Built in 1949, the College Street underpass is the city’s oldest bridge yet to be rehabilitated.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, the city’s elected officials resolved to remedy this situation by approving in principle a $25-million full bridge rehabilitation project.
The project would include active transportation improvements and a roundabout to the north of the underpass, where College Street meets Frood Road.
Although approved in principle, city council members aren’t expected to make a final decision on whether to proceed until next year.
Meanwhile, a successful motion by Mayor Paul Lefebvre passed during Tuesday’s meeting which seeks funding from senior levels of government.
The mayor pre-empted Tuesday’s vote by promoting his motion on social media, in which he leaned on the fact the underpass is in place to accommodate the national CPKC rail network, which it ducks under.
“The College Street Underpass plays a crucial role in moving goods across Canada, connecting businesses to global markets, and contributing to our national GDP,” he wrote in a statement he reiterated during Tuesday’s meeting. “Yet, our community bears a disproportionate share of the costs for railway crossings and infrastructure that benefit all Canadians.”
There’s a long history of senior government supporting the underpass, Lefebvre said, with a municipal report noting that its original $400,000 cost was funded by the province (25 per cent) and federal government (25 per cent), with the municipality funding the 50-per-cent balance.
The motions to approve the $25-million project in principle and to seek funding from senior levels of government both received unanimous support from city council.
This, despite a handful of concerns being expressed.
Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin lamented the cost, dismissing the active transportation improvements and a roundabout aspects of the full $25-million project as “more a want than a need.”
She advocated for a simple like-for-like rehabilitation if the city doesn’t get external funding, which city staff estimated to cost $9 million and would extend the underpass’s life by 25 to 30 years.
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc questioned whether the provincial government would even allow them to undertake the $25-million project, since it would eliminate a lane of traffic to make way for bike lanes and the province has tabled legislation which could potentially disallow such projects.
However, city Linear Infrastructure Services director Joe Rocca told Sudbury.com earlier this month that the provincial legislation would unlikely have much of an impact locally, since any cases where lanes of traffic have been removed aren’t expected to impact traffic flow negatively.
This also applies to the proposed College Street Roundabout, city Growth and Infrastructure general manager Tony Cecutti told city council, also noting that the legislation in question hasn’t been enacted.
“We’re still working under the premise that active transportation is still something that is largely desired,” he said, later adding, “Senior levels of government change their mind from time to time.”
The roundabout would also work in concert with the city’s proposed extension of Ste. Anne’s Road westward toward the intersection, which is a long-discussed initiative to alleviate traffic pressures downtown.
The added road would add a fifth meeting point to the intersection, which Cecutti cautioned would create another confusing intersection such as Sudbury’s so-called “Killer’s Crossing.”
“We don’t want to introduce another one with that kind of moniker,” Cecutti said.
Further, the roundabout would allow the city to limit underpass vehicular traffic to one lane in each direction from the current three-lane total without negatively affecting traffic flow, which makes room for the active transportation system infrastructure proposed.
Although the $25-million Option A was approved in principle on Tuesday, city council members will make their final decision on whether to proceed with tendering this or another less-expensive option late next year, by which time they hope to have gotten word on funding.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
