Sir Winston Churchill Avenue will be closed off to commuter traffic south of Levasseur Road starting Monday when the city begins the final steps to connect 137 Avenue to LeClair Way.
While local traffic will be allowed, the road, as well as parts of 170 Street and old 137 Avenue will be closed off until early November to allow for the completion of road construction.
“With those road closures, we will still be allowing local access to Heritage Lakes, so there will be signs and barricades at Levasseur tagged ‘local residents only’ so that the residents will still have access,” said Larry Galye, senior project manager for St. Albert. “We’re not doing anything in the residential area. Residents will still have access to their properties, there’s just no through traffic to the south.”
Roads that will be closed include 137 Avenue at 170 Street (local business access only), Sir Winston Churchill Avenue at Levasseur Road and the old portion of 137 Avenue at Ray Gibbon Drive.
“Similarly on old 137 Avenue there are a couple of properties that need access, and we will be allowing that, but again no through traffic,” Galye said.
This phase of construction will cost approximately $7.1 million and was identified in the 10-year capital plan in 2009-10. The contractor is Standard General.
When construction is complete, the ‘new’ 137 Avenue will connect with LeClair Way to Ray Gibbon Drive. There is a chance the work could be completed earlier if weather conditions are favourable throughout the summer.
“If construction proceeds well and we can open it up quicker, we will,” said Galye.
Part of the project will also involve CN building a railroad crossing at 137 Avenue. Galye said the city did not yet know when that would happen.
“One of our issues is we need to get a railway crossing and we’re not sure when CN will be able to come in and do a crossing for us,” he said. “Until we get that actual crossing, we won’t be able to open [137 Avenue]. The closure as we have it right now will stay in effect until CN gets that going.”
Other work will include the reconstruction of 184 Street where it intersects with Hawthorne Crescent. The City of Edmonton will also be involved, widening and making intersection improvements to 137 Avenue at 170 Street.
The project is part of the Anthony Henday Drive connectors program.
The city is recommending drivers who typically use Sir Winston Churchill Drive south of Levasseur as a commuting route instead take Levasseur onto Riel Drive to LeClair Way to access Ray Gibbon Drive, or use 170 Street or 156 Street for north-south commutes.
The work to connect 137 Avenue to LeClair Way is one of five major capital construction projects taking place this summer in St. Albert. There are two other major road projects scheduled — construction of phase three of Ray Gibbon Drive from Giroux Road to Villeneuve Road and work on phase one of Veness Road at the city’s east end. The other projects include the stripping and remediation of the soccer and rugby fields in Riel as part of the Riel Park Redevelopment plan and a sidewalk connector program from Giroux Road to Villeneuve Road.
