A construction project in the Town of Tecumseh has been delayed for two years.
Council met Tuesday evening, with one report from administration looking for approval to delay a construction project at Lesperance Road and County Road 22 until 2027.
The project was initially slated to begin this summer and involves adding a northbound right turn lane on Lesperance to County Road 22, replacing a watermain system, upgrading traffic signals, and improving street lighting and pedestrian access.
However, there were concerns about traffic congestion and disruptions caused by overlapping major road projects in Essex County and the City of Windsor, and so Tecumseh council approved the postponement.
These projects include improvements to County Road 42, Banwell Road, County Road 19, and the Tecumseh Hamlet trunk water and sanitary sewer installations.
Tecumseh's deputy mayor Joe Bachetti says there were a number of complaints from residents about traffic at the Lesperance and County Road 22 intersection.
"And so we retained an engineer to give us some solutions to that, and so right now we had this planned, 2024 council did dedicate a northbound turn lane so the design work was underway, and the construction was originally planned for 2025."
He says there are a number of other ongoing construction projects.
"County Road 42 reconstruction that's happening at County Road 19 to the city boundary, we also have the Banwell Road improvements - Mulberry Drive to CP Rail - and that includes a new E.C. Row interchange, along with the County Road 19 widening, which is County Road 22 to south of Sylvestre, and the ongoing work on Tecumseh Hamlet along Intersection Road."
Bachetti says council made the decision to postpone this work.
"That Lesperance Road was designated as critical to allow access, and so these other projects are ongoing right now, and so we have to be able to allow residents in and out. And so that Lesperance Road is the one that was critical in terms of the decision to postpone."
Other ongoing projects, such as the Lesperance Road Multi-Use Pathway, will continue as planned with minimal traffic impact.
A tender for the project will now be released in late 2026 with construction planned for mid-2027.