DRYDEN — Dryden Chief Administrative Officer Roger Nesbitt says he hopes the “second time’s the charm” as the municipality pursues funding to rehabilitate a stretch of a well-travelled thoroughfare, including adding an active transportation lane.
The city wants to upgrade a 2.4-kilometre length of Sandy Beach Road between Maple Road and Birchcliff Road. The proposed work would involve fixing the road surface, as well as widening it to 10 metres from its existing 6.5 metres. The widening would allow for a three-metre-wide lane exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists.
That active transportation corridor would tie in to other existing pedestrian infrastructure, he said.
“Currently there isn't any provisions for pedestrians, for cyclists, and it's a fairly heavily populated rural area within municipal boundaries, so safety is a significant concern for those types of activities on that roadway,” he said.
The city has applied to the federal Active Transportation Fund to get 60 per cent of the total cost of the project funded. Nesbitt said it is the second time Dryden has applied.
According to a report submitted in late February to city council about the project, other related work would include improvements to drainage, installing geotextiles and multiple granular layers at the base of the road and the active transportation lane to strengthen the foundation, and upgrading signage and landscaping.
The total project is expected to cost just over $5.7 million, according to city staff.
The road runs from the urban part of Dryden, through a more rural part of town near the north shore of Wabigoon Lake and out to the Trans-Canada Highway. The area is “heavily populated with homes,” Nesbitt said.
“That safety element is a significant concern for us right now,” he said.
