Summerside sets aside funding to kickstart East-West Connector Road project

The City of Summerside is taking the first steps toward building a new road that could dramatically improve traffic flow in the downtown area.

In its last budget, the city set aside $500,000 for the planning of the East-West Connector Road, which would link Water Street East near Reads Corner with Ryan Street and MacEwen Road.

The 2.2-kilometre road would help funnel traffic away from the city's downtown toward the mall district on Granville Street.

"This is something that's been in the books literally for 20 years," said Ward 8 Councillor Carrie Adams, who has been pushing for the project since she was elected.

"We're seeing tens of thousands of cars coming in daily. And the road hasn't changed, but our traffic definitely has. So it's hoped that this will alleviate some of the pressure."

But perhaps most importantly for the city's economy, Adams said the new road wouldfree up more land for development.

"What we have in that area where this East-West Connector would be is about 2.2 kilometres of road," she said.

"You're opening up all that land on both sides of that 2.2 kilometres. That's a big chunk of land in thecity centre."

There are about 300 acres of underdeveloped land in the area where the road would be built.

Ward 2 Councillor Justin Doiron saidthere's some agricultural activity still there, though a lot of it is happening in areas that were zoned for future residential use.

"Over the last couple of years, development has just been booming [in Summerside]," he said.

"We'd like to, you know, at least try to keep up with it. But I guess at the end of the day, it kind of depends on how quickly those land owners do want to develop and change agricultural use over to residential commercial."

Summerside estimates the project will cost about $11.5 million.

Adams said the city is hoping other levels of government help get the project moving more quickly as well as share some of the costs.

"This the closest it's ever been to going to happen," she said. "I don't see why in the next few years we can't see this really coming to fruition."

A 2009 traffic study revealed nearly 23,000 vehicles travel daily on Water Street East. About 7,500 of those vehicles head to Granville Street.

The local business support group, Downtown Summerside,said it's encouraged by the city's work on such projects, and that it will continue to work with the city to help make the downtown core more "vibrant."

"The more people coming into Summerside, either to live or visit, will be beneficial for every aspect of the city including our downtown core business," Downtown Summerside said in a statement.