Chatham residents can expect to see some big changes coming to McNaughton Avenue West starting this month.
The McNaughton Avenue West improvement project will begin this month with several sections of the roadway getting various upgrades. The improvements will coincide with the construction of the new Catholic school and children’s treatment centre, both located on McNaughton Avenue West.
According to Chris Thibert, director of engineering and transportation with the municipality, a "crucial" part of the project will include making the roadway safer and more accessible for foot traffic.
"There's going to be a sidewalk constructed on the north side of McNaughton Avenue that's basically going to be fronting the residential properties immediately west of Keil Trail," explained Thibert. "That's going to provide the proper connectivity of our sidewalks on McNaughton from that intersection of Keil and McNaughton all the way to Bear Line which will lead into the new Catholic school as well as the future developments of the Children's Treatment Centre and anything else along that corridor."
Another way the area will become safer for walkers is the installation of a pushbutton pedestrian crosswalk installed for the new school.
The road itself will also undergo a major facelift. McNaughton Avenue West from Fergie Jenkins Drive to Bear Line Road will be getting a new storm sewer, water main, curbs, asphalt surface, and street lights. The improved road cross section will align and match with the existing cross section of McNaughton Avenue West from Fergie Jenkins Drive to Keil Drive North. This road width will allow for one lane of vehicular traffic in each direction as well as for the addition of bike lanes on both sides of the road.
Keil Drive North from Grand Avenue West to McNaughton Avenue West will also be repaved and be getting drain improvements. Another big change to that area is something that Thibert said has been in the works for over 12 years- traffic lights at the intersection of Keil Drive North and McNaughton Avenue West.
According to Thibert, municipal traffic studies were done every year at the intersection to see if enough traffic came through the area to meet the criteria for installing lights. He said with the new school being built, lights were now seen as necessary.
"With the projected and forecasted increase of traffic with the development, a traffic impact study was completed last year which identified that the signals are now warranted," Thibert said. "We are now happy to move forward with implementing those traffic signals at that location which will definitely help with the congestion and with the traffic flow in that area to support the new development with the school and the Children's Treatment Centre."
Drivers and walkers won't be the only ones noticing a big difference. Thibert said cyclists will also get to enjoy the changes with the installation of a multi-use trail installed along Keil Drive North from McNaughton Avenue all the way to Grand Avenue that will connect to another multi-use trail installed on Grand River Line and tie into sidewalks and future bike lanes.
"Really right now that stretch between McNaughton and Grand along Keil doesn't have any kind of sidewalk or infrastructure in place for pedestrian access in place. So we'll be providing that multi-use trail to accommodate not only cyclists but walkers as well," said Thibert,
The project will cost around $2,484,000 and was recently awarded to Clarke Construction Inc. of Blenheim. The money for the project is coming from municipal reserves as well as from grants, including $255,000 from the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Fund to assist with the Keil Drive Trial.
Thibert said they are anticipating to start around the third week of June, with a majority of the project scheduled to be wrapped up by September 2019 and some remainder of the work finished in spring 2020.
"Right now we're just anticipating lane restrictions during construction," said Thibert. "Once we actually get into the full-on intersection rework or any kind of paving operations, there may be some detours introduced at that time. That will be driven out in future communications with the public."
Thibert said the municipal construction website will be updated as needed during the project. He added that the municipality is appreciative of the community's patience and is reminding residents to be cautious around the construction site which he said is sure to be a busy spot over the next few months.