Getting to the south end of Barrie will be slightly easier as of today, with the official opening of the Bryne Drive south extension.
The much-anticipated, $16-million extension — which connects Harvie Road to Caplan Avenue — has been under construction since July 2023.
The project, noted Mayor Alex Nuttall prior to cutting the giant ribbon to celebrate the roads opening Friday afternoon, came in under budget and was completed ahead of schedule.
“The extension will greatly enhance the connectivity and ease traffic flow in the south end. It has more options for active transportation with separated bike lanes,” he said. “We are making it easier for residents to get around this city in the city’s south end.”
Bruno Garisto has lived in the city for 34 years, and told BarrieToday he is excited the extension is finally open.
“It’s easier for me to get to Home Depot and all those stores over there. I live at Essa and Ferndale so I can just cut right through now instead of going through all of the traffic,” he said, adding he anticipates this new route will save him about four minutes each way. “If there’s traffic, then much more.”
Garisto is a former City of Toronto Transportation worker, and said felt it was important for him to come see the road finally open up to the public. He also wanted to be the first resident to drive on the newly opened road.
“I feel proud. It’s so nice that Barrie is doing infrastructure like this to help us out with all of the traffic and alleviate all of the problems we have,” he said, adding he can’t wait for work to begin on the other side of Bryne going north towards Ardagh Road.
Coun. Gary Harvey told BarrieToday the extension goes far beyond something that will benefit his Ward 7 constituents.
“It will have a huge impact on the entire city to allow people to get from the north end to the south end and vice versa. It will alleviate a lot of impact on our bordering roads here. It will only get better as the north extension of Bryne Drive will connect all the way up in the years to come,” he said.
The land surrounding the road — which includes five lanes with sidewalks and separated cycling lanes, a new sanitary sewer, new water main, and stormwater treatment systems as well as an enhanced landscape plan with new tree plantings — is owned by Smart Centres.
“Everything on the east side of the road is designated as industrial and everything on the west side … some of it is commercial but most of it is residential butting up to the subdivision where Thrushwood Drive is,” said Harvey. “When it comes to specific companies … We have no idea who could be moving in at this point, however there’s going to be another several hundred homes coming in and it will also provide for several hundred more jobs in the area. It’s prime land facing the 400 which we know is highly sought after."
