Charlottetown seeks funding for much-needed upgrades to Malpeque Road

The City of Charlottetown says it's having a hard time finding funds for much-needed upgrades to a major artery into Charlottetown.

Malpeque Road handles about 30,000 vehicles a day, but the city feels it has some major bottlenecks — single lanes of traffic at key intersections.

Charlottetown's Public Works manager Scott Adams knows it's a problem.

But he said upgrades that help funnel more cars into cities just aren't a priority when it comes to federal funding.

"We have very few means to get money to do this work. Our primary source is our tax base. Beyond that, there are some programs out there for grants for the city," he said.

"But the challenge is most of those funding streams are available only for green infrastructure or water and sewer related matters or flood resiliency. Traffic and transportation related upgrades usually take a back seat to those types of projects when it comes to what gets approved for funding."

Costs have increased

He also cited the cost in materials, which has increased between 25 to 30 per cent, he said.

And with P.E.I.'s growing population, the pressure is on. 

"With the future projections of population growth that the province just recently released, it puts even more pressure on us engineers and planners to be prepared for such a huge volume increase in such a short period of time," said Adams.

The city wants to see Malpeque Road widened to two lanes — both in and out of the city — potentially all the way to Winsloe.

It also wants to widen Capital Drive and connect that to Mount Edward Road.

That east-west corridor would include a separate active transportation lane, connecting to the Confederation Trail.

Alex Ford said he's familiar with the congestion. He uses the Malpeque Road regularly. He said more lanes would definitely aid with traffic flow.

"That should help. Over on St. Peters Road where they did all the work, that improved the flow," he said.

"Certain times a day it's ridiculous, but what can you do? You got to get to where you're going, same as everybody else."

'It's a bit of a nightmare'

Rosemarie Chapman agrees. She doesn't live in Charlottetown and said the drive to and from work can be daunting. 

"We're coming from North Rustico, so it's quite the trek. First thing in the morning, it's a bit of a nightmare," she said.

She would also welcome some changes to the Malpeque Road, she said. 

"Two lanes in, two lanes out ... makes sense to me."

The transportation minister says some work will start this year — a couple of dedicated left turn lanes off Malpeque Road onto residential streets. 

Ernie Hudson met with provincial and federal counterparts this week to talk about long-term funding.