CHESTERMERE – The Town of Chestermere has announced that the East Chestermere Drive upgrade project is coming to a close.
The project, which began last year, was put into motion to address long term drainage issues on the roadway. The Town was able to secure grants for the construction, and soon after they put together a five engineers as well as key members of the Town’s Development Services staff to make up their design team.
Once the project team was on site, it became apparent that not only was drainage a problem but the quality of the roadbed was deteriorating as well. The team revised the plan to address both troubling aspects and continued to consult with residents about the project.
The Town held three open houses to address overall concerns by residents, gather input and to lay out what East Chestermere Drive would look like when finished. However, the project faced numerous challenges along the way, including the dilemma that some residences would face where they might have some difficulties with elevations and driveway accesses. They were also certain landscaping concerns.
“Council understands that there were some issues brought forward by residents regarding access to their property or the aesthetics of their front yards” said Mayor Patricia Matthews. “To address these issues, the project team met with each concerned resident individually to develop unique solutions.”
Matthews said that she was pleased with the success of this approach and was happy to know that all of the potential problems with driveway access or landscaping on East Chestermere Drive were addressed to the satisfaction of each resident involved.
“We believe that ongoing collaboration between the project team and the residents was the major factor in making this project such a great success” Matthews said. “It has been a great deal of work but I am happy that the residents are pleased with the results.”
Matthews said that the project has been completed on time and within the budget.
“This fall’s work will be completed in the next few weeks” Matthews said. “We are all looking forward to two-way traffic returning on East Chestermere Drive very soon.”
East Chestermere Drive is scheduled to open to two-way traffic on Nov. 15 with final touches to the roadway and landscaping planned for the Spring of 2012.
