Some sidewalk projects will have to wait until next year in the City of Stratford.
Nathan Bottema, project engineer, City of Stratford, told the city's accessibility advisory committee that city contractors are "leaving a long list of unfinished stuff on our side...so they just don't have time to wrap it up.”
Bottema gave the update at Tuesday’s meeting, the last of 2023. He was able to get pricing from the city's contractor, which may prove valuable in the future.
There were three suitable spots downtown for a drop curb, a cut out in a curb to allow accessible access from the street, that the committee identified - on Ontario Street, Albert Street, and George Street. The cost varies depending on location, but the biggest price tag, Bottema said, was for Ontario Street, at $13,000.
On George Street East, on the opposite side of the street to the Avon Theatre, the cost is only $1,000.
Bottema also revealed that there are some spots previously identified by the committee that will have larger investment in the future.
For instance, the city is looking to install a pedestrian crossover in front of the Avon Theatre on Downie Street in a few years.
“It might be worthwhile,” Bottema said, “just going over the whole location and redoing all the sidewalk in front of the theatre.”
As previously identified in a 2019 traffic study, another crosswalk is also being considered for Downie Street in front of the bus terminal, though Bottema noted that project is not planned nor budgeted for at this time.
Currently, the main project the city is focusing on is Albert Street reconstruction.
Nearing the construction pause scheduled for later this month, Bottema said that the contractor is moving forward, anticipating getting the first block, from Waterloo Street to Nile Street, completely finished and the second block, from Nile Street to Front Street, half-finished ahead of the shutdown.
The subject of curb cuts and making sidewalks more accessible will be discussed next year.
