Municipal staff will be approaching Chatham-Kent Council Monday night regarding several projects in downtown Chatham.
Among those projects are Chatham's Fifth St. Bridge and Third St. Bridge; both are in need of repairs but the cost could be around $13-million.
Chatham-Kent’s Director of Engineering Adam Sullo says they'll be looking at cost-effective options, which include the possible closure of one of the bridges. But in order to further assess the situation, staff will be asking council to approve an Environmental Assessment (EA).
"I think a lot of people are concerned about traffic patterns," says Sullo. "The goal of the Environmental Assessment would be to improve traffic flow through downtown Chatham and then look at saving costs in the long-term as well."
The report had originally been scheduled to appear in front of council on November 21, but due to timing constraints it was pushed back to December 5.
Sullo says it's important to look at these projects as soon as possible, explaining that the municipality is looking to spend approximately $37-million to $58-million in downtown Chatham within the next ten years.
"What we're saying is we should take a step back if we're going to spend this much money and really look at [if] we can improve things or should we leave it the same," he says.
Sullo adds the EA is just to evaluate options, so that they can be presented to council at a later time.
If the EA is approved by council members, a Request For Proposal would be issued to hire a company to conduct the EA sometime in the new year.