City council was handed the engineering solutions to the Dougall Death Trap and a number of other problem traffic areas in Windsor’s so-called central box area.
Now it’s a matter of finding the money. The environmental assessment by Stantec Consulting discussed Monday night by city council pegs the cost of solving all those troubles at more than $51 million.
Ward 10 resident Patrick Redko said he liked the report but that council has yet to commit any spending on its implementation. He said it’s been 18 years since he first began urging the city to address the so-called “goat trail” used by cyclists and pedestrians to get through a Dougall Avenue railroad underpass just north of E.C. Row Expressway.
A “multi-use underpass” for cyclists and pedestrians at that location, along a key connecting route between South Windsor and the downtown, was estimated by Stantec to cost about $5.3 million.
Klaus Dohring, on behalf of the Windsor Bicycling Committee, told council he’s cycled the so-called Dougall Death Trap, and “it’s scary — it’s actually a fatality waiting to happen.”
Redko said it was “fantasyland” to have improvement recommendations without funding attached but that council needed to act: “Otherwise, the safety is on your necks.”
No, I'm not running. Al Maghnieh says even tax hikes justified to get rid of Dougall Death Trap. pic.twitter.com/4OrqG6WsZG
— Doug Schmidt (@schmidtcity) July 18, 2016
Former Ward 10 councillor Al Maghnieh made an appearance to suggest small, incremental tax increases over 10 years to pay for the work, particularly at a time when the local economy was doing well. He prefaced his comments by saying he’s not running in the next election.
The Central Box report addresses a number of what Stantec’s Michael Mastronardi described as other “transportation trouble areas” in Windsor.
There are recommendations to fix the traffic snarling that can occur on Dominion Boulevard at Northwood Avenue (near churches, schools and new subdivisions), in part by getting rid of some on-street parking to permit better left-turn lanes.
Another problem traffic spot looked at was Howard Avenue just south of Devonshire Mall.
Chief administrative officer Onorio Colucci said it was important for the politicians to “control expectations” and that the public needs to be aware that there’s “competition for scarce resources” and that it would likely take “a long period of time” to complete all the recommendations.
City engineer Mark Winterton said those recommendations, after the final 30-day round of public input that starts next Monday, will be forwarded to the city’s budgeting process. He said the individual projects identified in the study are “highly complex, difficult … daunting to deal with,” and when asked how the projects would be prioritized, he replied: “Safety first.”
Mayor Drew Dilkens said completing all the recommendations could take 20 years.
Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis said he will be reminding his council colleagues at budget time of the “eagerness” they expressed Monday night to get the Central Box projects underway.
“Councillor Francis, I think we’ll all be there with our projects,” Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac said, thus illustrating the budget challenges ahead.
Dilkens said the only way to move on such big engineering projects — including going after potential provincial and federal funding — is by completing an environmental assessment.
“This is certainly a milestone,” he said, adding it offers the opportunity to start allocating funds.
dschmidt@postmedia.com
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