The City of Greater Sudbury is getting ready to build the $80.1-million Maley Drive extension, and contracts were set to be tendered by the end of May.
A report headed to council on May 10 said since the federal government announced its one-third share in April (the province announced its share of funding in 2014), the city has to file a formal financial plan explaining how the project will be financed.
The city has been setting aside more than $2 million a year for Maley for several years, and has more than $15 million in the bank for the project.
Setting aside the remaining $11.7 million will take a little more than five years.
“The city is responsible to cover its share of the construction cost and any ineligible expenses, such as property costs,” the report said.
Before any construction contracts can be tendered, councillors have to approve the financial plan. The goal is to begin construction in July.
“This contract will extend to the end of 2017 and include the construction of the majority of the Notre Dame interchange and the realignment of Notre Dame Avenue,” the report said. “The remaining work will be tendered in the following years with completion in 2019.”
In addition to the planned road work, there’s funding in the water/sewer capital budget to replace the water main along Maley Drive from Junction Creek to National Street, a distance of about 700 metres.
The work is proposed to be completed in 2016. Staff will report back to council regularly regarding the construction schedule and budget.
On April 7, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced long-awaited federal funds for Maley Drive, a critical arterial road project that’s been discussed since the 1980s.
The project would widen Maley Drive to four lanes, from the Falconbridge Highway to Barrydowne Road.
Fully completed, the extension would divert about 10,000 vehicles a day from The Kingsway and Lasalle Boulevard, as well as significantly reduce the wear and tear heavy industrial trucks inflict on local roads.
Highlights of phase one of the Maley Drive extension, which is expected to be completed in 2019:
• A new four-lane road will be constructed from Lasalle Boulevard West, near Collège Boréal, to Barrydowne Road.
• Traffic will access the new four-lane road via a new interchange to be constructed north of Lasalle Boulevard on Notre Dame Avenue (Municipal Road 80).
• To accommodate the new interchange, Notre Dame Avenue will be widened from four lanes to six lanes, north of the improvements that have already been made to the Lasalle-Notre Dame intersection and approaching lanes.
Other phase one highlights include roundabouts and the rehabilitation of an existing section of Maley Drive.
