Lakeshore Drive overpass due for overhaul

The city is seeking $3 million in federal and provincial funding to help pay for a major overhaul next year of the Lakeshore Drive overpass.

“It is one our critical pieces of infrastructure that needs to get done,” said Mayor Al McDonald, noting the total project is pegged at as much as $4.7 million and that city will be kicking in the balance.

Although funding applications for $1.5 million each from of the two senior levels of government have already been submitted, McDonald said the overpass upgrade is a good example of the sorts of projects he was busy lobbying the province to support while in Sudbury Wednesday.

He was attending a roundtable discussion about how the province should allocate the $11.5 billion of a $15-billion investment outside the GTHA as part of a long-term infrastructure plan.

McDonald, along with the mayors of other large Northern communities, are asking the province to earmark some of that funding to help municipalities pay for critical infrastructure projects as well as those that would help top boost economic development, such as the city’s airport industrial business park.

McDonald said government funding is crucial when it comes to tackling municipal infrastructure needs. He said funding a major project such as the Lakeshore Drive overpass would be demanding on the city’s capital budget without federal and provincial contributions. And McDonald said many other projects would have to be put on hold.

The overpass was constructed in 1967 and its last major rehabilitation took place in 1990, although limited maintenance and repairs are conducted annually.

The city carried out some repairs in 2012 due to crumbling surface concrete under the overpass, and thousands of dollars were spent in 2011 fixing parts of the bridge deck and joints. In 2007 and 2008 work was completed on bearing seats, abutment piers and caps.

McDonald said some street lamp posts embedded in the bridge were removed more than a year ago for safety reasons.

Next year’s makeover is expected to add 30 more years of life expectancy to the bridge.

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