Galt’s Main Street getting a facelift next year

New infrastructure includes bike lanes, lamps, street furniture

Plans are afoot to overhaul Main Street in the Galt core next summer between Ainslie and Shade streets.

At Tuesday’s general committee meeting, Cambridge city council approved the proposed design for the streetscaping project, which has a price tag of $1.9 million. In addition to cleaning up the underground infrastructure, storm sewers and water mains will be replaced for selected sections of the street.

Project manager Jeff Nyenhuis told council that part of the reason for undertaking the streetscape project was to better tie together the sections of upper and lower Main Street in the downtown core. The work will include fresh paving, curbs, gutters, street furniture, trash containers, lamp standards and trees. At the upper end of Main Street, between Shade and Wellington streets, new bike lanes will be installed. There will also be a new gateway feature for the Mill Creek Trail and a new entrance feature for the Galt core.

The plan also includes a new bench to be built just south of Wellington Street in front of the Main Street parking lot.

Work on the project is expected to start in April and the project will be staged, tackling one block at a time, maintaining access to local businesses. The completion of the project is expected next November.

Coun. Jan Liggett questioned whether there will be room in front of Main Street restaurants to accommodate outdoor patios and asked that restaurants be contacted for further discussion.

Coun. Mike Devine, having just gone through the Hespeler streetscaping project, asked that heavy construction equipment not be parked in front of restaurants during construction as it deters people from going to the restaurant.

“We need to keep it so people can get through, not like we had in the disaster on Dickson Street in 2014,” he said.

Coun. Donna Reid liked what was presented and said, “I know from the Hespeler streetscaping that it does have a very positive effect on the area and I’m very pleased to see that you are including benches because that is part of the age-friendly city we are trying to provide.”

Final approval of the plan by council is expected in December.