City begins Ferguson Street reconstruction project

North Bay’s Monday night meeting of City Council announced the beginning of major repair to Ferguson Street and surrounding area.

The central artery that is near city essentials such as the Gardens, Downtown & Fire and Police, is well known for its poor condition and it’s history of flooding and water backup.

The repairs, discussed for several years, was postponed in 2012 but is now underway, with a three phase project being announced.

Ferguson Street, in dire need of resurfacing, will also have sewer and water routing brought into its redesign to hopefully alleviate issues of ground water in the area, said to be a former creek run through the city.

The preliminary discussion with councillors indicate the area is going to extend more of its drainage into cisterns and culverts that should ultimately drain into nearby Chippewa Creek, with the expectation that this should drain out most of the ground waters that are creating the concerns and the rippling of road surfaces, with frost heaving the asphalt each winter cycle.

City council, excited to see some remedy to the long troublesome area, says that work was to being this spring but no completion dates have been released or are believed to be written into the work contracts or mention of claw backs if the repairs are not completed on time.

With recent road and bridge concerns in the city stirring up debate and headaches for councillors and residents, it’s interesting to see that no time frame of work beginning and completion is being hard pressed on the municipal project.

It could be of note that council might benefit from an implied warranty on the road resurfacing in order to get a good quality repair with many patches throughout the city seemingly crumbling within a short period of major work, not just the hot patches they apply to major potholes throughout the spring season.

The Ferguson Street area, it is hoped, will also see the sidewalks maintained and even upgraded in the central city corridor.

With the repairs and resurfacing expected to last sometime, the area around Chippewa, Fisher and Cassells Streets, as well as the downtown, could all see higher volumes of traffic and congestion with many side streets being cut off from the East and West end connections at Ferguson.