The Municipality of Lakeshore is looking for public feedback on the County Road 22 reconstruction project.
A Public Consultation Centre will be held Tuesday evening for residents to see the designs of the reconstruction, and to ask questions or express any concerns.
The County of Essex, in partnership with Lakeshore, has retained BT Engineering Inc. to design County Road 22 from I.C. Roy Drive to West Belle River Road.
The project will include a multi-use path on the south side of County Road 22, a sidewalk on the north side and separated cycle tracks to support active transportation.
The Municipality also plans on closing numerous roads along County Road 22 such as Beechwood Drive, Auburn Avenue, Dubois Avenue, and King John Street. Meanwhile, the intersections of Rourke Line and Emery Drive will be getting traffic lights.
Kelsey Santarossa, ward 3 Lakeshore councillor, says there will be a presentation made at the Consultation Centre.
"Then they will have a full layout of what the detailed design of the entire section is going to look like. So, folks that live alongside the corridor, or are perhaps living in the neighbourhoods that are just off of County Road 22 can come and see what the cross section is going to look like in front of their home, or at the access point, or the street closest to them."
She says County Road 22 is an urban corridor, but the access points are important.
"I want residents to have faith that this council is extremely passionate and committed to making sure that we have safe streets and neighbourhoods - and that means really good pedestrian access as well. So that sidewalk, the multi-use trail, the bikes lanes, are super key, but so is making sure that we're taking a look at traffic calming in the affected neighbourhoods."
Santarossa says there are things that will change for better traffic flow.
"Rourke Line Road and Emery Drive will both get signalization. That is what is proposed. The other thing that we have to think about too is that we will have streets-like space that will extend all the way to Renaud. So there's streets that will support too that interconnectivity within the neighbourhoods, and that's just one that we have in the works that's pending development right now."
Construction will be completed in two stages. Stage 1 will start at West Belle River Road and go to Rourke Line Road. Stage 2 will start from Rourke Line and end at I.C. Roy Drive.
The Public Consultation Centre will be held at the Atlas Tube Recreation Centre from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on June 18.
Construction on the County Road 22 improvements are expected to start in 2025.
