The east-end roadway, subject to major upgrades in recent years, should have its designation changed to make it a freeway, a road that would have no traffic lights or intersections, but rather on- and off-ramps for drivers, staff recommend.
The cost of building all those interchanges and bridges?
About $230 million.
But the project’s time line would extend over the next half-century — so, more immediately, staff want politicians to approve changes to the classifications of adjacent roads to protect the freeway’s possible future.
When the issue was discussed by council in 2008, the freeway option was considered by some politicians a key step in upgrading public works to stimulate the local economy.
At the time, Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen called it a “no-brainer.”
But the $230 million price tag — $126 million of which would go to build interchanges from east-west roads that now intersect the parkway — caused much concern.
In the report going Monday to council’s built and natural environment committee, staff note that changing the roadway designations doesn’t commit council to actually building the freeway. “Such measures serve to protect lands needed . . . in order to keep options open to build it, should a present or future council choose to do so.”
In a separate report going to the same committee, staff detail what’s needed to study the possible expansion of Veterans Memorial Parkway south of the Hwy. 401 — beyond London’s urban growth boundary.
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