Tag: london ontario

  • Crash Analysis Studio – Intersection of Kilally Road and Webster Street (London, Canada)

    Crash Analysis Studio – Intersection of Kilally Road and Webster Street (London, Canada)

    Project Lead: Lawrence Durham

    Most recent update: April 10th, 2025

    This post is an ongoing account of how Strong Towns London is moving forward with its first Crash Analysis Studio. We will be updating this blog post regularly as we collect more data and move forward with our analysis.

    The crash

    On the morning of June 6, 2024, a car struck a Grade 3 student crossing Kilally Road on his way to school. At the time of the crash, there weren’t any traffic signals or pedestrian crossing lights at the intersection of Kilally Road and Webster Street.

    Watch a 1-MINUTE VIDEO CLIP OF THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL highlighting the dangers of the intersection, just one week after the collision.

    Unfortunately, even as late as today, the city STILL has not made any changes to the intersection, not even implementing any TEMPORARY traffic-calming measures to make the intersection safer for vulnerable road users.

    What is a Crash Analysis Studio?

    Starting in 2023, Strong Towns conducted Crash Analysis Studio sessions in 18 cities across North America. After analyzing the results, Strong Towns produced a comprehensive report and template that interested people in cities everywhere could use locally to conduct their own Crash Analysis Studios.

    With that in mind, in March 2025, the local chapter of Strong Towns London began applying the template to a crash site at the corner of Kilally Road and Webster Street.

    Is this intersection REALLY that dangerous?

    The intersection of Kilally Road and Webster Street has been flagged as a dangerous corner for pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicles alike. With no traffic lights to slow down high-speed motor vehicle traffic travelling rapidly along Kilally Road, crashes keep occurring. And without doing anything to address road design issues, crashes WILL KEEP occurring.

    Even before the June 2024 crash, the City of London had announced its plans for a two-year construction project (from 2025 to 2027) to widen and improve Kilally from Webster Road to Clarke Road. Construction goals include adding bicycle lanes and sidewalks, IMPROVING INTERSECTIONS, realigning the road, and doing underground utility and drainage work.

    Unfortunately, the project ran into some design issues in 2025 that will delay construction by one year. That means that the reconstruction of the intersection at Webster and Kilally Road won’t be completed until the end of 2026.

    However, we really can’t sit on our collective hands and wait until late 2026.

    We need to get started right away

    Here are the guidelines we will be following:

    1. Take Measurements at the Crash Site
      • Include widths of sidewalks, bicycle paths, turn and traffic lanes, and the intersection as a whole
    2. Take Photos and Videos
      • Include photos and videos
        • from both the perspective of a car and the pedestrian/ cyclist
        • from each corner of the intersection
        • from surrounding blocks (to give context and perspective)
    3. Collect and Process Speed Data
      • Purchase a radar gun
      • Clock 250 cars travelling on Kilally Road, OR record 2 hours of data
      • Choose a way to display the data collected
    4. Access the Crash Report from the Police
      • Contact the London Police Service
    5. Identify and Recruit 4 Experts
      • 2 technical experts
      • 2 local experts
    6. Prepare the Experts and set the Agenda for the Crash Analysis Studio session
      • Get their reactions to the material we’ve gathered so far
      • Review the role of the moderator
      • Ask experts to
        • develop a list of design factors for discussion
        • group their recommendations into three buckets
          • what can be done immediately
          • what can be done within 12 months
          • what can be done beyond that 12-month period

    Next steps?

    Once the preparation for the Crash Analysis Studio is complete, we will:

    1. Conduct a Crash Analysis Studio session in the community
      • Present the facts and recommendations
      • Record the session
    2. Translate the studio session into action
      • Put together a report
      • Publish and distribute the report
      • Follow through with local officials

    What can YOU do to help?

    We want to hear from you! Please leave your reply in the “Comments” section below.

    Or for those of you who want to be more “hands-on,” but are not sure how we can best use your talents, please reach out directly to Ben Durham at absolutelyben@gmail.com.

    About the author

    Lawrence Durham is a writer, bicycle tour guide, and retiree living in London, Canada. When he’s not inside typing away on his computer, he’s outside happily touring around London on his bicycle. Not bad for an old fart!

  • Open Letter: Widening This Stroad WON’T HELP – Wonderland Rd Widening in London, Ontario

    Want to watch or listen instead of reading? I made a video for this open letter.

