Road closures and traffic delays, week ending Dec. 16, 2022

The following is a selection of the most significant road closures and expected traffic delays in and around the city of Kingston for the week ending Dec. 16, 2022. Full lists of closures and delays provided by the City of Kingston and the MTO can be viewed here and here.

At Front Road and King Street West from Sand Bay Lane to Country Club Drive, drivers should expect traffic delays due to lane reductions to a single lane in each direction, until the end of 2022, as crews install a new watermain and sanitary forcemain for Utilities Kingston.

Drivers should expect a lane closure along Johnson Street from Frontenac to Alfred on Dec. 15 and 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day for tree removal by City of Kingston forestry crews. 

University Avenue will be closed from Union to Earl until Jan. 21, 2023, at 7 p.m. for the removal of debris from demolition and concrete deliveries at the Queen’s John Deutsch University Centre project. 

Wright Crescent from the south intersection of Palace to 16 Palace will be closed until Jan. 31, 2023, for construction staging for 11 Wright Cres. Please note that access to Wright Cres will be through the north intersection of Wright Cres at Palace Rd.

School Streets Initiative 

The following streets are closed from 8:40 to 9:10 a.m. and 3:20 to 3:50 p.m. weekdays until June 29, 2023: 

• MacDonnell Street – Earl to Hill 
• Sydenham Street – Ordnance to Colborne 

Please direct questions to Kingston Coalition for Active Transportation (KCAT) at [email protected].

Robert Bruce Garage Closure

• The Robert Bruce Memorial Parking Restoration project is underway. The work is expected to conclude in late November. 
• The work will take place throughout both levels of the building for structural rehabilitation and building envelope rehabilitation, upgrading of lighting and repair/replacement of railings and bollards. Both parking levels will be closed to the public for the duration of the project.  
• There is parking available at both the Chown and Hanson parking garages in the adjacent blocks to the east and west of the Robert Bruce. 

Parking Lot Closures

The King Queen parking lot (282 Ontario Street) and a portion of the Drury lot (51 Queen Street) will be closed as of Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, due to the construction of a new mixed-use building beginning in November.

According to the City, the building at 18 Queen Street and 282 Ontario Street, known as Block 5, was recently approved by the Ontario Land Tribunal and is proceeding through Site Plan Control (File D11-022-2022). The future 23-storey tower and 5-storey podium building, to be developed by Homestead Land Holdings Inc., will provide commercial spaces at grade, two floors of new office space, and 151 new residential units in the downtown core for the Kingston community. The portion of the Drury lot that is closed will be used for construction staging. 

The City said that it has a range of parking options for short-term parkers throughout Kingston. Community members can access alternate parking options by visiting CityofKingston.ca/parking. 

Waaban Crossing

The bridge will open on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in the late afternoon/early evening following a proclamation, ribbon cutting ceremony, and first trip across by the winners of the United Way auction.

The City said that they will share updates on municipal channels throughout the afternoon that day as they prepare to open the bridge. A reminder that until the bridge is open, the site remains an active construction site and no public access is permitted. 

“Traffic patterns will take a bit of time to normalize while we all get a chance to use the new bridge,” the City said in their weekly traffic report on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. “We will be monitoring traffic and will likely need to make signal timing adjustments at this intersection in the coming weeks and months as the ‘normal’ pattern becomes established.?”

Lower Brewers Swing Bridge – closed until further notice. Temporary bridge closure signs and detour signs have been installed. Parks Canada is continuing with their efforts to replace the bridge.