City council is being asked to approve steps to address traffic congestion and backups that have developed along a section of Lauzon Parkway in Windsor.
A report going before Monday's council meeting asks that administration engage a consultant, at a cost of $44,500, to help identify short-term and long-term improvements to enhance access to the Twin Oaks Business Park.
To make way for the construction of the $5 billion NextStar Energy electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant, the city permanently shut down a section of E.C. Row Avenue East, an access road off Banwell Road that ran parallel to the E.C. Row Expressway and was used to access the Twin Oaks Business Park.
As a result of that closure, the only access to the business park is at the intersection of Twin Oaks Drive and Lauzon Parkway, at the top of the parkway that crosses over the E.C. Row Expressway.
Ward 9 councillor Kieran McKenzie says there are some very significant challenges from an infrastructure perspective to arrive at a permanent solution.
"We've done some work in there. We just did the timing of the traffic lights, for example. We're working very hard to get transit services resumed in the industrial park as well," he says.
The report to council will also ask that Transit Windsor be approved to implement a temporary route adjustment to the Lauzon 10 to provide transit service to the Twin Oaks area until Route 250 is implemented.
McKenzie says he thinks the traffic issues that have emerged, which they are aware of, have risen to the point that we need to respond.
"Status quo over the short and medium term is no longer acceptable. We'll need to respond with some concrete measures that we can implement in a relatively short term to address some of the challenges we know we're having there," he says.
The Twin Oaks Business Park is home to a number of companies, including Green Shield Canada and Jamieson Laboratories.
McKenzie says he's hopeful they can implement some measures to make the situation better.
"I think it needs to be made very clear that there are very significant challenges there that need to be addressed, and they need to be addressed as immediately as they possibly can be with whatever tools are at our disposal," he says.
Council meets at 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 10, at Windsor City Hall.