After six months of planning and community consultation, the Elgin Greenway is moving on to the detailed engineering phase of development, with the first stage of Sudbury's downtown redevelopment project set to get underway this fall.
The $3.7-million Elgin Street Greenway is a one-kilometre corridor that will run alongside the rail lands, incorporating greenery alongside space for pedestrians and cyclists.
It’s part of Sudbury’s 10-year plan to rehabilitate the city’s downtown core.
Following the most recent consultation session in July, the city is now ready to move forward, said Jason Ferrigan, a senior planner with the City of Greater Sudbury.
Led by EDA Collaborative landscape architects, the project team includes Tulloch Engineering, Yallowega Belanger Architects and the BA Group.
“From here, basically what we do now is we take the final concept plan and, in the next three or so months, we’re going to take that through what we call a detailed design process, which is where we transition now from the planning and the urban design into the detailed engineering piece,” Ferrigan said.
“We will take the greenway and basically engineer it into a series of different tender packages that we can have the project shovel-ready in September or October of this year.”
Features of the greenway include seven distinct areas, or plazas, that pay tribute to Sudbury’s assets: innovation, arts and entertainment, community/market, green, natural heritage, cultural heritage, and the Nelson Street Parkette.
The plazas have been described by Patrick Li, a principal at EDA Collaborative, as jewels in a rich, green necklace that tells Sudbury’s story.
The innovation plaza will be a public space featuring a four-season water element, which will connect the Laurentian Architecture School to the greenway, while the community/market plaza will guide the way to the new farmers’ market at the city’s revitalized train station, calming traffic and serving as a focal point. The Rock of Fame, a monument honouring local citizens for their involvement in the betterment of the community, has also been identified as a major priority for the project.
Only part of the project will be completed this year, Ferrigan said. The Elgin Street underpass is set to be refurbished in early fall; funding set aside in the city’s budget will ensure the steel hand rail, stairs and ramp leading into the underpass will be refurbished this year.
Funding for the project’s other components has not yet been secured.
“We continue to pursue different funding opportunities, both as a city and as a community,” Ferrigan said. “We hope to have further information on that in the fall when we have the detailed design complete.”
Project designers have also been in consultation with the city’s First Nations organizations to discuss how elements of First Nations heritage can be incorporated into the design. Ideas include incorporating a medicine wheel garden and the seven grandfather teachings—mirrored by the seven themed plazas— into the design.
Ferrigan emphasized that, through the entire process, community feedback has been an integral part of the development and that will continue, especially as the city looks at installing interpretive signage throughout the greenway to tell Sudbury’s story.
“The community’s been great in terms of their participation and bringing really strong ideas to the table,” Ferrigan said, “and I think it’s just been exciting overall.”
