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Imagining a less congested Lasalle Boulevard

With Maley Drive project expected to reduce traffic, city planners look to make roadway cyclist, pedestrian friendly
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The completion of the $80 million Maley Drive extension is expected to take as many as 10,000 vehicles a day of Lasalle Boulevard, one of the busiest roadways in the city. (Supplied)

The completion of the $80 million Maley Drive extension is expected to take as many as 10,000 vehicles a day off Lasalle Boulevard, one of the busiest roadways in the city.

Before Phase 1 of the plan is completed in 2019, city planners are looking at ways to change the roadway to make it friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.

Traditionally one of the more congested streets in Sudbury, planners are looking what changes are possible when traffic eases.

A public consultation took place Sept. 14, kicking off a $200,000 study that will recommend changes by March 2018. Monthly public meetings are planned to get input from the public, to be held at the Terry Fox Complex, the headquarters of the Lasalle Boulevard study.

A draft plan will be ready for review in January, before it's finalized in the spring.

Members of the planning committee reviewed the strategy this week, and Ward 12 Coun. Josecelyn Landry-Altmann wondered why adding greenery isn't part of the process. 

"I'm not seeing any regreening of Lasalle," Landry-Atlmann said. "It's badly needed on Lasalle."

Jason Ferrigan, the city's director of planning services, said the goal is to mesh urban transportation needs with new design features for cyclists and pedestrians, and that includes regreening.

"Landscaping is part of what we're considering here," Ferrigan said.

Landry-Altmann said residents on some of the streets adjacent to Lasalle are wondering what the strategy will mean for those streets. For example, she said some residents on Montrose Avenue want a sidewalk, and residents on Sparks Street would like to see part of the road closed to traffic, since it has become a popular cut-through for drivers and there are no sidewalks.

Ferrigan said the consultant will come back with recommendations on how best to connect the side streets with Lasalle for pedestrians, and that could include sidewalks.

"We're definitely interested to hear what residents think," he said.

He can't promise they'll close Sparks Street, but traffic calming measures could be included, which would get them on the priority list.

"We will be engaging with the community on a monthly basis in order to bring back a strategy and a plan to council for its consideration in the first quarter of next year," Ferrigan said.

For more information on the strategy, read the city report.


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Darren MacDonald

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