Thousands of UW and Laurier students to arrive this weekend

By Blair Adams

It will be a busy weekend in Waterloo's university district.

Thousands of first-year students at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University will be moving in.

The busiest days are expected to be Sunday and Monday.

The city is working to make those moving days run as smoothly as possible.

“We ask people to be patient, and typically throughout the years, they've been patient. Just imagine rush hour on the 401, that's what really we see when students are moving in with their parents,” said Christopher Mulhern, who is the City of Waterloo's Manager of Compliance and Standards.

The city works with partners such as police, both universities, as well as Conestoga College, to welcome students and get them settled in.

Mulhern says they're recommending drivers turn off their GPS once they arrive in the city, and use the supplied maps instead.

He adds those maps will give those arriving a better indication of road closures, as well as which streets only have one way access.

“Because if you use your GPS, you're going to just get stuck in traffic … We don't want to see more gridlock, when we want just normal traffic flow patterns.” Mulhern told The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS.

He says they also take other measures to ease congestion.

“We put up emergency no parking in areas to allow a drop off zone, rather than whole streets of cars lined up with legal parking, and then you have nowhere to drop your stuff off,”

The city has posted the following traffic redirection list:

Lester Street

  • Lester Street will be one way, northbound traffic only, from Seagram Drive to Columbia Street West
  • No access to Lester Street (south) from University Avenue West
  • No access to Lester Street (north) from Columbia Street West
  • No left turns onto Columbia Street West from Lester Street (north)
  • No left turns onto University Avenue West from Lester Street (south)
  • No through traffic from Lester Street (south) across University Avenue West

Spruce Street

  • Spruce Street will be one way from Hickory Street West to Columbia Street West
  • No access to Spruce Street from Columbia Street West

Sunview Street

  • No left turns from University Avenue West to Sunview Street

Regina Street North

  • No right turns onto Regina Street North from University Avenue East

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