The way Leamington's Chief Administrative Officer describes it, the North East Trunk Sewer and Seacliff Drive reconstruction project will be the largest ever in the municipality.
Councillors awarded the tender on Tuesday night to Sterling Ridge Construction for phases two to five, which will involve the installation of new and improved sanitary sewers, storm sewers, a new water main, streetlights and signals, sidewalks, and active transportation infrastructure between Regata Drive and County Road 33.
Peter Neufeld believes it'll be worth the pain, since the project will lay the groundwork for development over the next four decades.
"This is the beginning of that enormous project that we have been waiting for for a long, long time," said Neufeld. "You know, patience runs thin at times, but we will do everything that we can to make sure that the traffic continues to flow.
Unfortunately, Manager of Engineering Services, Bill Fuerth, said there will be some closures.
"When we're working on the sewer, there will likely be one lane open, but for the road reconstruction itself, full closures should be expected because the road base will be removed," he said.
The municipality has already secured $41-million in funding for the project, and the County of Essex will contribute. Councillors approved the use of $9.3-million for the road portion of the project and $2.9-million for the water infrastructure from its water line reserves.
The total cost of the work is $56-million.
The project is already over a decade in the making. The Environmental Assessment was conducted in 2013.
"The impact of this project will be huge," said Mayor Hilda MacDonald.
