City aims to complete Second Ave. widening this year

Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Greater Sudbury will try for the third year in a row to complete a major widening and rebuild of Second Avenue, which has been delayed as a result of objections filed with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

Tony Cecutti, the city's general manager of infrastructure, said in an interview the city will soon publish the notice of completion of the project, which means the public will again have 30 days to review the plan and raise objections.

"As a result of ... concerns from the community, the Ministry of Environment asked us to do further detail on the environmental assessment, which we just recently completed," Cecutti said.

"Assuming we get through the 30 days, and the community is satisfied that we've addressed the concerns that have been raised, we'll be in a position to tender the construction of that project."

Budgeted last year at $6.6 million, costs for the project have increased by about $800,000, he said. The city plans to proceed using a Schedule B environmental assessment, rather than the more intensive and expensive Schedule C assessment the complainants were seeking.

Details of the project have been posted to the city's website. It will widen Second Avenue to five lanes from Donna Drive to Scarlett Road, and three lanes from Scarlett Road to Kenwood Street.

City staff have said the five lanes are needed because of heavy traffic counts along that stretch of Second — 15,000 vehicles a day — as well as the added traffic demands of future residential construction planned in Minnow Lake.

The project will combine the entrance to the Civic Memorial Cemetery and the Minnow Lake Dog Park, and align the new entrance across from Scarlett, where a traffic light will be installed.

The project was revised in 2014 to move up planned drainage work, allowing it to incorporate raised bike lanes along both sides of Second Avenue. The bike lanes will connect from Donna Drive to Bancroft Avenue.

John Lindsay, of the Ward 11 CAN, has filed objections to the Second Avenue project in both of the last two years. He was joined by half a dozen other groups and individuals last year.

In a recent interview, Lindsay said he'll wait to see the notice of completion before he decides whether to object again.

"We were told that the ministry would not consider our requests until the city actually satisfies the requirements they had to,” Lindsay said. “There were seven pages of deficiencies and we would hope those have been addressed.

"Only at that time would we be able to take another look at the project and just see. Because there are a number of issues that we were concerned about, as you know. Plus the problem about the extent of the evaluation."

In its letter to the city, the province raised several issues, such as details of the species-at-risk study, more data on the positive impact of the project and why reducing the project to three lanes all the way up Second Avenue, as Lindsay has argued, wasn't a viable alternative.

As for the increase in costs of the project of $800,000, Lindsay said he doubts the numbers.

"Well, they say that, but I mean really, it depends on what's involved with the particular project,” he said. “Initially they said it was going to cost $1 million more."

And if the city listened to what he was asking – that the five-lane section be reduced to three for the entire road, "it could cost a couple million dollars less."

Lindsay also took issue with the idea it was objections from him and others that led to the delays. The blame should go to city staff, he said, who didn't properly complete the steps necessary to proceed – a fact uncovered when the groups objected.

"It's unfortunate that many people in the area believe it's the groups that held up the project,” he said. “Really, it was the ministry that told the city that they have not done the work that's required."