City Hall Notebook: Downtown Sarnia bus terminal moving ahead

A $1.2-million contract to build a downtown Sarnia Transit bus terminal has been awarded to DiCocco Contractors.

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Sarnia council approved a recommendation Monday from its engineering and operations department to accept the lowest of four bids for the construction project expected to begin this fall.

It will let six city buses park simultaneously along a central island George and Vidal Streets and eliminate the need for buses to pause along the two streets. It’s expected to be safer and more convenient for passengers to transfer between buses.

The new terminal will be a smaller version of a new terminal opened earlier this year along Wellington Street at the Clearwater arena.

The off-street terminal will have additional seating, gardens, trees and an updated shelter design.

More than 73 per cent of the cost of the new terminal will be paid through federal funding, with the balance coming from city reserves.

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Coun. George Vandenberg urged the department to consider repaving the nearby George and Vida intersections, which he called “a big mess,” while the terminal is built.

“We’re going to be putting the money into this nice, new facility, we should have the street looking good too,” he said.

There are plans to rebuild George Street in the next few years, but “it’s not a significant cost to kind of do a ‘shave and pave’ for that intersection,” in the meantime, said David Jackson, the city’s engineering and operations general manager “We can certainly look at that.”

Pilot to offer more Saturday yard waste drop-off option

Council has endorsed plans for a pilot project to let residents drop yard waste on Saturdays at a transfer station run by Sarnia’s collection contractor instead of the municipal compost facility on St. Andrew Street.

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The project is expected to run Sept. 1 to April 1, from 8 am to 2 pm, at the Transco Recycling facility at 387 McGregor Side Rd. S., at no charge to city residents, a city report says.

There are strict rules for municipal compost sites and some residents have been frustrated when they arrive with material that can’t be taken, the city said.

The pilot project will accept yard waste, brush, garbage, large items, scrap metal, and waste on Saturdays. It will also take residential large items free from Monday to Saturday.

The city won’t be charged operating costs during the pilot period,xcthe report says. The city will pay an estimated $250 a month to transfer yard waste and brush to its compost site.

City, MTO to extend multi-use path on Confederation St.

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Plans to extend a multi-use path on Confederation Street through the Highway 40 intersection were endorsed by city council Monday.

At the city’s request, Ontario’s Transportation Ministry has included extending the path from Finch Drive to Upper Canada Drive as part of an upcoming project to rehabilitate the railway overpass on Highway 40 just south of Confederation Street, a city report says.

Current ministry plans are to complete the rehabilitation project during 2025 and 2026, the city said.

Including the work in a ministry project is expected to be more efficient since ministry permitting and other specialized requirements can boost costs for city projects involving provincial highways, the report says.

While the final cost of path extension hasn’t been set, it’s estimated at just over $200,000 for about 650 meters of pathway on the north side of Confederation Street, the city said.

It will be a continuation of a multi-use path the city built in 2023 on Confederation between Murphy Road and Finch Drive.

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