Temporary Ontario Street pedestrian walkway plan approved by City

The City of Kingston has approved a plan from the Department of National Defence (DND) to create a walkway to allow pedestrians to traverse the LaSalle Causeway.

A temporary pedestrian walkway will be put in place to allow pedestrians to get from The Tragically Hip Way to the east side of the Causeway (and vice versa) while structural repairs are made to the outer wall of Fort Frontenac along Ontario Street. The City and DND closed the sidewalk along that stretch of Ontario Street on Friday, Apr. 12, 2019 for public safety due to the structural integrity of the perimeter wall at Fort Frontenac.

According to a press release from the City of Kingston, the City has approved an encroachment permit and traffic control plan containing the following measures:

• Closing the northbound lane on Ontario Street from Tragically Hip Way to Place D’Armes to allow for a 2m temporary pedestrian walkway to be installed on the roadway.
• Directing northbound traffic along one of the existing southbound lanes between Place D’Armes and The Tragically Hip Way.
• Creating a new temporary walkway separated from the northbound traffic lane using a Jersey barrier and the existing traffic island, and separated from the Fort Frontenac wall construction site by temporary construction fencing.
• Creating an accessible pedestrian ramp north of Place D’Armes from the existing sidewalk onto the temporary pedestrian walkway.
• Closing the north crosswalk at The Tragically Hip Way and Ontario Street as the pedestrian crosswalk push buttons on the northeast corner will not be accessible.
• Prohibiting semi-trucks from making left-hand turns from The Tragically Hip Way to Ontario or right-hand turns from Wolfe Island Ferry to Ontario Street due to the new lane configurations.
• Installing signage and new road markings to guide vehicles and pedestrian through the construction site.

“The Department of National Defence is now working on the plan to implement all aspects of the alternate route including barriers and signage. The specific details about the timing are being worked on by the Department of National Defence,” the press release states. According to those in the communications department, the City does not yet know when these plans will actually be carried out.

The complimentary Kingston Transit service around the closure will remain in place until the alternate route is constructed by the Department of National Defence, the City said.

A request for more information from DND has yet to be answered at time of publication. Kingstonist will continue to monitor this situation, and this article will be updated with further details as information becomes available.