A proposed redevelopment of Water Street next year could reshape one of the main arteries between Fergus and Elora.
Denis Hollands of Triton Engineering Services Limited was at Centre Wellington council’s Dec. 15 meeting to provide an update on the proposed $3-million project scheduled for the 2015 construction season.
The Water Street reconstruction project includes over 700 metres of road reconstruction, extending from High Street to Bridge Street.
Some key features of the project include:
– a new 300mm watermain that officials say will improve fire flows and water transmission between the Bridge Street and Daniel Crescent water towers;
– A new 375mm sanitary sewer line that will serve current residents as well as future urban development areas in Elora;
– stormwater management features, including storm sewers to collect runoff from the road and convey it to stormwater outfalls to the Grand River (the outfalls will include provisions to reduce the flow of stormwater to the river and minimize river bank erosion;
– traffic calming curves in the road to assist pedestrian crossings and encourage drivers to reduce speeds;
– shared cycling facilities as identified in the township’s trails master plan, including signage and sharing arrows painted on the road (officials say Water Street is an important cycling link between Fergus and Elora);
– a sidewalk on the south side of Water Street (in some areas, retaining walls will be required to address existing steep slopes);
– a signalized pedestrian crossing at the Bissell Park entrance/pedestrian bridge location and a second un-signalized pedestrian crossing at O’Brien Park;
– on-street parking on the south side of Water Street; and
– increased parking spaces at O’Brien Park through the conversion of parallel parking to perpendicular parking (an accessible parking space will be added in this area) and additional parallel parking spaces along the park frontage on the north side of Water Street.
The total budget for the Water Street reconstruction project is about $3 million, which will be funded over three years from development charges, water and sanitary sewer reserves and general capital reserves.
Managing director of infrastructure services Colin Baker described the Water Street work as “a pretty exciting project” for 2015.
“We’re looking at the reconstruction of Water Street. It’s a full reconstruction,” said Baker.
He noted council may be aware there are a number of deficiencies in the configuration of the current street.
“It is not very pedestrian friendly, the road is deteriorating and underground there are undersized water mains and sanitary sewers,” Baker explained.
Those items will be addressed during the reconstruction, as will placement or replacement of other services.
In addition, Baker said the project provided an opportunity for other improvements to the O’Brien Park area and the Bissell Bridge pedestrian crossing.
Hollands brought several presentation boards to the meeting to explain work on various sections of the street. He said the sanitary sewers are being up-sized to address future development. As well, the four-inch asbestos cement water mains are being replaced with 12-inch mains to Bridge Street.
The road will be expanded to a two-lane road with one parking lane on the south side of the road.
Hollands said there is a real issue near Bridge Street where part of Water Street sits on private property.
The proposed reconstruction will move part of the road to the south to get it off the private property, Hollands explained, adding that further to the west the road moves closer to the centre of the right-of-way.
“Unfortunately we can’t move the road over far enough because of the topography. Properties on the north side fall back to the river while properties to the south are on the hill.”
Hollands said the proposal calls for narrowing the roadway at the pedestrian walkway by the footbridge (through the elimination of the parking lane in that area).
He said this will be similar to one of the pedestrian crossings in downtown Fergus and provide a clear line of vision ahead of the parking areas where pedestrians can be seen by traffic in both directions.
Hollands noted that while the travelled portion of the road is unaffected, it will visually appear as a bit of a bottleneck. Coloured concrete will also better identify the crossing.
Councillor Kirk McElwain asked if anything could be done to address the situation for walkers coming from the other side of the road. The quick answer was “no” because most of the nearby lands are privately owned.
Hollands also noted the work will create substantial parking in the O’Brien Park area.
Councillor Steven VanLeeuwan asked if there was a separation in costs between replacement value and what can be attributed to new growth.
Managing director of corporate services Wes Snarr estimated from the overall $3 million cost the breakdown would be $1.85 million from development charges and $1.185 from other capital reserves.
Mayor Kelly Linton stressed council’s approval at this point was for the report to be received as information.
He said, “Obviously at budget time we will have a chance to discuss this in more detail.”
