On time, on budget: End in sight for Main Street reconstruction
Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: August 4, 2016 | Last Updated: August 4, 2016 7:27 PM EDT
The long-awaited end to Main Street’s reconstruction is close enough that David Chernushenko is starting to think about planning a grand reopening party.
“We’re definitely past half way,” the Capital councillor said Thursday of the multi-year, multimillion-dollar project, which he said is about two-thirds finished.
Main Street’s infrastructure was at the end of its life cycle, so the city ordered up a top-to-bottom facelift from Echo Drive to the Rideau River. Wider sidewalks, cycletracks, new trees, public art, street lighting and signage are above ground; new water mains and sewers run underground.
The reconstruction also presented a chance to narrow the street in an effort to reduce speeding along a stretch of road that’s a popular choice for north-south commuters.
The total budget is $39 million, plus another $16.3 million to fix up the McIlraith Bridge.
Preliminary work began early last year, but the big shovels didn’t come out until the end of May, which is also when the major traffic detours kicked in. It’s expected to be completed next summer, and is on time and on budget, the councillor said.
“We have no reason to expect it won’t open on time.”
In fact, a short stretch between Lees and Hawthorne avenues reopened to traffic in both directions on Thursday.
A key stretch between Lees and Clegg Street is scheduled to open to traffic in both directions on Aug. 16, according to Chernushenko, although the new cycletracks are already popular with many cyclists.
“We’re in the last stretch,” said Helen Weaver, owner of 3 Trees, an eclectic shop that sells clothing, jewelry and handicrafts. “The progress they’ve made is amazing.”
She was anticipating a rough couple of years as detours and dust drove customers away, but her sales are actually up, she said.
Weaver also praised the city’s efforts to keep the community up to speed on the project, including more than 20 public working group meetings, which she said were invaluable. “If you’re there the whole time, you understand the process.”
Despite the mess outside, the Green Door vegetarian restaurant next door has also thrived, said owner Ron Farmer. The detours might have been confusing at times, but it wasn’t enough to keep loyal customers away.
That’s a relief, Chernushenko said. “You never want businesses to go under.”
As for residents, he acknowledged their patience and understanding about the project, which, thanks to detours and road closures, forced a lot more cars and heavy trucks onto normally quiet and leafy side streets.
“People have, for the most part, been accepting that that’s the only way the project is going to get done,” Chernushenko said.
While there might be light at the end of the tunnel, Main Street remains a dusty mess, particularly south of Clegg Street. Vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists can all get through, but it’s slow and noisy.
Traffic has been reduced to one southbound lane; northbound drivers must detour through the neighbourhood.
Between Clegg and Riverdale Avenue, construction on the east side of the road has workers and heavy equipment as close as three metres from some people’s front doors.
And where Main meets Riverdale, there are piles of construction debris, traffic cones and wooden pallets.
“A little pain for a lot of gain is worth it,” said Alastair McDonald, as he watered the front lawn of a home on Bower Street, within earshot of construction vehicles.
He’s visiting from Scotland for three weeks but said he isn’t too fussed about the construction, especially if the end result is a safer and friendlier street for pedestrians and cyclists.
The workers, he added, are polite and generally wrap up their work by 6 p.m.
“To me, they’re trying their very best to minimize noise and pollution, but it’s inevitable,” McDonald said.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...reconstruction
Prev
Linear Mode
