West legs but the East leg will still have issues.

    Holly_M asked almost 1 year ago

    Thanks for sharing your observations.

    Those two intersections are servicing almost the same amount of traffic in a east/west direction but they are different in managing north/south traffic.  

    Ascot services a small residential community to the north and some apartments to the south which are connected via private driveways.  

    Montreal/JCB intersection manages much more traffic from all four directions compared to Ascot.  Coordinating the signal timings between the two intersections is something we're looking to do but we don't think the outcome will be that they will be perfectly synced.  Ascot could experience increased delays when trying to sync it with the Montreal St.  Also, the pedestrian buttons when activated alters the timing and will cause a sync offset between the two intersections.  Again, we're looking at coordinating the signals as part of the design.

  • Our main concern will be the loss of being able to turn left out on to John Counter Boulevard and left from John Counter Boulevard into the Chat-A-Bit Station Plaza. This will have a detrimental impact on the businesses in the Mall. We have always had all direction turning on John Counter Boulevard. If you would please reconsider. We have located our business on this corner because of the access it allowed, to our drive thru clientele. We must support our local businesses that employ, provide needed services and support our local community. Please do not shut down our full access route to our mall, it will have major effects on our customer getting into and out of our business. Thank you, Dimitri Tsatas

    Dimitri Tsatas asked about 1 year ago

    Thanks for sharing your concerns and how it could impact your business.

    City staff is currently looking through archive files to determine the site access that was permitted for the Chat-A-Bit station plaza.  We can take this conversation offline if we don't provide an answer soon enough as part of this Get Involved process.  

    We will get back to you when we have more info.

  • Hi, as a recent full-time cyclist commuter I am finding myself enjoying the new plans for this intersection. I cross here going east to west and vice versa daily. I see bus stops being added and I'm excited to finally see a bus line use the bridge to avoid the causeway. The separation of cars and bikes with the multi-use paths is appreciated, but I hope to see the installation of bollards on the road-bound bike paths. Cars on JCB tend to speed in both directions and I've almost been clotheslined by side mirrors more than once. In light of the recent death of an experienced cyclist I'd like to see the city plan more traffic calming measures and protected bike lanes on strips of road like this where the speed limit is 50+kph. Temporary bollards would be a great first step for data gathering, and more permanent installations of concrete separating curbs, raised paths and permanent bollards would do a great deal of increasing cycling use and help the city meet its climate goals. Thanks to its small but dense size, Kingston could be one of the leading cycling cities in Ontario. It's perfect size wise, but needs the infrastructure to encourage non-cyclists to convert. Thanks for your time, Austin

    austinpaquette asked almost 1 year ago

    Thanks for sharing your concerns.

    The City has used flex bollards to compliment the bike buffer lane for on road bike lanes.  We will take your suggestion back for consideration.  The other, more permanent, features you mention could cause issues during snow plow season but we will look at your suggestions internally all the same.  

  • I would urge that you remove the lights at Ascot lane and Point St Mark Drive and install a roundabouts. They are ineffective at moving traffic and are spaced out too close to the lights before the crossing.

    Jeskatfri asked about 1 year ago

    Thanks for your suggestion.

    The City looked at the placement of a roundabout at this intersection some time ago.  

    Roundabouts are a catch 22 and may or may not work well depending on its location and the skill level and types of vehicles that would use them such as large tractor trailers, buses, etc.  Turning movements would have to be able to fit inside a roundabout during the worst conditions (IE: snow build-up) without causing safety issues for all road users.  The roundabout here would have to be scaled accordingly in order to meet design standards/parameters and sizing would make the leg between Ascot and Montreal shorter.  Also, if traffic were to back up at Montreal Street intersection, the queuing of cars easterly towards Ascot would clog up the roundabout during rush hour causing safety issues.  Overall, a roundabout was explored at this location and didn’t get selected when compared to a conventional 4 leg signalized intersection.  

  • Better timing of traffic signals to reflect morning (southbound) and afternoon (northbound) traffic patterns on Montreal St. Since the bridge opened, vehicles on Montreal St are lined up almost to Sutherland Dr in the morning; likewise, in the afternoon, vehicles on Montreal St are lined up almost to Raglan Rd. Yet in comparison, vehicles coming from the bridge are virtually non-existent. Perhaps traffic signal timing could be something that could be implemented much sooner than the proposed project.

    Grace asked about 1 year ago

    Thanks for your questions.

    The city is monitoring the traffic signal timings on a frequent basis and making adjustments to help improve level of service.  However, without the additional lanes at the intersection, the signal timings until then can only do so much.  We appreciate the residents' patience until we perform the works next year.  

  • A few questions about this much needed project 1. With others coordinating the causeway and 401 constructions how will users be notified at the approach to this intersection while the construction is taking place what lanes are closed ? 2. How will a cyclist transition from an onroad to off road bike lane ? 3. What period of time and related data will be used to determine the light timing for advanced green and green lights ? (with the current causeway construction (fall 2023) there is more traffic on the Wabaan crossing )

    LF21 asked about 1 year ago

    Thanks for your questions.  

    The City has a communications group with the Federal and Provincial Governments and we work together to coordinate our projects in a manner that reduces traffic impacts.  The City has used notifications on social media and our webpages to notify residents of these traffic impacts.  There are also digital sign boards that are placed on the roads to help provide notice to residents on a more local level.  

    We are using ramp transitions for on/off road cycling links which are gently sloped and hard surface accompanied with appropriate signage.  The traffic reports will propose signal timings for use during construction and for when the work is completed.  Once opened, it may take the City a few weeks to monitor traffic flows and make adjustments to the signal timings based on what's actually taken place.  Again, coordinating with the LaSalle Causeway work is part of our communication group's scope to manage traffic issues.  

Page last updated: 26 Jul 2024, 02:19 PM