It's been in the works for years, but the Ministry of Transportation says it's still planning to twin the Garden City Skyway — and wants to do it by 2025.

Ministry of Transportation spokeswoman Astrid Poei said twinning in the next five years is still the goal, dependent on timelines for procurements and details of scope of work.

The twinning plan would see a second bridge built on the north side of the skyway, which takes QEW lanes over the Welland Canal in St. Catharines. The north bridge would be for Toronto-bound traffic and the existing skyway would be rehabilitated for Fort Erie-bound traffic.

The province began studying alternatives to the skyway in 2010 because of structural and traffic safety needs and later presented a twinning plan.

A memo to St. Catharines city councillors in their agendas this week included an update from MTO senior project engineer Hossein Hosseini that said the province is working on advanced utility relocations required for the project. Structural investigations and minor repair works are also planned for the skyway beginning this summer and finishing in the fall.

Poei said in an email to The St. Catharines Standard that the structural investigation is required to evaluate and determine a preferred strategy for rehabilitating the current bridge.

The minor repair work will address immediate needs on the existing bridge based on previous studies and will ensure safety until major rehabilitation of the skyway takes place.

The MTO will have to acquire several public and private properties for the project to accommodate a twin structure. The properties are all located north of the existing bridge, on both the east and west sides of the Welland Canal, including in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Poei said all impacted property owners were contacted during the environmental assessment phase of the project, which was completed in April 2018.

The detailed design phase work for the project has not started.

The MTO has requested funding for the project from the treasury board of cabinet. A dollar amount will be determined once the detailed scope of work is finalized.

The memo to city council said the province anticipates some movement on the request for funding for the overall project this year.

Garden City Skyway was built in 1963 and is almost 40 metres high at the canal. The twinning will allow repair work to occur on the existing bridge without halting QEW traffic, add more lanes for high-occupancy vehicles and re-instate truck climbing lanes.

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