Doug Graves remembers having his doubts when an elementary school was built on Shellard Lane, in Brantford’s southwest.
“(We thought) there wasn’t going to be the population to support it,” he recalls.
But times have changed, and business is booming in the city’s West Brant neighbourhood.
City officials estimate that more than 8,000 people have already moved into the area, and another 8,700 are on the way.
It’s good news for the city, but not for Shellard Lane – the two-lane country road that has suddenly morphed into a neighbourhood thoroughfare.
Ted Cook lives nearby, and says it’s impossible to make a left turn on Shellard during peak periods even when frustrated drivers aren’t running red lights.
“We had to go several blocks over just to get out of here,” he tells CTV News.
Mayor Chris Friel admits that West Brant grew quicker than expected, which meant trouble for both those using the road to commute and those using it to take their children to school.
“It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t accessible,” he says.
“People were struggling to figure out how they would drop their kids off in the morning.”
As it is with the rest of the neighbourhood, it’s time for Shellard Lane to adapt to its new reality.
That’s why the city and federal governments are teaming up to spend $8.5 million to expand the road to four lanes.
Friel says it’s a project the city originally expected would be several years off, only for the area to grow faster than anticipated.
“We could have been looking at 10 or 15 years before we saw this project completed,” he says.
Graves says West Brant still needs other improvements to its road infrastructure – but the Shellard Lane work is a start.
“Any progress we get in the area is fantastic,” he says.
Construction on Shellard Lane has been ongoing since May and is expected to continue into the fall.
Other work planned as part of the project includes new curbs and median islands, traffic signals and a multi-use trail.
