Sudbury city council agrees to additional work on Maley Drive

A projected funding surplus for the Maley Drive extensionlikely meansadditional construction before work is complete.

The$80.1M project is fundedequally between the City of Greater Sudbury, the Ontario government and the federal government, with each contributing$26.7M.

The project director, David Shelsted, saysthe surplusallows the city to add to the original scope of the project at no extra cost.

At Tuesday's council meeting, Shelsted asked the city to approve the construction of two additional lanes from Barry DowneRoad to Lansing Avenue and a roundabout at Lansing Avenue.

"The section between Lansing andBarry Downeis modeled to be the highest traffic volume, it's estimated to be about 15,500 per day through that section of roadway," he said.

He said a design rule suggests that once traffic is estimated above 12,000 vehicles per day additional lanes should be considered.

However, before any additional construction can begin the federal and provincial governments need to agree to include the additional scope in the funding agreements.

Shelsted says they both agreed to consider an extension to the scope of the project as long as the city agreed to the work and as long as the portion of their funding does not increase.

"They've also indicated that completion of the entire scope including the extension we're proposing will be required for us to receive 100 per cent of their funding," said Shelsted.

The additional lanes between Barry Downe and Lansing will also include a divider which means left hand turns will be limited on that section of road and the use of the roundaboutsat either end will be necessary.

"What we're proposing is to include a divided four lane section all the way to Lansing with a roundabout at Lansing, some of the impacts you'll see here is some of the driveways off the south side will be limited to right in, right out access," he said.

Removing the left hand turns increases traffic safety and reduces collisions, says Shelsted. "Because it's a T-bonedtype collision and it's the highest in both potential property damage and personal damage for occupants of either vehicle."