City of Greater Sudbury Transportation Study Report

The use of Barrydowne Road as an alternative to Notre Dame Avenue is not considered
viable as the Kingsway, the main arterial road linking the downtown to Barrydowne Road,
does not have excess capacity. Even if capacity were available, this route would
necessitate significant “out of way” travel for people with destinations on Notre Dame
Avenue or in Valley East; therefore the attractiveness of this alternative is limited.
Widening Frood Road between Kathleen Street and LaSalle Boulevard would have
significant social, cultural and economic impacts upon the area, as there are a large
number of residential and commercial properties that have direct access onto Frood
Road. To be a truly effective alternate route, this route would have to extend south of
Kathleen Street and connect directly to Regent Street, so that a continuous north-south
corridor is provided.
Widening Notre Dame from Kathleen Street to LaSalle Boulevard has the least impact
upon the existing environment, therefore this alternative has been recommended.
2. The Kingsway
Presently, sections of the Kingsway are experiencing capacity problems during peak
periods.
There are limited number roads that parallel the Kingsway that could be used to provide
relief to the Kingsway.
The widening of Howey Drive/Bancroft Drive was considered during the 1992 Sudbury
Transportation Study and during The Kingsway Improvements Class Environmental
Assessment completed in 1998. Both of these studies concluded that this was not a
viable alternative.
During analysis of this area, the extension of Barrydowne Road to Howey Drive/Bancroft
Drive was modeled to determine if this improvement would divert traffic away from The
Kingsway. It was concluded that without major improvements to Howey Drive/Bancroft
Drive that would enable increased operating speeds, minimal traffic would be diverted
from the Kingsway. Under current operating conditions, it was found that this road would
not provide any relief to the Kingsway. Improvements such as the upgrade of its
functional classification and operating conditions would be required to make Howey
Drive/Bancroft Drive be a viable alternative to the Kingsway.
During both the 1992 Transportation Study and the 1998 Kingsway Class EA, the option
of creating a new east-west route parallel to the Kingsway, by constructing a connection
between Notre Dame Avenue and Hawthorne Drive, south of LaSalle Boulevard was
reviewed. This alternative was modeled during completion of this study, and the results
indicated that it would have limited impact upon the Kingsway, but may provide localized
benefits to intersections along LaSalle Boulevard. These benefits are further discussed
in section 9 of this report.
The only viable alternative to address the existing capacity problems along the Kingsway
is to extend the current five-lane section from the intersection of Lloyd Street and Brady
Street to 430 m east of Kitchener Avenue as identified in The Kingsway Improvements
Class Environmental Assessment completed in 1998
CITY OF GREATER SUDBURY
OFFICIAL PLAN BACKGROUND REPORT
September 2005 Page 66