A citizen's group with homes in the city's South End is holding a public meeting Tuesday evening to voice concerns over a major road construction project scheduled to begin next spring.
We're worried about the building of a huge interchange scheduled for the Highway 17 bypass-Long Lake Road corridor. We're particularly worried about the lack of information about pedestrian and cycling access in the area near the interchange, said Andre Dumais, spokesperson for the group.
"From what we've heard so far there are no concrete plans for pedestrian access and cycling trails in this area and this concerns a lot of us," said Dumais.
The provincial Ministry of Transportation is responsible for the project, which has been in the planning stage for several years. The city is conducting pre-construction work on the area of Harrison Dr. and Gateway Cres., Dumais said.
"The city is four-laning the Harrison-Gateway corridor and the MTO will be doing the rest," he said.
Homeowners have been kept informed about the project and aren't necessarily opposed to construction of the interchange, but do want their concerns over pedestrian access and cycling trails addressed before construction begins, said Dumais.
"This is a busy neighbourhood and we want to be assured there will be places for people to walk safely to get from one side of the interchange to the other," he said. "There are also a number of fantastic cycling trails in the area and we want to be assured they will remain and there will be ways for cyclists to get around this interchange safely."
Councillor Doug Craig and representatives from the MTO will be on hand for Tuesday's meeting and will hopefully have answers to our questions, said Dumais.
The public meeting will be held in the upstairs meeting room at the Countryside Arena at 7 pm.
