Justin Trudeau to make announcement at Sudbury city hall

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to make an announcement at Sudbury city hall on Thursday afternoon following a roundtable discussion with local dignitaries and one city councillor is hoping that announcement will involve the Maley Drive project.

TheMaley Drive extensionis a project that has been decades in the making.

"To me, it's so soon after we endorsed the Maley Drive project at counciland I know that MPs Marc Serre and Paul Lefebvre were both very anxious for us to endorseas a councilthat priority number one was still Maley Drive, so I'm hoping that that's what he's coming to town for," said Ward 5 councillor Robert Kirwan.

The project would see the existing Maley Drive lengthened to create an alternate east-west route in the city's north end. More details can be found here.

The city and the province have already committed $27 million each towards the first phase of construction. But the project can't move forward without a contribution from the federal government.

Mayor Brian Bigger won't speculate on whether money for the Maley Drive extension is in store. But he said a discussion on infrastructure is on the agenda.

"We saw in the federal budget that items, such as infrastructure, affordable housing and transportation have been identified as priorities and we'll be taking an opportunity as a council to discuss the city's priorities with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau."