Sarnia council keen for progress on Highway 40 widening

Sarnia council wants to see more progress on planned widening of Highway 40.

“It’s unbelievable how much traffic is going through there on an average day,” Coun. George Vandenberg said.

The highway through Sarnia is mostly four lanes, except for about seven kilometers between Indian Road and around Wellington Street, where it’s two.

In 2021, after decades of lobbying amid peak-hour traffic jams and numerous fatalities, Ontario budgeted to widen that stretch to four lanes.

Environmental assessment of the project started about a year ago and is underway, city development and transportation manager Alister Brown said.

But there’s no timeline for construction to begin, he said.

A preliminary design and environmental assessment process is underway, and information is being collected to develop design alternatives, said Ministry of Transportation (MTO) spokesperson Stephen Chiang, in an email.

A stakeholder meeting is planned this summer, and a “public information centre” is planned this fall, he said, noting information about the project is available at highway40widening.ca.

Council voted unanimously this week to have Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley ask Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey to try to push the project forward.

“Let’s get something down here that works,” Vandenberg said, noting Sarnians have been advocating for the widening since the 1980s and watching other communities’ projects move ahead.

The widening, which a 2009 provincial estimate pegged at about $80 million, is one of several ministry projects key to progress on a number of city initiatives.

Trail project progress

Paving of most of a new, 2.3-kilometre multi-use trail on Confederation Street and Murphy Road, linking the residential area south of Great Lakes secondary school to Finch Drive, wrapped up recently, Brown said.

But about 650 meters between Finch and Upper Canada drives that intersects with Highway 40 is waiting on the widening project, he said.

“The timing of that is yet to be confirmed, but we’re excited to be working with (the MTO),” he said.

The city previously announced it was collaborating with MTO for the project’s final stretch, eliminating some contracting and paperwork redundancies.

“It’s a challenging portion of the project, so it’s good to have a strong partner,” Brown said.

Sarnia is spending about $1.28 million on the trail work completed thus far, 73 per cent funded with Canada Infrastructure Program grant money, he said.

The city’s share of the remaining cost, also grant-assisted, isn’t clear, he said.

Costs for the completed portion that doesn’t involve the ministry have increased about $160,000 since the contract was awarded last falldue to inflation and new soil regulations, but is still within budget, Brown said.

The trail also connects to the Howard Watson Nature Trail, but the nature trail section is closed for ongoing pumping station upgrade workhe said.

The nature trail should reopen late this summer after more supply chain delays, said engineering and operations general manager David Jackson.

Another trail project eyed since 2018 for London Line, connecting Lambton College via London Road to London Line, then east to Blackwell Road, could start next year, Brown said.

It’s been waiting while MTO rehabilitates overpasses on Highway 40 above London Line. That works started last month and is expected to finish in November 2024. Lane closures continue in the interim.

Estimates for the trail, also 73 per cent grant funded, have changed over the years. Sarnia budgeted about $1.5 million in 2022 for the work, though no project progress was made.

No cost update is available, Brown said.

“We’re certainly hoping to get at the very least a portion of that trail going next year construction-wise (but) we may have to wait until the MTO project has completed” to finalize it, he said.

Traffic study results

In 2020, Sarnia froze purchase and sale agreements for the 87-hectare research and business park east of Highway 40 for a traffic study.

The idea at the time was to clear some red tape for potential land buyers so they didn’t have to do their own traffic studies.

The city’s study, for which $50,000 was budgeted, wrapped up late last year, Jackson said. “We’re just kind of finalizing some of the details.”

The good news is the study indicated some increase in traffic can be accommodated on the research park side, with Highway 40 and Wellington Road intersection improvements — expected as Highway 40 is widened — needed sometime in the future, Jackson said.

The bad news is anyone proposing new developments in the park still must do their own traffic study, he said.

The MTO “are looking after the provincial highway network and so they have fairly stringent requirements and want to make sure that they’re being careful,” he said.

Hopes are proposals that are minor can just make minor updates to the city study, he said, but larger developments likely will require full studies of their own.

“The positive result is the study did confirm there is capacity available now,” he said.

So council this week lifted the freeze and declared surplus an 11.5-acre (4.7-hectare) parcel in the park’s north, off Old London Road, which has drawn development inquiries, city staff said.

Appraising the land is expected to cost $6,000, a staff report says.

Rapids extension estimate

Like the Confederation Street trail project, Sarnia is collaborating with MTO to complete the final 250 meters of The Rapids Parkway extension underneath Highway 402.

Council approved that collaboration this week, and was informed the work, expected to start next year, likely will cost the city $3.35 million.

How much extra money the project gets will be part of 2024 budget deliberations, city officials said.

If the estimate holds, the overall project — including contracts already awarded — will cost the city about $12 million, up from a $9.3-million estimate made several years ago.