Kitchener intersection fully reopening after years of construction

There's good news for drivers—after three years of construction, the King and Ottawa intersection in Kitchener is fully reopening on Wednesday.

The major road project included a number of road improvements on King, Ottawa and Weber:

• Ottawa Street North from Nottingham Avenue to Charles Street East and Weber Street East from Sheldon Avenue North to Borden Avenue North has been reconstructed
• Ottawa Street from King Street East to Charles Street East has been widened to a continuous four-lane roadway with turning lanes at key intersections
• Cycling infrastructure has been added to Ottawa Street North from Nottingham Avenue to Charles Street East
• Construction of a multi-use trail on Ottawa Street South from Charles Street East to the Iron Horse Trail at Nyberg Street
• Surface asphalt added on Ottawa Street North from Nottingham Avenue to south of Hickson Drive
• Changes to the geometry at the Ottawa Street Street North on and off ramps to the expressway, with some generalized right turn lanes removed

“We really appreciate the patience of the people in this vicinity, not just the businesses, but pedestrians that have come through this area, and the motorists that have been inconvenienced through this project,” Greg Proctor, Region of Waterloo project manager told CityNews 570. 

It's expected there will be less congestion through the King Street East to Charles Street East area with the new improvements.

“There was quite a kink there before, but we've smoothed that out and we've added some capacity in there because that's always been a bit of a bottleneck,” Proctor said.

The cycling infrastructure on Ottawa North is around 2.5 km long.

“Hopefully, people will get to use it and people will be able to run along Ottawa Street, which previously had been a very unfriendly road for cyclists,” he said. 

Proctor said the project has come in on or under budget at $17 million.

The Ottawa Street and Charles Street East area will close again on Friday for signal work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but will reopen again on Saturday and for the coming months.

The final phase of the project, which includes adding surface asphalt to the entire project length will involve short duration lane closures for approximately two weeks next summer.

After three years of construction, Ottawa Street between Charles and Weber in Kitchener is now fully re-opened to traffic, with road widening, cycling spaces and other improvements. Here’s how it looks now. @CityNewsKIT @570Traffic pic.twitter.com/rq8LYdoLvP

— Mark Douglas (@DouglasCityNews) December 14, 2022