What’s the Worst Street in Kingston?
Back in 2009, Kingston made CAA’s disgraceful list of the 20 worst roads in Ontario. While Brock Street was ultimately singled out as Kingston’s most sub-par street, I am certain that many local residents could have easily drafted their own list of roads that simply don’t get the job done. Whether we’re talking about avenues in a state of disrepair, closures as a result of construction, intersections that are instantly gridlocked during rush hour, or roads that incite commuter rage, the Limestone City has it all. A year or so after making CAA’s illustrious top 20, it’s time to take stock and weigh in on the current culprit of Kingston’s transportation woes.
Where is Kingston's most congested and/or poorly maintained road?
- John Counter Boulevard (170%, 39 Votes)
- Other (100%, 23 Votes)
- Highway 401 (74%, 17 Votes)
- Brock Street (65%, 15 Votes)
- Princess Street (57%, 13 Votes)
- Gardiners Road (22%, 5 Votes)
- Division Street (17%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 116
Loading ...Please note that we’re running this week’s poll a bit differently, as we’re allowing you to select two choices. While the list is limited to a small handful of main transportation arteries in and around Kingston, we’ve also added the other option. If you select this, please take a few seconds to submit a comment and identify what street you think deserves public condemnation. Hopefully the fine folks at City Hall will take note and action in response to the “winner” of this poll.
Special thanks to Forbes Photography for today’s accompanying shot of traffic speeding down Princess Street.
Bagot St.
It is so bad my bicycle rattles apart when I'm riding on it. I need to tighten screws WAY too often when I ride on Bagot. Thankfully they patched up a tiny chunk of it near Queen St….
I just wish that more traffic lights were in sync on long stretches of road. Princess street between Division and Bath is a particularly slow section of road as is Gardiner's at rush hour. I was talking to a couple of businesses on Wellington Street that wished that during the reconstruction of lower Princess that the lights were in sync on Wellington to avoid some of that terrible mess on those streets – the congestion makes people less likely to come visit stores in that area.
Cool photo.
I voted for Division simply because of the brutal hole in the ground at the corner of Division and Queen. It's a busy intersection as it is, with a limited amount of time to turn left and the ditch in the middle of the road slows things down even more. As for "other", as a cyclist, I find King street to be pretty awful down near St. Lawrence. There are so many potholes on the side of the road that I seriously fear for my safety riding along there.
Traffic was backed up going up Queen Street towards the intersection at Division the other day because of road repairs there… I think your pothole may be gone… hooray!
I wish I could have chosen more than two! Gardiners got my number one vote though. As a downtowner who works in the township, nothing makes me crankier than dealing with the parking lot that is Gardiners on a Saturday afternoon. And don't get me started about the Christmas shopping rush.
Agreed. Nothing says Happy Holidays quite like dealing with holiday commuters out on Gardiner's Road. One of the reasons I do most of my shopping online/downtown.
Montreal Street probably has my vote, with Division a close second… I realize some of the other streets may be more congested, but I will take that over having my teeth rattled out of my head!
On a side note, the ABSOLUTE WORST roads in the city for condition alone would have to be all of CFB Kingston; they have received absolutely zero attention since I first came here in 1991. Before some of you scoff and blame DND, I believe the city is actually responsible for the maintenance of these roads…
I fully agree, the roads on the base are brutal. And the city is responsible for their maintenance, which is none!
I'm not so sure about that. CFB is private federal property. I certainly know for a fact the City/Utilities is not responsible for any local sewers on the base, so my educated guess would be that the roads are the same situation. I will check today.
Confirmed. The City is not responsible for maintaining roads in CFB. One would need to speak to your federal gov't about that.
Thanks for clearing that up, Kook! Now I know who to send the rocket to :)
I gave my vote to Princess St. In particular the stretch between Bath and Division. What used to be a decent artery in the morning (FROM the kingston center TO downtown) is now red light after red light. I used to recommend this path due to well timed lights in the flow towards downtown, but now I avoid it at all costs and take John A to King. It's longer but my gas mileage thanks me.
I completely agree with this… the lights need to be better timed to make that route more efficient.
Montreal between Princess and Brock, it's a small stretch, but you might as well be driving in a field it's so uneven..
Montreal is equally as bad at the Queen Street intersection. The only way to safely get through the intersection is to creep at the lowest of speeds. My car's suspension has been burned one too many times there.
Sutherland drive… atrocious… if your not bouncing from an uneven bump or random protrusion, your slamming down into a pot hole. The best part of driving this daily, is that a few weeks ago the city announced it would be doing traffic easing on that street by installing speed humps…. Great..
And then at about 11pm one night a city worker was out filling potholes… Literally shovelling bits of ashphalt all over the road to"fix" potholes. There were so many that in 2 days I had to remove a whack of tar goo off my car as there was no avoiding them. What a mess that road is. They should repave sooo many roads in this great city…
Kingston, On. really sucks, the roads and streets are terrible and the City has to get with the times it is really lacking behind from other Cities e.g London, On