Duckworth Street is finally going to get done.
Barrie city council’s 2023 capital budget contains details of the reconstruction, from Bell Farm Road to St. Vincent Street.
“Duckworth has been failing for the last number of years, especially in the Strabane (Avenue) area,” said Coun. Clare Riepma, who represents the area. “This road carries a lot of traffic from the east end to Highway 400 and its improvement is long overdue. I am pleased to see work progressing and look forward to when it is all finished.”
Riepma said Duckworth will be rebuilt from Starbane to Grove Street this year.
“You can already see contractors busy in that area moving utilities and preparing for construction,” he told BarrieToday.
But Kelsey Stewart, who rents a home at the intersection of Duckworth and Mountbatten Road, is concerned about getting around when Duckworth is getting done.
“It’s incredibly inconvenient, but fortunately we have a corner lot,” she said of access when there’s road construction. “But if the road is torn up when we want to move out, how are we supposed to do that?”
Stewart also remembers there was work done to Duckworth not that long ago, which Riepma confirmed.
“Duckworth from St. Vincent to Strabane was rebuilt about three years ago,” he said. “Base paving was completed at that time, but the surface coat of asphalt was not done.”
Riepma said the Duckworth project is to be finished in 2025.
The $20.6-million project includes widening Duckworth itself, sidewalks, buffered bike lanes, a new waterman beneath the street, replacing the sanitary sewer pipes, new storm sewers, upgrading the street lighting and replacing Duckworth’s traffic lights at Codrington, Wellington and Grove streets.
City engineering staff say the road surface has failed, and with the increased growth of Georgian College and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), traffic volumes on Duckworth will only increase.
This work will all be done at once to reduce costs, which are substantial.
According to 2023 capital budget numbers, $7.35 million has already been set aside for this project from a number of capital, water and development charge (DC) reserves.
DCs are designed to recover the capital costs associated with residential and non-residential (commercial, industrial, institutional) growth within a municipality from developers, so that existing residents don’t have to foot the bill.
Barrie’s capital budget shows contributions of $3.56 million for this project this year, $5.3 million next year and $4.4 million in 2025.
