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Eliminating left-hand turn into Cassells St.plaza part of $10m reconstruction proposal

'There has already been some initial consultation with some of the property owners in that Shoppers, Food Basics complex. So they know this is coming. Obviously we’re going to have more consultation with them to make sure nothing is affecting their business.' Tanya Vrebosch city councillor and chair of the public works and engineering committee.

Significant changes are proposed for Cassells Street starting next year.

Part of the reconstruction plan is to eliminate the left-hand turn coming off the Highway 11/17 bypass, going into the plaza, in order to ease traffic congestion.

“So when you’re coming westbound from the highway intersection, where people normally turn left, it’s very narrow there. That left-hand turn would be taken away. We’re not sure if it’s going to be a barricade or if that third lane will be removed,” said city councillor Tanya Vrebosch, chair of the public works and engineering committee.

An engineering study will analyze whether it makes more sense to turn left onto Shaw Street, or at the lights at Olive Street to get to the businesses.

“There has already been some initial consultation with some of the property owners in that Shoppers, Food Basics complex. So they know this is coming. Obviously, we’re going to have more consultation with them to make sure nothing is affecting their business.”

Given the scope of the project, city council has approved spending just over $387,000 to hire an engineering consultant to get the project rolling.

A call for tenders will go out in early 2019, with actual construction targeted to begin that spring.

“It will most likely take two seasons to finish. It is a very large project. It’s probably going to be about a $10 million project. We’ll see what the final numbers are when the tenders come in,” said Vrebosch.

The city will take advantage of the opportunity to replace underground water mains, and sanitary and storm sewers.

“You’re looking at the full reconstruction of Cassells Street. We’ve combined phase one and two. So it’s going to go from the intersection all the way down to I believe King Street. We’re literally widening that entire street. We’ve had to purchase some property to be able to widen it properly. It will include the widening of the bridge, it will include the curbs, the gutters, the water mains underneath. It’s a project that’s been long overdue, and we’re ready to get started next year.”    

Given the length of Cassells Street, a third phase will be required.    

“They’re putting more investment into this project so we can get it done a little bit faster because we see the need for it. So we’ve actually bumped up those projects to be able to try to do them all in one package.”

Meantime, at the other side of the city, solutions are still being considered to make accident plagued Algonquin Avenue safer.

One concern is left hand turns at of the Esso gas station.

“In regard to Algonquin Avenue at Lansdowne, that’s something that we’re currently in discussions with ESSO. I was actually hoping that would be brought back to council before my term was over, but without rushing it to make sure everything goes okay with ESSO because we don’t want to shut down a business. We don’t want it to heavily impact them,” said Vrebosch.

“They actually have one tanker truck a day that goes in, so it’s not like it’s one a week, one a month. So we want to make sure we work with them. They are working with us trying to find solutions if it’s putting a barricade there or something. But we currently are in discussions with them, and we’re working well together at this point."