Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Ottawa expects to spend $702 million on 600 ongoing infrastructure projects this year – and that doesn’t include the city’s largest projects: the expanded Light Rail Transit (LRT) system and the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Joint Facility (Ādisōke).
Municipal politicians organized a media event on Monday (May 16) at the site of the largest road project, the $112 million Strandherd Drive widening project in the southern Barrhaven community.
The Strandherd construction will increase capacity for existing and future traffic volumes during peak periods and . . . facilitate the movement of cyclists and pedestrians,” a city statement says. The work also includes related underground infrastructure.
Other works this year include:
- $88 million for road rehabilitation, including resurfacing, geotechnical guiderails, rural road upgrades and preservation treatments;
- $45 million for structures and bridges;
- $18 million for culverts
- $47 million for buildings and parks;
- $11.5 million for sidewalks and pathways; and
- $118 million for integrated road, water and sewer reconstruction projects.
“The Strandherd Drive widening is a major and complex infrastructure project,” Barrhaven Ward Councillor Jan Harder said at the media event. “We are extremely pleased that construction is currently ahead of schedule.”
Tammy Rose, Ottawa’s general manager of infrastructure and water management, told The Ottawa Citizen that the city is monitoring how Ontario construction strikes are affecting its projects.
“At this point, we’ve identified the Ādisōke Library as being impacted,” she said. “Hopefully they reach a resolution sooner than later, but it does create a scheduling impact for the library project.”
