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When the city last updated its transportation master plan in 2013, planners thought widening the 174 between Montreal Road and Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard should be done someday but not before 2031, which was as far out as their forecasts went.

The road, which the city owns, is already six lanes wide but two of those lanes are dedicated to buses. When the rail line opens, those won’t be needed. The road and culverts under the highway also need major work.

Overpasses over the 174 will have to be rebuilt to accommodate new stations and trains; the planners working on the rail project figure the new ones should be designed for the wider highway that’s on the to-do-someday list. As long as we’re doing all that, the logic goes, we can save on construction costs and disruptions by having the same crews just widen the highway, too.

“Operationally, from a car motorist (perspective), it’s going to be a bit strange having lanes that are unused and not leveraged. So we’re doing the balancing act on that. Can it affect ridership? No doubt about it. It’s something we’ve got to watch and something I’m concerned about,” Manconi said.

Once there’s something to watch, it’ll be too late.

Something similar will happen west of downtown. Last spring, Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli announced plans to widen the provincially owned Highway 417 between Maitland Avenue and the Highway 416 interchange but played coy about how much it might cost, saying it hadn’t gone to tender yet. Friday we found out why: that job will also be bundled with the rail-construction contract, too.