Update: The item was approved at the June 29 city council meeting without further discussion.
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More traffic, more lanes and hopefully less traffic problems.
But the original vision to widen Dunlop Street to six lanes over Highway 400 has been reduced to four lanes for now, which is still double what is currently there.
Transportation officials hope this will alleviate congestion in the area and eliminate traffic backing up into live lanes on the highway during peak times of day.
While working together with the province to tie the two projects together — widening Dunlop Street and the province's bridge replacement with a four-lane span — the city will conduct an environmental assessment in the area.
The motion was given initial approval by Barrie councillors at this week's general committee meeting without any further discussion. Final approval is expected at next week's city council meeting.
A city staff report presented various alternative design options for the widening of Dunlop Street in some areas between Ferndale Drive and Anne Street. Dunlop Street is currently up to five lanes in some areas and as few as two in others.
No dollar figure has been attached to the project, which will be done in conjunction with the province's plan for work on the Highway 400 interchange at that location.
The Highway 400 bridge, which is owned and maintained by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), is around 65 years old and is approaching to end of its useful lifespan.
The ministry’s "approved solution" now includes widening of the Dunlop Street bridge to four lanes from west of Cedar Pointe Drive to Anne Street.
Brett Gratrix, the city's transportation planning lead, told BarrieToday that he expects the MTO's new bridge over the highway should be able to accommodate future widening.
Once the city's environmental assessment has been completed and budgets are approved, the city's infrastructure department will also implement a "preferred design solution" as part of the MTO's new interchange project at Dunlop Street.
The ministry has not announced a construction date, but city officials anticipate construction will commence in 2024 or 2025 and will take two years to complete.
The Dunlop Street interchange has long been on the ministry's radar. The MTO started looking into the redevelopment of the area in 2004 and had almost completed its study in 2017 when the provincial government came out with potential growth numbers, which would drastically affect Barrie.
The city’s transportation master plan had identified the need to widen Dunlop Street West to six lanes (three in each direction) from Ferndale Drive to Anne Street to accommodate planned growth.
According to a staff report from Gratrix, several issues have been identified along Dunlop Street from Cedar Pointe to Anne Street, including "poor" traffic flow during peak hours.
The number of driveways along Dunlop Street around Highway 400 also negatively impacts traffic. When compared to Bayfield Street in the Livingstone Street area, collision rates on Dunlop Street are approximately 100 per cent higher while having approximately 20 to 30 per cent less traffic volume, the report says.
