Skip to content

Businesses, residents applaud $600K solution to Kelly Lake Road gaffe

City changes course, will install temporary bridge instead of closing busy roadway until October
110517_dm_kelly_lakeSized
Residents and businesses in the Kelly Lake Road area were relieved to learn Thursday the city will install a temporary bridge rather than closing Kelly Lake oad this summer. (Darren MacDonald/Sudbury.com)

What a difference a few weeks – and a change of heart – can make.

On May 11, angry business owners and residents packed the fieldhouse at Robinson Lake Playground over plans to close Kelly Lake Road from June until October while a culvert is replaced.

While city staff knew about the plan in February, residents weren't informed until early May. That sparked a hue and cry from businesses who couldn't operate from their storefronts during the busy construction season.

And residents were upset that heavy truck traffic would be diverted to nearby Southview Drive, a road where big trucks are not allowed to travel.

“Businesses and residents should have been contacted when the city decided to do this, so they would have our input on the massive scale this will affect everyone in our neighbourhood, as well as our many customers,” Darryl Lampkin, owner of Echo Rental and Supply Ltd.,  wrote to Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti. “The customers so many of us will lose over the 4 1/2 months of our busiest season in five years, they will take years to get coming back to us. This a fact.”

The outcry prompted city staff to go back to the drawing board. While the culvert urgently needs replacing because of safety issues, roads director Dave Shelsted told residents at another meeting Thursday that, despite the costs, the city will construct a temporary bridge that will allow traffic to flow on one lane, and keep the big trucks off Southview.

"We're moving forward with the preferred alternative of putting in a temporary bridge in,” Shelsted said. “But there still some unanswered questions that we can't 100-per-cent confirm right now."

Specifically, the city needs to conclude agreements with two property owners the bridge will have to cross. Talks are going well, he said, but will take some time.

"We're hearing some very positive vibes from both of them, but we still need their permission and legal agreements in order to officially construct it,” Shelsted said. “We're hoping in short order to get them finalized."

Adding the bridge means costs will increase by more than $600,000, and will add another month to the length of the project.

"But we've found some financing that we can do for this," he said. "We're hoping as we refine this that we can bring those costs down."

A trailer will be set up with traffic signals, giving each side 90 seconds to cross. The bridge will have a separate section for pedestrians to use.

Roads engineer Stephen Holmes said they plan to meet with the contractor next week. The city is still hoping work will formally begin June 2, but design work and finalizing agreements with two property owners will take time. 

"We're working hard to try and get all those things in place," Holmes said. "There's still a possibility they might meet the schedule even though the bridge is going to take a month. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's going to be some delay."

Updates will be communicated to businesses and residents as details come available, he said. It's possible that the final layer of asphalt will have to be put down next year, but that won't be a long process, he said.

"You don't want to do it in cold weather," Holmes said.

Signoretti told the crowd that, although the city did a poor job in communication, at least they acknowledged the issues and worked with residents to find another way.

"I appreciate your patience and understanding in this whole situation,” he said. “I know it didn't play out the way everybody would have like. But I would like to at least acknowledge staff for coming up with a solution and looking at all the angles and spending the time to find an answer."


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.