The Town of Kingsville is gathering input from the community on how to improve a key stretch of road.
Residents were invited last week to an open house to see preliminary plans for the future of Seacliff Dr, as part of an environmental assessment. The town is gathering ideas from the public concerning the future of a 9 km section of the drive between Kingsville and Leamington.
With Seacliff Dr. having involved into an important commuter route for residents in the southern region of Essex County, Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos tells BlackburnNews.com that the improvement of the traffic situation is a top priority.
"It's looking to improve, obviously, the flow of the traffic, the safety of people, pedestrians especially in the built-up areas through the routes into Leamington," says Santos.
Santos says turning lanes on the two-land road would play a big role, considering the traffic and commerce moving through the area's important greenhouse industry.
"We're hearing, loud and clear, good support for the addition of a turning lane through certain sections of that roadway," says Santos. "So the expansion of the roadway itself for the ease of traffic and movement."
Another aspect brought up by residents as to the improvement of the drive is pedestrian safety, and suggestions made by residents led to adjustments in the plan, changing the streetscape to make it more walker-friendly. Original plans involved an all-purpose path accommodating all forms of non-vehicular travel, but the updated proposals now show separate walkways for walkers and joggers versus bicyclists.
With the public's input in hand, Santos is eager to move the makeover forward.
"Over the next few weeks, we're going to compile this information and put it back into an updated report, and provide an updated draft back to county council so that it can be reviewed, and also to the public for them to review," says Santos.
The town hopes to have a final adoption of the plan in the first part of 2018.