As winter sets in, $70M road construction season nears the end in Sudbury

A busy construction season is coming to a close in Sudbury.

The City of Greater Sudbury said it spent $70 million on roads and construction this season. Most of the projects have wrapped up, but work on the Kingsway will continue until mid-December.

"We're putting some underground pipe in and in the next couple weeks, some final asphalt will go down,” said David Shelsted, the city’s director of engineering services.

“As well as setting up the final set of traffic signals for traffic at the Barrydowne intersection.”

Work on the Kingsway will continue into 2024.

"We still have some remaining work at that location," Shelsted said.

"We'll be repaving the Kingsway/Barrydowne intersection all the way to the Kingsway/Falconbridge intersection."

Shelsted estimates 45,000 cars cross the Kingsway and Barrydowne intersection daily. For some, it was the most noticeable construction project.

One resident said it takes longer for her to get to the Costco area by bus.

"The bus is being a bit delayed around Costco area because of the construction,” she said.

“We find that we have to wait an additional 10-15 minutes -- sometimes 20 -- depending on whether the bus is being stopped by construction or other cars."

Another noteworthy project was the Lasalle Boulevard/Frood Road roundabout, which opened in October. Roads director David Shelsted said it's been successful in smoothing traffic flow. (Photo from video)

Another resident said he saw delays reaching his customers because of the Kingsway project, and said he'd prefer to see work being done at night.

"I've had to call customers to make sure they're going to be there," he said.

"I like the idea of having construction done overnight … I've seen people justify why it would be cheaper during the day but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it's about looking further into it."

Another noteworthy project was the Lasalle Boulevard/Frood Road roundabout, which opened in October. Shelsted said it's been successful in smoothing traffic flow.

"Some restorations will continue into 2024, but it is fully functional and we've been seeing that for a month," he said.

"We're seeing less queueing in terms of that intersection and flowing east and flowing west."

Work on the Bridge of Nations will continue into 2024 to complete the west side. Shelsted said the most extensive portion of the project is already done, so he anticipates it will take less time.

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"We've completed the underground work so we're hoping we’ll be finished a bit earlier next year in terms of the work and traffic impact on that bridge," he said.

With a large portion of the proposed city budget to include construction and roads, Shelsted anticipates next year will be just as busy.