The County of Essex is seeking public input ahead of a $48-million project to reconstruct County Rd. 42.
The county has begun the process of expropriating land for the five-phase project that will see the roadway expanded to four lanes from two between Manning Rd. to the Windsor city limit near the 11th Concession.
Phase One is expected to begin in the New Year with a roundabout at Manning Rd. and County Rd. 42.
Director of Infrastructure Services, Jane Mustac says the plan, announced in 2018, will "urbanize" a stretch of the highway.
"We're transforming that road from a two lane rural highway to a four lane urban design, which includes curbs, sidewalks and bike lanes," she says. "That's because of the capacity, it's a very busy road, we have over 25,000 cars a day and it's only expected to grow."
Mustac says the plan is to have some of the work done by the fall of 2020 but officials, first, want to see what the public thinks of their plans.
"We've identified the land required and utilities need to get started so that they can advance their works, so we need the property to get going," she says. "We have a public meeting planned for Dec. 11 to seek some input on construction staging and share some of our information."
The open house will be held at Essex County's West Pike Depot at 11965 County Road 42 in Tecumseh from 2pm to 7pm on Wednesday Dec. 11.
With files from Rob Hindi