Looking North Along Princess Street at Alfred Street - Current View

Typical signalized intersection on Princess Street. There is one vehicular travel lane in each direction and a left-turning lane at the traffic signals. The asphalt pavement features numerous cracks, uneven pavement and patches. Narrow bike lanes are present on both sides of the street along the curb and transit bus stops are located at the corners of the intersection. Standard 1.2-1.5m sidewalks, with crosswalks at the intersection, line both sides of the street and do not provide tactile walking surfaces. Visually appealing street amenities are limited and the intersection appears uninviting.

Looking North Along Princess Street at Alfred Street - Conceptual View

Typical signalized intersection on Princess Street. People crossing at decorative crosswalks while a bus waits in a transit queue jump lane closest to the sidewalk curb area. A few trees can be seen lining both sides of the street in background.

View more renders, plans and cross-sections.

Please Note: Renderings are provided to illustrate the scale and character of the proposed construction and do not necessarily represent the final design. The final design will be subject to the detailed design process which is underway

What’s Known

What’s Being Considered

• Reduction of vehicle travel lane widths to between 3m and 3.3m.
• Increase and support walkability by widening sidewalks, improving the accessibility of sidewalks, and the addition of green elements such as trees.
• Improve transit consistency – this may include modifications to some of the vehicle travel lanes and changes at intersections (introducing turning restrictions at some intersections) to introduce transit queue jumps and prioritize transit operations along the corridor.
• Identify ways that cycling can be considered throughout the neighborhood.
• Removal of on-street parking along the corridor to allocate more space to support improvements for the pedestrian realm and transit.

Cyclists

This section of Princess Street currently forms part of the City’s spine cycling network. However, existing bike lanes without a buffer along this corridor do not provide the level of comfort that most riders would expect when riding along a high-volume roadway. And with space constraints along the right-of-way, it is not possible to improve or maintain the bike facilities along this corridor after incorporating pedestrian and transit improvements.

Alternatives being considered:

• Promoting the use of Brock and Johnson Streets as part of the spine cycling network, and provide connections along Palace Road or Sir John A, up to Bath Road.
• Developing Concession Street as part of the spine cycling network alternative to connect into future bike facilities along Princess Street, west of Bath Road, and connect into existing and proposed bike facilities along Division Street.
• Developing neighbourhood bike routes – these routes would be formalized with wayfinding and could potentially include traffic calming and other measures to promote cycling along these areas.
• Confident cyclists can also continue to bike along Princess Street as part of traffic.

Drivers

How this arterial roadway will look for drivers is very much uncertain. What we do know is that there will be at least one travel-through lane in each direction to maintain vehicular and transit movements through the area.

What is being considered:

• Changes to lane configurations and turning movements – such as the elimination of some or all dedicated left-turn lanes to facilitate bus movement and reduce congestion.
• Changes along the sidewalks and at intersections such as street furnishings (benches, planters and similar things), trees, transit shelters and other features that will make pedestrians and cyclists more visible at intersections.
• Removing on-street parking to support maintaining two through-lanes and maintaining turn lanes at two key locations (Macdonell Street and Victoria Street), to allow transit to move smoothly while reducing congestion.

On-street Parking

With the right-of-way space constraints and the established priorities for pedestrians and transit it is not possible to accommodate on-street parking along this stretch of Princess.

What is being considered:

• The proposed removal of on-street parking was identified in phase one of the transportation study due to the constrained right-of-way and the need to implement widened pedestrian areas and transit-orientated improvements.
• Maintain parking along side streets. Additional parking regulations may be implemented such as considerations for loading zones and short-term parking.
• Certain parking spaces on Princess Street may be retained on specific blocks, specifically the block between University Avenue and Division Street, where there is accessible on-street parking for the Heart Clinic, and no other alternatives nearby.