Maley Drive project still in 'limbo'

The City of Greater Sudbury is still waiting for the green light from both the provincial and federal governments to drive forward with its plans to extend Maley Drive.

Rest assured, though, when confirmation comes down from both levels of government, the city will be able to immediately roll out with its plans, Greg Clausen, general manager of Infrastructure Services, said. The Maley Drive project was identified as a top priority in 1982; however, the significant cost associated with the project made it impossible at the time.

“Maley Drive was identified at that time as the most needed new road in the city,” Clausen said, but there has never been the “pot of money” available to build it.

It wasn't until the Build Canada Fund was announced that the city could finally put the project on its radar. The fund provided two-thirds funding for these types of project, one-third from the province and one-third from the feds. The estimated total cost for the expansion is about $115 million, Clausen said, which means the city will be responsible for about $40 million.

The city was hoping for approval in 2009, but the federal and provincial governments haven't been able to make a decision yet, he said. In order to meet the significant cost of the project, the city started squirrelling away money after it submitted its application for the funding in 2009. CAO Doug Nadorozny has been lobbying hard at both levels of government, and has received “positive” and “encouraging” approval from staff from those levels, Clausen said.

“It has been in limbo for about a year now, and we've been told it's now up to the (politicians) for approval,” he said. “The city has already committed its share to the project, and we are putting money away through our capital budgets every year to pay that share. We expect to be able to pay off our share over the next 10 to 15 years.”

Now that Ontario has been through both a provincial and federal election, the city is hopeful both governments will “see their way clear” to approving the project.

“We're keeping our fingers crossed, and we have the support of our local provincial and federal politicians, but now it's just getting the government approval,” he said.

The city is estimating it can complete the project in three to four years, and certainly by the time the Build Canada Fund expires at the end of 2017, Clausen said.

Once council approved its share of the project in 2009, the city embarked on a detailed engineering design, which is now complete. Tender preparation is now taking place, so when the OK is passed down from the governments, that process can begin almost immediately, Clausen said.

The only part of the project that won't be completed by way of engineering is the very east end, where the road will cross over the CNR rail tracks, right in front of the Ontario Hydro Martindale generating station. There are huge transmission towers there that, depending on where the road goes, may have to be repositioned.

“We're working to come up with the best design that meets everyone's needs, and we're very close to resolving that situation,” Clausen said.

The Maley Drive extension will ultimately allow the city to redirect truck traffic, such as mining trucks, from Lasalle Boulevard and the Kingsway. Right now, there is about about 40,000 vehicle trips per day on the Kingsway. When the Maley project is complete, the city anticipated that to drop to 30,000 vehicle trips per day.

“It's a big safety concern from our perspective,” Clausen said. “These two roads are already over capacity and stressed, and the condition of those roads is quickly deteriorating due to wear and tear from slurry trucks.”

The Kingsway is the busiest road in the city; Lasalle is a very close second, Clausen said.

The existing portion of Maley Drive, from Falconbridge Road to Barrydowne Road, will be rebuilt and four-laned. A brand-new “virgin” road from Barrydowne all the way to Regional Road 35, which leads to Azilda and Chelmsford, will complete the project.

The project will span about 12 kilometres altogether, with about seven or eight km of new road planned, and another four km that will be rebuilt. There will be no stop lights, but at the major intersections, there will be roundabouts, with about six in the forecast, Clausen said. That's the plan around which the city has designed its project, and it will likely be broken up into three or four separate contracts.

“We would want to have them all going at the same time, so everyone is working at different sections at the same time,” he said. “It's a nice sized project for our local contractors to work on, and it's also big enough that it will encourage some out-of-town bidders if they want to come to Sudbury.”

A simulated flyover of the project is posted on the city's website, Clausen said.

Posted by Arron Pickard