Work begins on $14-million Cabana Road upgrade project
Widening, water and new storm sewers final part of $27M in improvements
A $14-million project to upgrade a stretch of Cabana Road will begin later this month, city officials said Friday.
Upgrades on Cabana Road between Dominion Boulevard and Highway 3 will include widening the road to four lanes, wider sidewalks, upgraded street lights and new water mains and storm sewers.
“When we acquired this road, when it was amalgamated into the city in 1966, Cabana Road had not largely been touched ... it looked like a rural road, which in fact it was,” Windsor mayor Drew
Dilkens said.
“But as we work towards getting this hospital built ... as we look to improve the cycling infrastructure and the active transportation infrastructure ...and improve the flooding situation ... all of these things are coming together in a project like this.”
ENWIN will relocate 53 utility poles on this stretch of roadway beginning May 30, 37 on the north side and 16 on the south side, Reidel said.
“Our role involves ensuring the reliable supply of electricity to the area while we move the existing infrastructure to align with the new roadway,” said Helga Reidel, CEO of ENWIN. “It's a big job and it will be one of our largest capital projects for 2022 on the hydro side of our business.”
Reidel said residents may experience momentary outages as ENWIN switches power line sources. Work with the area's hydro poles is expected to be complete in October.
The road work — including widening, sidewalks and bike lanes on this stretch — will begin in spring 2023; utility line work done by ENWIN needs to be done before road reconstruction can begin, city officials said.
“The important thing to state today is, we're nearing the end,” said Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis. “We're coming to the end of this project and once it's finished, it's going to
be tremendous.”
Francis said he's heard feedback from residents while the construction work is ongoing, but said people are often willing to “put up with short-term pain, as long as they understand what the long-term gain is.”
These upgrades are phase 4 of a total $27 million project to improve Cabana Road between Dougall Avenue and Highway 3. Phase 3 of the project was completed in December.
The city has earmarked $47 million for road reconstruction and upgrades in 2022.