The hot, hazy and humid weather isn’t the only thing that has drivers steaming: as usual at this time of year, road construction and the resultant detours and delays are big factors, as well.
Elmira is at the epicentre of that just now, particularly with the closure of Church Street East, cutting off the main east-side route in and out of town. That regional project runs into November. Also on the east side, Union Street access has been restricted at times as the township carries out a paving project.
To the west, the region has restricted access as the intersection of Church Street and Floradale Road is converted to a roundabout.
Bloomingdale is also a scene of major disruption, as the region has closed Sawmill Road to carry out a reconstruction project.
With the reconstruction of Church Street East, the full closure of the roadway is expected to continue through the end of August, said Boris Latkovic, the region’s project manager.
The first stage now underway until about the end of the month involves the portion of Church Street between George Street and Spruce Lane, with stage 1B covering the stretch of road between George and Duke streets. The latter is expected to wrap up by the end of August.
With stage 2, running from late August to early October, the region expects to keep open one lane for eastbound/westbound traffic between Riverside Drive and George Street. Likewise, one lane open for westbound traffic only between George Street and Elmira Union Cemetery (i.e. traffic only coming into town), Latkovic explained.
Final asphalt work would take place in November.
The township’s project on Union Street is slated for paving next week, said Jared Puppe, Woolwich’s director of infrastructure services.
Most of the road work on tap for this summer is spread out across the township. The big project is in Maryhill, where construction got underway this week on work that includes a watermain replacement.
“We’ve also got a bunch of paving of roads, mostly in St. Jacobs this year – we’ve got Three Bridges Road, and we’ve got a portion of Henry Street.
“In the Breslau area, we’ve got Greenhouse Road out for tender right now. We’re going to replace the bridge there, so that’ll be a full closure on Greenhouse Road. We set that up to allow a contractor to start this year and complete it or carry it over into next year,” said Puppe.
Also to be spread out over two years is the work underway in Bloomingdale. Sawmill Road is currently closed south of St. Charles Street as the region carries out a full reconstruction, and will remain that way into October or November, said project manager Jason Lane.
That stage of the project will be followed by work on the main intersection itself. Next year, the portion of Sawmill Road from the intersection to Snyder’s Flats Road will see the roadway fully closed again, though Lane said he expects that will be of shorter duration, likely in the six-week range.
Things are a little quieter in Wellesley, where the township has just one detour-causing project on the go: Queens Bush Road in the village.
“That should take most of the summer, probably wrapping up mid-September in all likelihood. And then the only other real major project that we’ve got going on is a bridge reconstruction on Hutchison Road,” said Chris Cook, the township’s director of public works.
“That’s on the township gravel section of this Hutchison road, so it’s not going to overly impact the traffic too much. That’ll be from mid-August until likely early October. It’ll be completely closed for the duration – we won’t have any detours setup, as it really only affects a couple of actual houses.”
Residents of St. Clements will have some adjustments to make, however, as the region carries out some paving work on Herrgott Road out towards Ament Line.
Cook noted that the Queens Bush project has a second phase slated for 2024, which is also expected to be a busy one in Woolwich, as well.
“Next year is going to be a really heavy year for Woolwich. We’ve got Barnswallow on the books. We’ve got George and High streets on the books, and we’ve got Duke Street. Those are big ones – Duke’s a really big one, so that’s probably a multi-year construction project for us. And, of course, the Peel Street Bridge will be coming back around,” said Puppe.
