Construction should begin on these Barrie bridge projects in the coming years
Remember the diverging diamond intersection planned for Mapleview Drive’s Highway 400 exit?
Don’t expect it to be built any time soon. The province has excluded funding for construction work on the Mapleview overpass from its 2017-2022 Southern Highways program, Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Katrina Lalor said.
“Improvements at the Mapleview interchange are not included,” she said. “Therefore, the ministry is not planning to begin construction within the time frame.”
The DDI concept has been implemented in jurisdictions across North America.
A DDI is designed to allow through traffic and left turns at the same time. This gives roadways the ability to handle traffic volume more efficiently while cutting down on potential collision points, when compared to a traditional intersection.
However, there is greater certainty on timelines for other bridgework projects within the city.
About 10 underpasses/overpasses in Barrie — excluding the municipality’s recently started Harvie Road bridge construction — need major upgrades. The ministry estimates roughly $78 million in bridge-related construction along the 400 through Barrie is required in the coming years.
Perhaps the most visible project currently underway is at Tiffin Street, which should be complete by fall 2019.
Once finished, the north and south lanes over Tiffin will be replaced, and the grading will be raised to improve sightlines in the area. Work on the northbound lanes should be complete later this year, Lalor said.
“It is expected the (northbound) work will be completed … with (northbound) traffic being shifted to the new lanes and (southbound) traffic being shifted to the old (northbound) lanes, allowing for bridge work and grade work to occur on the (southbound) lanes,” she said.
Meanwhile, the northbound bridge over the nearby Barrie Collingwood Railway line will also be replaced; the southbound bridge will be rehabilitated.
And the Dunlop Street bridge replacement and interchange reconstruction is scheduled to start sometime between 2019 and 2021. The detail design process should start this fall.
Ditto for the construction timeline on a similar project at Essa Road, though detail design is planned for early 2019.
“The Essa project includes bridge replacement and interchange reconstruction and is shown for delivery between 2019-21 in the latest (ministry) Southern Highways program,” Lalor said.
The bridgework was first recommended as part of the Highway 400 planning and preliminary design study unveiled in 2004. That document covers a 30-kilometre stretch of the 400 through Innisfil and Barrie, running between highways 89 and 11.
A Freedom of Information request filed by Simcoe.com last year revealed the entire plan, stuck largely in preliminary stages of development for more than a decade, has a draft cost estimate of about $464.9 million, though that figure is subject to change and excludes property acquisition, legal fees and utility relocation expenses. The study calls for an expansion in the number of lanes — up to 10 from the current six — between 89 and Duckworth Street. One high occupancy vehicle lane would be included for each direction. Improvements would also be made to the interchanges at 89, Mapleview, Innisfil Beach and Bayfield streets.
Further details on the study are available at .