The City of Peterborough celebrated the completion of the Central Area Flood Reduction Project on Friday, marking the end of one of the city’s largest infrastructure projects.
Officials gathered on Bethune Street to cut the ribbon on the $53.5-million project, which includes the installation of more than 1.5 kilometres of storm sewers as well as upgraded sanitary sewers under Bethune Street between Jackson Creek and Townsend Street.
The project was deemed a priority in the city’s Flood Reduction Master Plan following the devastating flood on July 15, 2004. The system will divert storm surge water from Jackson Creek around the central area to an outlet into Little Lake at Townsend Street.
“This is a day of celebration, not only to celebrate what’s below the ground, we can celebrate what’s above the ground too,” said Mayor Jeff Leal, who also thanked former mayors Daryl Bennett and Diane Therrien and previous councils for their work on the project.
The project received $7.97 million contributions from the federal and provincial governments.
With contracts for construction awarded in 2019 and 2020, the scope of the work included building the inlet for the storm sewer on Jackson Creek, the storm sewer outlet at Little Lake, rehabilitating the bridge under George Street at the outlet, a large dig and installation of the storm sewer under Bethune and Townsend streets, and upsizing the sanitary sewer.
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“It’s a massive structure designed to convey massive, huge volumes of water when Jackson Creek floods,” said Michael Papadacos, the city’s infrastructure and planning services commissioner.
Lead says the investments infrastructure are helping the city prepare for growth by “protecting residents, homes and businesses.
“It’s already showing its value to our community,” he said. “When we had a short but severe storm that caused some localized flooding in early August, this new storm sewer helped prevent the type of flooding that we’ve seen throughout the central area in the past.
“So-called one-in-100-year storms are becoming all too common. We are continuing to take action to adapt to this new reality by making these critical investments in infrastructure.”
According to Papadacos, the city is applying for federal funding for further flood mitigation projects, including upgrades to the Curtis Creek area and Charlotte Street.
Cycling upgrades
The project also included updated cycling and pedestrian paths, which cyclists on Friday praised. The designs are to help improve access to the downtown and sites such as Quaker Foods City Square and Millenium Park.
“Just bikes having the right of way at a couple of the intersections is kind of radical,” said Jean Greig, program manager at B!ke, a local non-profit organization that supports cycling education. “Where you can roll through as a bicycle and have cars stop, that’s a game changer.”
Avid cyclist Rob Curry, echoed the sentiment.
“They did a great job, they were very professional,” Curry said. “It’s getting well-used now by a lot of cyclists which is great — myself, I am a cyclist too, so it’s been great.”
Cyclist John Crawford noted the routes are “smooth and well-marked.”
“You’re relatively safe as long as you watch for cars on the cross streets,” he said.
Peterborough GreenUp and B!Ke will be leading a tour of the infrastructure on Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., beginning at the Bethune and Simcoe streets park. The event will include displays about water and cycling, a tour of the infrastructure, and a bike parade starting at 2 p.m.
— with files from Sam Houpt/Global News Peterborough
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