Observations between 1530 and 1730 hours of June 17, 2022 showed that twice as many motor vehicles crossed the Blackfriars Bridge compared to similar testing on Sunday, May 29, 2022.

Preliminary results are now beginning to unfold from the 2nd Session of the Traffic Study at the Blackfriars Bridge in London, Ontario. In the inaugural documentations of May 29, 2022, a total of 78 vehicles were observed travelling eastbound over Blackfriars Bridge over a period of 2 hours. This was viewed as a very low volume. In the subsequent testing on June 17, 2022, the volume of eastbound vehicles rose to 158 in the same two-hour period. This is a doubling of the volume.

There is nothing extraordinary about these results. The May 29, 2022 testing was done on a Sunday afternoon between 1300 and 1500 hours. It would be expected that low motor vehicle volumes would occur. Similarly the volumes from June 17, 2022 were observed between 1530 and 1730 hours on a Friday afternoon. This is a peak hour for traffic volumes. So the results are not unexpected.

We are now entering the more difficult task of documenting the motions of pedestrians and cyclists at the site. It can be recalled from the May 29th documentations that there were vastly more cyclists and pedestrians than motor vehicles. Furthermore, the travel paths of pedestrians and cyclists  were more complicated. This made it more time-consuming to complete the analysis. It is unknown what the result will be from the second session but we expect that similar patterns will emerge: many more pedestrians and cyclists will likely be documented. Of course this cannot be said for certain until the official tally is made. Stay tuned as we report on these further documentations…