The City of Windsor's proposed 2024 budget includes $569-million for roads as part of a $1.9 billion, 10-year capital budget.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens unveiled the proposed 2024 spending document Monday, which calls for a 3.93 per cent property tax increase.
The budget is the the first under Ontario's Strong Mayors powers which required Dilkens to table the budget before Feb. 1.
The roads spending includes nearly $8.5-million over the next two years to move preparation work forward on an interchange at Banwell Road and the E.C. Row Expressway, currently the only intersection along the expressway without an interchange.
The busy commuter route linking Windsor with Tecumseh and Lakeshore is expected to get even busier once the Next Star Energy electric vehicle battery plant opens right at that intersection, employing 2,500 workers.
Dilkens says Banwell Road and the E.C. Row Expressway is a pinch point today but we know when the battery factory opens that that intersection will fail.
"We need to move on that intersection but we need other partners to help us with that, it's about an $80-million project, we don't not have $80-million to do one particular project," he says.
Dilkens says they're going to need help from the provincial and/or federal governments.
"We've asked for support and they're working through their process," he says. "The only reason we have to do this today is because of the coming of the battery factory. There's going to be a lot more traffic to and from that particular intersection and we're going to need some supports."
Ward 7 Councillor Angelo Marignani says work on that intersection needs to be done and it's one of the key concerns he heard on the campaign trail.
"I know that the plans are in process right now and I know money is being set aside for it as you will see in the budget. It's the only intersection along the E.C. Row Expressway that doesn't have an overpass, so it's long overdue, it really is," he says.
A traffic impact study was completed as a result of the Next Star Energy development which indicated the urgent need for an interchange.
The cost of the interchange is estimated in the range of $45 million and the balance of the Banwell Road corridor improvement works is estimated in the range of $38 million.
Some of the proposed long-term spending on roads also includes:
- $38,583,000 for Provincial Rd./Division Rd. Corridor Infrastructure Improvements
- $20,590,000 for Howard Avenue Corridor Infrastructure Improvements - S Cameron Boulevard to Herb Gray Parkway
- $12,920,639 for Cabana Road Infrastructure Improvements
- $9,200,000 for Walker Rd. Infrastructure Improvements
- $28,115,000 for The Riverside Drive Vista Improvement
- $49,648,683 for Lauzon Parkway and County Rd. 42 Infrastructure Improvements
- $178,452,280 for Road Rehabilitation - Various Locations Program
- $42,029,41 for Local Residential Road Rehabilitation