Construction on Chatham roadways is expected to wrap up just in time for the summer.
Chatham-Kent's director of engineering and transportation Chris Thibert says their major projects are currently all going ahead as planned, despite some past delays.
"All of our big -- larger projects that primarily occurred last year that were due to be complete this year are going to be wrapping up by the end of June so we're definitely looking forward to that," he says.
After being closed for nearly a year, the Fifth St. bridge in Chatham will soon reopen to traffic and pedestrians.
"They have completed all the intersection work," he says. "There is the final asphalt and some minor restoration work that still needs to take place."
Once that work is complete, residents can expect to see workers from Bell Canada doing utility work in the area, but Thibert doesn't anticipate the work to delay the bridge from reopening or affect local traffic.
As for construction on Grand Ave. W, Thibert says construction is also still expected to be complete by the end of June. Water main and sewer line construction work picked back up in April after being put on hold during the winter months. Although the road hasn't been completely closed off, it has been reduced to one lane in both directions, with no left turns allowed.
"They are proposing to do asphalt work in the intersection next week but it won't [cause] any type of closure," says Thibert. "Following the asphalt work they're going to flip all of the traffic from the south side to the north side, and then they're going to do all of the work on the north side so that traffic will now be on the south side -- again still restricting left turns."
As for another major project, Thibert says the construction on Richmond St. is almost done and only needs final restoration work.
Once these projects are complete, Thibert says the municipality will be able to move on to other planned projects.
"We're anticipating doing a full road reconstruction on Bloomfield Rd. and that's going to occur between Richmond St. and Riverview Line," he says. "That's basically going to be a full restoration of that road, installation of new curbs and gutters.
"There's also going to be a multi-use trail that's going to be installed on Bloomfield Rd. It's going to connect the bike lanes on Richmond to Riverview Line."
-With files from Matt Weverink
Construction continues on the intersection of Grand Ave. W. and Lacroix St./Sandys St. in Chatham. May 28, 2018. (Photo by Sarah Cowan)