Several road and infrastructure projects slated to take place in Welland

Construction is ongoing on Scholfield Avenue at East Main Street in Welland. BOB TYMCZYSZYN / TORSTAR

By Kris Dubé
Courtesy of The Welland Tribune

Welland will be a busy place over the next several months as various road and infrastructure projects are set to take place, some starting in the weeks to come and others to be tendered out to contractors.

The work equates to about $16 million worth of road reconstruction, asphalt patching, crack sealing, top layers of asphalt being added and a surface treatment program being applied to roads in rural parts of the city.

Another $12 million on three watermain replacements, more than $8 million on wastewater/sanitary sewer work and $2.8 million on stormwater projects were budgeted for in the city’s most recent spending plan, said engineering manager Livia McEachern.

Most of the projects are “scattered throughout” Welland, she said, adding underground work at Scholfield Avenue near East Main Street is underway.

The road reconstruction projects, which also include sidewalk replacements, will begin with overhauls of Cola Street, Nottingham Court, Dougherty Crescent, Northgate Drive and Abbey Road.

This work is “in its infancy,” said McEachern, adding construction equipment will begin arriving to sites in August and that much of the work will carry into 2022.

The city does its best to co-ordinate roadwork on the surface with underground infrastructure improvements in the same areas so crews “don’t have to go back in and disrupt the neighbourhood again,” she said.

The city has seven kilometres of sidewalk being replaced, but often new sidewalks are built when roads are replaced, said McEachern, again noting the importance of not having to dig up a street twice.

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