Major upgrade to Lakeshore Road where it runs off Maple is the first step to a radical change to the Beachway Community.

By Pepper Parr

April 21, 2105

BURLINGTON, ON

A rebuild of a portion of Lakeshore Road is the first step to getting a nice new road to what will be the entrance to the hospital when it open in 2018; it will also be the first tentative step to converting and re-shaping the Beachway as we know it today into a splendid park – once they get the messy business of the people who currently live in the Beachway behind them

Having every one of those houses bought by the region and then demolished isn’t the slam dunk many think it is going to be.

A few of the homes have been sold – four by our count – with a couple of others dickering for the best deal they can get and others saying they will go down with the ship.

But this story is not about how that future development will work out – it is a decade at least into the future.

The construction work will begin July 4 to November 18, 2017. The road closure will be a rolling staged closure to keep all of the access to the properties open.

City staff wanted people to fully understand what the road as going to look like – not very many people got to the meeting to see the visuals.

This job is more than the paving of a road – it starts where Maple meets Lakeshore Road as it curves past the Joseph Brant Museum and to the new hospital parking facility.

At a point just past the current museum parking lot the road will be raised .90 of a metre

A new storm water sewer has been built to handle storm water and protect the hospital from any flooding.

During the healthy and vociferous discussions on what the Beachway Park was going to look like there was a lot of misinformation thrown around about flooding dangers – the consistent flooding at the hospital was kept very hush hush.

The climate changes we are experiencing have made it clear that stronger measures had to be put in place to prevent flood damage to the hospital – this a road that is going to be higher than it is now by almost a metre in order to have the new roadway above the flood proof elevation provided by Conservation Halton.

The road is required to be flood proofed prior to the opening of the new Joseph Brant Hospital Emergency Room off of Lakeshore Road. The outlet for the storm sewer into Lake Ontario was completed in the fall of 2015

The road will slope down from its high point just past the museum through to the Skyway Treatment Plant. At a point just past the water treatment plan the road will make a sharp turn to the right – but that is some time into the future.

There are three phases to the project: Phase 1 was the storm water sewer – that’s done.

Phase 2 is the rebuild of the road and sidewalks, bike lanes and much better lighting.

It is certainly going to be a much friendlier road to use – and it is going to carry a lot of traffic – and it will have a stop light at the hospital garage.

The contract to build the road has been awarded to New-Alliance Ltd.: total price of $5,198,000.00 (HST included). Nine trees are going to have to come out

The following table is a list of tenders received.

Tender received from: Bid (HST Included)
1 New Alliance Ltd. $5,198,000.00
2 Dufferin Construction Company $5,401,758.04
3 King Paving & Construction Company $5,597,050.01
4 Coco Paving Inc. $5,749,370.51
5 Trenchline & Roads Inc. $6,514,353.95
6 Rankin Construction $6,950,727.18

This project is the 2nd phase
Phase 3 of the project includes Lakeshore Road from the Skyway Treatment Plant to Eastport Drive and is scheduled for 2019 and coordinated with the proposed road relocation as part of the Region of Halton’s Burlington Beach Master Plan.

There is for us a lingering question about the width of Lakeshore Road as it approaches and curves by the museum – that route ill be THE route to the hospital emergency room. Is it wide enough and what will the plans the museum has for a major upgrade to that site which will include an underground interactive museum.

The traffic lane on the left looks pretty small to carry all the vehicles to the hospital and on into the Beachway Park?

The expectation is that there will be a lot of traffic to the site. Where will the cars and school buses park – will they pull over an let the kids off the busses then go to the hospital parking garage? Is that new garage going to have the capacity for both the museum and the hospital?

I hope that doesn’t happen when you are in an ambulance and depending on the oxygen they’ve given you to keep you alive.