North Bay’s Main Street revitalization moves to final phase

A downtown street construction project in North Bay is entering its final phase after nearly a year and a half of work.

The ‘Making Over Main Street’ reconstruction work started in May 2023. The City of North Bay and the Downtown Improvement Area are celebrating the speed and quality of work completed so far.

The ‘Making Over Main Street’ reconstruction work started in May 2023. The City of North Bay and the Downtown Improvement Area are celebrating the speed and quality of work completed so far. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

Cleanup is underway along Main Street as work on the second to last section of the project wraps up.

“This year we did Blocks 2 and 3 and we're actually finished them,” said Gerry McCrank, the city’s senior project manager.

“(Now) we’ll be moving to Block 1. So the progress has been great and the response from the residents and the business owners has been not too bad.”

The $8.85 million downtown work includes concrete accents, new furnishings, festoon lighting, signage and new trees to create “an enhanced pedestrian experience and contribute to retail vibrancy.”

The deteriorating brick road was torn up so a new paved surface could be completed. Sudbury-based MCA Contracting Ltd. was awarded the contract to do the work. It’s the first major renovation to Main Street since the 1980s.

The ‘Making Over Main Street’ reconstruction work started in May 2023. The City of North Bay and the Downtown Improvement Area are celebrating the speed and quality of work completed so far. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

The city said the project remains on budget -- despite hitting a few snags along the way – and it’s still on schedule.

“We've had some supply issues,” McCrank said.

“The streetlight poles, when we first ordered them, took very long. So for a couple of months, one or two of the blocks had to have temporary lighting installed before we got the new poles.”

Phase 1 along the Main Street corridor from Sherbrook Street to Wyld Street was completed in August 2023.

Minimize disruption

Once that phase was complete, crews worked westward.

To minimize disruption to the business community, crews divided the blocks into five phases and completed one at a time.

“The city and DIA meet every Thursday … to discuss questions, concerns or problems to give the membership updates on work,” McCrank said.

Downtown North Bay and Waterfront executive director Amber Livingstone said the business community could not be more pleased with the outcome so far.

“It's really great to see where we get a facelift and we come into the new times,” Livingstone told CTV News.

“So we're very excited to see Main Street West open up along with Ferguson.”

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Construction shifts to the final phase between Fraser Street and Cassells Street on Monday morning.

The city expects the contractor to return to put some finishing touches on already completed sections.

“We're going to be seeing festoon lighting when that comes in and the trees will be going in likely in September,” said Livingstone.

The work is scheduled to be completed Nov. 15.

“It's been a great project,” McCrank said.

“Looking forward to it being done.”