Hold off on permanent solutions to Twin Oaks traffic problem, says city report

Wait until the NextStar Energy plant is up and running before hiring a consultant or committing to new road infrastructure to address the traffic situation on Twin Oaks Drive.

That's the recommendation to City of Windsor administration in a report that's going before council next week.

According to the report, traffic patterns in the Twin Oaks business park should normalize once the EV battery plant is operational — four to six months from now.

But Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie, in whose ward Twin Oaks Drive is located, believes short-term safety measures need to be taken now.

"On Monday, I'm going to be pushing for some immediate action," McKenzie said. "I think a lot of people would agree... that there are issues we need to address as quickly as we can."

The report comes after a pedestrian was fatally struck on Twin Oaks Drive on Jan. 21.

The matter remains under investigation, but police have said that a woman was hit by a vehicle as she was trying to cross Twin Oaks Drive on foot. The drive has no sidewalks

There's been public alarm about traffic in the business park since 2022 — when ongoing construction of the NextStar Energy facility effectively turned Twin Oaks Drive into a cul-de-sac.

Currently, there's only one way in and out of Twin Oaks: The intersection of Twin Oaks Drive and Lauzon Parkway.

Customers and employees of the businesses and workplaces in Twin Oaks are reliant on that intersection — as are the builders of the battery plant.

Transit Windsor cancelled its bus route through Twin Oaks Drive due to the difficulty of turning buses around along the length of the cul-de-sac. Bus riders wanting to access the business park must walk from the nearest bus stop — on the other side of the E.C. Row Expressway.

"We need to run a bus in there as soon as possible," McKenzie said. "There's options. There's partnerships, potentially with some of the existing property owners where we could bring a bus into a parking lot, for example. That's something we can do tomorrow: Run a bus in there."

A new permanent bus route is in the works, but it won't be running until further road construction is complete.

The report proposes a temporary bus route that would take buses into Twin Oaks Drive only as far as the first intersection — Munich Court.

There's also been consideration of new road infrastructure, such as building a new exit to the expressway from Anchor Drive. But the report acknowledges that such a remedy would be years in the making.

That's not fast enough for Twin Oaks business owners like Carey Vigneux — owner and director of Winstars Gymnastics Training Centre.

"Find some temporary solution to be able to get better access into this area," Vigneux urged council.

Vigneux pointed to two incidents in the business park — one of them being the Jan. 21 pedestrian death — when traffic on Twin Oaks Drive was backed up for hours and no alternate route was available.

"There were children trapped in this area. Their parents weren't able to pick them up because they couldn't get down here," Vigneux said.

The report notes that hiring a third-party expert consultant to review the situation would cost around $44,500.

But once NextStar Energy has begun regular operation in the summer of this year, two changes are expected to have a major impact on Twin Oaks Drive traffic.

One, access to the battery plant from Twin Oaks Drive will be restricted to approved transport trucks.

Two, employees of the site will have dedicated access points on Banwell Road.

But Vigneux says that still leaves the intersection with Lauzon Parkway as the only option for regular traffic.

"With the number of industrial buildings and businesses in this area, we really need to have a second access point," Vigneux said. "And if there's any kind of emergency and there's a blockage — it certainly doesn't bode well for the emergency vehicles."