Another summer, another summer of road construction on Barrie’s Mapleview Drive.
Work is starting this July, as the established road widening along Mapleview Drive East, from Country Lane to Madelaine Drive, will be continued to Yonge Street.
This work is needed to widen Mapleview to five lanes from two, to accommodate traffic volumes and install underground pipes —watermains and sanitary sewers — that will service development in south-Barrie, along with storm sewers.
“(This) will also be much-needed (traffic) relief for southeast Barrie, just the way the Harvie overpass this past week has been tremendous,” said Coun. Sergio Morales, who represents this part of Barrie.
The just-opened overpass connects Harvie Road to Big Bay Point Road over Highway 400, has five lanes for vehicle traffic, two separate lanes for bicycles and two sidewalks for pedestrians. The $76-million crossing can handle 20,000 vehicles a day, according to city staff, and is designed to significantly reduce traffic volumes around the Essa Road and Mapleview Drive highway ramps, as well as other streets in the area.
For the Mapleview Drive East project, it will take place during three construction seasons, roughly July to December, from 2021 to 2024.
During construction — between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday to Friday — Mapleview Drive East from Madelaine Drive to Yonge Street will be restricted to one lane. Two lanes will open at night and on weekends.
“Shutting it down to one lane of traffic… that’s in order to avoid a full closure of the road,” Morales said. “The infrastructure that we’re installing needs two to five metres of digging in the ground and is obviously complicated.”
City staff say drivers should expect significant delays while construction is occurring. Motorists should plan ahead and use the alternate routes when possible.
“Once you come across this limited one-lane traffic, please be aware that if you do take detours through the neighbourhoods… just keep your eye on your speed,” Morales said. “There’s kids there that are not used to that kind of traffic volume that all of a sudden are going to have to be dealing with that, and be in summer mode.
“They’re going to have traffic volumes that they’ve basically never had to deal with on their local roads, their crescent, their cul-de-sac, so just be aware and keep your eye on your speed.”
This construction project — Mapleview Drive East from Country Lane, just west of Madelaine Drive, to Yonge Street — carries a $22.1-million overall cost. That includes design, property acquisition and utilities.
A significant portion of the funding comes from development charges reserves. Development charges are fees charged to recover growth-related capital expenditures — like this project — from developers.
