A major road reconstruction project is on the horizon for a portion of Michigan Avenue in Sarnia.
In 2025, significant upgrades are planned for the county road between Colborne Road and Indian Road, including the continuation of bike lanes.
Other work will include the replacement of forcemain and watermain, and an overall widening of the road.
Sarnia GM of Engineering and Operations David Jackson said the goal is to replace infrastructure currently in a poor state of repair, improve traffic safety, extend the active transportation network, and address the road condition.
Jackson said while the County of Lambton is responsible for costs of road construction, it's up to the city to fund underground infrastructure.
"It makes sense for us to do our underground infrastructure at the same time so that they're not repaving the road now and then ten years later we have to come and rip it up," said Jackson. "We have a good partnership here."
Jackson said the new bike lanes aren't just for active transportation.
"A big part of it is just these four lane roads and left turns," he said. "I know at the Indian Road and Michigan Avenue intersection, that's a real challenge. Creating these three lane cross sections with a left turn lane in the middle really improves traffic safety as well. That's a major reason why we want to advance with this project."
Jackson believes the province would support these bike lanes should there be a review in the future.
Ontario Bill 212, which passed in the legislature in late November, requires cities to get provincial approval if they want to install new bicycle lanes that require the removal of an existing lane of traffic.
"When you're talking about Toronto it's very different than Sarnia, just the volume of traffic and the impact it has," said Jackson. "While we haven't seen the criteria yet, we have done our traffic review here to look at the volume of traffic and the impacts of changing the lanes. Based on that data, and just our experience on the Colborne Road piece, we believe these projects would meet any criteria the province has to receive support."
Residents are invited to learn more about the project at an information session on Wednesday, December 11.
The drop-in style meeting will be held in the cafeteria at Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, located at 940 Michigan Avenue, from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m.
This will provide the opportunity to review design plans which will be on display, discuss with members of the project team and provide input or feedback on the design.