Every day Bill Walker made his way home from work through the Beverly Street underpass, he'd be thinking of the potential dangers of the narrow road.
So, when ground finally broke on the construction of the site Monday morning to address those concerns, among other improvements to the tune of $10.7 million, it was a huge relief for the Cambridge resident.
"I'm the guy that stirred the hornets nest in the beginning," Walker said of bringing his concerns to Cambridge city council.
"I could go home at lunch because my work was so close, so there was a potential of four times a day I could go through here. Somebody's going to get killed and we're very fortunate it hasn't happened."
The scope of the work includes watermain and sewer replacements, road renewal, intersection improvements, as well as a new multi-use trail and pedestrian underpass at the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway bridge.
The goal is to improve safety for residents who use the area, cyclists and motorists.
Back in December, it was reported the project would cost $10.7 million, $1.4 million more than initially thought.
The city believes half the overrun was caused by a stalled response to agreements from the CPKC due to an error, which delayed the tendering of the project by one year.
With that now resolved and Dagmar Construction Inc. tasked with overseeing the construction, the work is being completed in stages to limit traffic disruptions with detours in place.
During the full closure, Elgin Street and Samuelson Street will be closed for approximately 10 days, while Beverly Street and Samuelson will be closed until early fall.
When addressing those in attendance at the ground breaking ceremony, Mayor Jan Liggett said if all goes well the work should be completed by December of this year.
The location is in Ward 4 and councillor Ross Earnshaw said he's been contacted consistently about safety concerns with the underpass.
"It's a long awaited project," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of constituents have approached me since I was elected in 2022 to ask when this would happen. They're excited to see shovels go into the ground and that we're going to be able to achieve this plan."
Initially, the work was supposed to be done in two stages back in 2021, beginning with the pedestrian underpass and multi-use trail installation, followed by the remaining road reconstruction and infrastructure renewal works in 2023.
But when tender results for the 2021 project closed at nearly 75 per cent over the available budget, the city decided to defer the work until 2023 as a single combined project.
Earnshaw hopes finally getting started shows residents that city council has their best interests in mind and issues can be addressed in due time.
"It may not happen overnight but the city listens," he said.
"It's in our long range capital projects. When the money becomes available, the work gets done."