    Mentioned around the web here:

    Open Letter to Councillors Corrine Rahman and Steve Lehman: Stop Gambling with Taxpayer Dollars on Failed 20th-Century Mega-Projects

    To Councillors Rahman (Ward 7) and Lehman (Ward 8),

    Your motion to resurrect the Wonderland Road widening and a ring road isn’t just tone-deaf—it’s fiscal malpractice. At a time when Londoners are already buckling under inflation and tax hikes, you’re proposing to squander hundreds of millions of their dollars on projects that will guarantee higher taxes, perpetual debt, and gridlock for decades. The 2021 estimate of $212 million for Wonderland’s widening has already ballooned with inflation, and the endless maintenance costs for six lanes and a ring road will bleed taxpayers dry. This isn’t progress—it’s a Ponzi scheme disguised as infrastructure. If you care about affordability, cancel this motion immediately.

    1. Mega-Projects Are Financial Suicide

    The Wonderland widening alone would be the most expensive project in London’s history, yet history—and basic math—prove it’s a dead end. As Strong Towns warns, widening stroads like Wonderland creates a “perpetual maintenance trap.” The initial 212 million dollars (now likely 250+ million) is just the down payment. Every added lane, bridge, and kilometre of asphalt multiplies long-term liabilities. Even with provincial funding, Londoners will inherit decades of debt for infrastructure that actively worsens congestion through induced demand (Strong Towns, 2015). This isn’t speculation—it’s exactly what happened in 2021 when your own council suspended the project because widening would “return to congestion” (Global News, 2021).

    2. Traffic “Solutions” That Solve Nothing

    You claim this will ease congestion, but the 2021 CEST review proved otherwise: widening Wonderland would temporarily reduce traffic, only to see it rebound—with more cars. This is the definition of shortsightedness. Construction alone would take a decade for the full stretch, turning Wonderland into “hell on earth” for everyone. 

    Meanwhile, your own Mobility Master Plan admits that transit and land-use reform are the only ways to reduce car dependency and car traffic congestion. Yet, you’re downplaying the importance of BRT/LRT plans that are actually future-proof mobility. Not only that, Councillor Lehman actively voted against the BRT west connection in 2019, causing this congestion to worsen over the last 6 year (CBC, 2019). 

    A peak-hour bus lane on Wonderland could be implemented in months for a fraction of the cost and years sooner. Why waste years and billions on a failed 1950s playbook?

    3. Hypocrisy on Fiscal Responsibility

    Councillor Rahman, your response to a constituent about bike lane plowing just two months ago—“There will be pressure to cut and not add [services]”—reveals the absurdity of this motion. You claim fiscal restraint while pushing a project that guarantees tax hikes. Snow removal for bike lanes is dismissed as too costly, yet you’re willing to saddle taxpayers with a quarter-BILLION-dollar road widening and its never-ending upkeep. This isn’t just hypocrisy—it’s policy violence against Londoners who can’t drive, shouldn’t be driving (for various reasons), or simply desire to move around the city outside of a personal motor vehicle. Wide stroads like Wonderland are “tools of oppression” (Strong Towns, 2018), privileging drivers while neglecting those who walk, bike, or rely on the bus system you’ve underfunded. 

    An aside for those of you who may not know what a stroad is: it’s a roadway that combines elements of “streets” and “roads” which is often found in suburban areas, and is characterized by wide lanes, high speeds, minimal infrastructure for non-motorists, and being dangerous to ALL road users. AKA, a stroad tries to do everything for everyone, but is bad at all of those things. 

    4. Climate Denial in 2025

    In 2021, council rightly halted this project due to its climate impacts. The CEST review warned widening would spike emissions, fragment neighbourhoods, and harm accessibility. Now, you’re ignoring that science. A ring road would only accelerate sprawl, locking London into car dependency as cities worldwide pivot to transit and density. Even electric vehicles won’t save us: the cement and asphalt required for these projects alone would generate massive emissions (Global News, 2021).

    5. There’s a Better Way

    The Strong Towns article “A Stroad Called Wonderland” (2021) put it perfectly: widening Wonderland is like Alice asking the Cheshire Cat for directions with no destination in mind. We know what works:

    • Prioritize BRT now: Dedicate lanes for buses that run every 2 minutes during peak hours.
    • Accelerate the Mobility Master Plan’s transit and bike networks.
    • Fix existing infrastructure: Plow bike lanes, repair sidewalks, and densify corridors.

    To Taxpayers…

    This isn’t about traffic—it’s about accountability. If Councillors Rahman and Lehman won’t represent your wallet, make your voice heard. Demand they withdraw this motion and invest in real solutions.

    Contact Councillors Rahman and Lehman here: https://london.ca/government/council-civic-administration/city-council

    Signed,

    Ben Durham

    A Londoner tired of paying for the same mistakes, year after year.