The City of Greater Sudbury has approved a revised plan for the Elgin Street Greenway, after shaving a few million dollars off the original price tag.
Several years in the planning, the Greenway is a proposed one-kilometre walking and cycling corridor extending from the downtown to the city’s signature Bell Park area. It was proposed as part of the city’s 10-year plan to rehabilitate its downtown core.
The scaled-down plan will now cost an estimated $3.878 million, as opposed to the original $8.5 million.
Funding for the project will be provided by the city, the downtown Business Improvement Area, and other levels of government.
Jason Ferrigan, the city's director of planning, said four changes have been made to the proposal, reducing the scope of the project, eliminating some road work and complementary items. For example, instead of landscaping, sod will be laid down.
About $1.5 million will be spent on a bicycle path, pedestrian path, landscaping and lighting for the Greenway; $864,000 will be spent on street widening, linear infrastructure and street resurfacing; and, $1.5 million will go to linking a downtown footbridge, on-street plazas and street furniture.
The project will eliminate about 90 parking spots in the existing CP Rail parking lot on Elgin Street.
With the approval, the Greenway will be part of the 2018 budget process, and applications to other levels of government will be sent out. Work would begin next year, assuming the funding is approved.
Overall, the project has been broken up into three phases, and council is only approving the first phase. The full project will only be done if a future council approves it.
