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Ontario Municipal Reports: southwestern regions

Representatives from municipalities in Ontario’s southwestern region gave reports on the state of their municipalities during the Ontario Road Builders’ Association’s (ORBA) 94th annual convention that was held virtually for the first time in February. The event was titled, “Forging the Roadway Ahead.”

City of London

Doug MacRae, director, Roads & Transportation, City of London, presented the report for the City of London.

“Reflecting back on 2020 and the year it was, all the craziness started right when we were in the midst of awarding out eight largest tenders. I’m pleased to say our city council was always firmly behind the tender awards and proceeding with these projects,” said MacRae.

MacRae first presented an update on their two large railway road grade separation projects, second, an update on Rapid Transit, and finally an update to all the City’s capital programs and projects.

The grade separation projects MacRae mentioned are; the Adelaide Street Underpass (CP Railway) and the Wharncliffe Road Underpass 9CN Railway). MacRae said you can expect to see a tender for this project in the next few months.

The City of London’s Rapid Transit involves dedicated bus lanes. There are three major infrastructure projects bringing Rapid Transit to key areas of the city:

• The Downtown Loop
• East London Link
• Wellington Gateway

Capital Program and Projects

The City of London has more than $80 million in construction tenders for; cycling improvements, Infrastructure Renewal Program; stormwater/water improvement; traffic signal intersection rebuilds; road extensions; and the annual New Sidewalk Program.

Niagara Region

Frank Tassone, associate director, Transportation Engineering, Public Works, shared the report for Niagara Region.

“Today I’ll be going over our capital forecast in construction for this coming season,” said Tassone.

Capital budget allocation

Tassone said the capital budget is broken down into four main areas; Network Expansion; Intersection Improvement Program; Roads Rehabilitation Program; and Structure Rehabilitation Program.

• RR57 Thorold Stone Road – $2.5 million
• RR1 Dominion Road – $5.5 million
• RR69 Pelham Road – $7 million
• RR87 Lakeshore Road – $1.8 million
• RR529 Effingham Street – $5 million
• RR81 St. Paul CNR Bridge – $10 million
• RR20 Hwy 20 Bridge – $3.5 million
• RR21 Schisler Road Bridge – $1.5 million

The City of London also plans on investing $10 million In road strengthening and resurfacing. Two tenders will be called out in 2021. Both tenders will be region-wide and are projected to be tendered in Q1 and Q2 of this year.

City of Hamilton

Michael Becke, senior project manager, Design Section, Public Works, presented the report for the City of Hamilton.

Becke started his presentation with some background information on the City of Hamilton. The City of Hamilton has 6490 lane kilometres of roadway and 2444 kilometres of sidewalk, 2119 kilometres of water mains and 22,770 water valves, 3073 kilometres of sewer main and 46,569 maintenance structures.

Photo: ORBA Virtual Event

“Over the next 10 years the City has earmarked $500 million funding for the underground infrastructure,” said Becke.

Future projects

• Upper James Force-main – $2.8 million
• Hwy 8 reconstruction and bridge replacement – $11.8 million
• Central neighbourhood phase 2 reconstruction and resurfacing – $9.1 million
• Waterdown East to West Corridor
• Dickenson Road Sanitary Trunk Sewer

Region of Waterloo

Jim Ellerman, acting supervisor, Transportation Program Planning, for Region of Waterloo, gave the report for Waterloo Region.

The report covered the development of the region’s Transportation Capital Program, current funding, and upcoming projects.

“Budget for the upcoming year in construction is $112.3 million. Our 20-year capital budget is $904 million,” said Ellerman.

Future projects

• Arthur Street N – Sandy Hills Drive to Waterloo/Wellington Boundary – $3.1 million
• Highland Road W, Fischer Hallman Blvd to Ira Needles Blvd – $14.6 million
• King Street, Central Street to University Avenue – $6.8 million
• King Street, Hwy 401 to Sportsworld Drive – $8 million
• Notre Dame Drive
• Ottawa Street, Alpine Road to Fischer-Hallman Road – $7.7 million
• Ottawa Street, Fischer-Hallman Road to International Drive – $2.4 million
• Sawmill Road, River Street to Snyders Flats Road – $2.1 million
• Snyder’s Road E, Christian Street to Gingerich Road – $9.3
• River Road Extension – $66.9 million 

City of Cambridge

Kevin De Leebeeck, director of engineering, presented the report for the City of Cambridge. De Leebeeck presented on; transportation activities; active transportation activities; regional initiatives in Cambridge; transportation infrastructure; and upcoming projects.

“Our active transportation activities include; Bike Your City; the construction of Dunbar Road multi-use trail; our Slow Streets Pilot; and some off-road trail projects,” he said.

Future projects

• Beverly Street Pedestrian Underpass – $2.6 million
• Boychuk Drive Extension – $2.5 million
• Boychuk drive Grade Separation – $10 million
• Salisbury Avenue Reconstruction – $4 million
• Centre Street reconstruction – $2.2 million
• Hamilton Street Reconstruction – $2.2 million
• Rooshill Avenue Reconstruction – $1.7 million

City of Windsor

Mark Winterton, city engineer and corporate leader for Environmental, Transportation and Transit, shared the report for the City of Windsor.

Future projects

• Cabana Road – $6 million
• Sewer Master Plan Implementation – $11 million
• Enhanced Flooding Mitigation Program – $7.6 million
• City Wide Sewer Rehabilitation Program – $9.3 million

Additional projects

• Transit Windsor Garage Feasibility Study
• New greenhouse