Three Windsor roads among worst roads in southwestern Ontario

Thoroughfares across Windsor-Essex have managed to avoid CAA’s Top 10 List of the Worst Roads in Ontario for 2024.

However, three city streets ranked amongst the top five worst for the South West Region in the province this year.

“For 21 years, the CAA Worst Roads Campaign has been a tool that road users can use to voice their concerns over the state of their roads,” said CAA’s South Central Ontario Government Relations Consultant Brian Pirvu. “We've seen over the past, citizens in Windsor like the campaign and use it as an opportunity to voice their concerns and we know that the City of Windsor also pays good attention to the campaign and we intend on following up with them to have those discussions about what the future plans are.”

Each year, CAA invites Ontario drivers, cyclists, transit riders, and pedestrians to vote in the CAA Worst Roads campaign to reveal which roads need improvement.

Tecumseh Road East, Lauzon Parkway, and University Avenue West made the 2024 South West regional list, which is topped by Plank Road in Sarnia.

Pirvu explained, “Once the list has been released, we then follow up with different levels of government to have those conversations to advocate for dedicated infrastructure funding and see if they any of these road infrastructure projects can be prioritized.”

The South West region covers Essex County, Chatham-Kent, and Lambton County.

“Throughout the campaign, the top road issues were potholes, poor road maintenance, and traffic congestion. But even over the years as a campaign that began over 20 years ago fixated on potholes, we're now starting to see a shift to other modes of transportation such as cycling infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, as well as traffic congestion,” said Pirvu.

He continued, “So it serves as an opportunity for all road users to voice their concerns and make their local councillors, mayors, the province, other levels of government aware of what roads sent that tend to frustrate them.”

Pirvu suggested the campaign has yielded past local results pointing to Lauzon Parkway topping the regional list in 2021, only to see more than $8 million in road reconstruction funding announced shortly after, along with continued improvements and enhancements. “Windsor tends to like the campaign quite a bit because they've seen that it's worked in the past.”

Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton came in at number one for the worst road in Ontario.