Public meeting on 'central box' area held by city tonight

An area called the "central box" that's been a traffic headache for many Windsorites will be the main topic at a public meeting held by the city Wednesday night. 

The part of town affected is generally bounded by Eugenie Street, Howard Avenue, West Grand/South Cameron Boulevard and Dominion Boulevard. It mainly affects anyone trying to travel north-south, towards downtown Windsor. 

There are 13 main issues the city has identified about this area, said Andrew Dowie, an engineer and policy analyst with the City of Windsor.

Some of the annoyances include back ups at traffic lights, some intersections not optimally designed and traffic buildup off the expressway. 

The overpass on Dougall Avenue creates a bottleneck, said Dowie, and will be one of the more challenging areas to resolve, because it also involves federal jurisdiction. 

Ed Link, who has been living in the "central box" for 10 years was at the meeting and said the traffic in the area has gotten worse. 

"I'm just surprised that there aren't more traffic accidents and fatalities at some of these intersections," Link said. "Traffic volumes have increased dramatically and there are a lot of children in this area and you fear for their safety as well."

Link said he likes the idea of the city putting in roundabouts in some areas and extending some roads. 

"There are difficulties at times with transportation," said Link. "Intersections are blocked, it's difficult to negotiate along the streets safely. It's a problem everyone here faces."

The main problem comes from the fact that Windsor has grown in population while the infrastructure was designed for a smaller city. 

"We had to widen those roads and ultimately the end result is you run out of land ... and you kind of squeeze in a road where it can fit, but at a certain point when you have volumes of traffic that are using that road, that's when the problems begin," he said. 

A group of consultants were hired to study the problems and suggest possible solutions. 

The city will be presenting those solutions at tonight's meeting and looking for feedback from the public, said Dowie. 

He said the earliest a proposal to start construction to fix these problems will be in the 2017 city budget. 

The meeting runs until 8 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

City officials said more public meetings will be held in the fall.