KITCHENER - The extension of River Road, long planned but not built, could stall for five more years because of its $56-million cost.

After 12 years of delays, road planners have advised regional politicians to further delay construction until 2025 to restrain government debt. Work had been scheduled to begin next year.

Further delay will increase congestion on nearby Fairway Road South, stall a Highway 8 interchange, and delay a cycling route, a report warns.

"I was extremely surprised and disappointed," said realtor Peter Benninger, who owns land near the proposed road that he intends to develop with homes and businesses.

"This has been a project that's literally been on the table for 40 years ... Fairway Road in that time period has just become ridiculous."

Benninger said he'll be shocked if politicians endorse more delay.

"I just think about all the work and all the money they have spent. They've got all the land to go ahead with this road and now they're going to not do it?" he said.

Environmentalist Gordon Nicholls is pleased to hear the road might be further delayed.

He wants to preserve the Hidden Valley area where the new road is planned. He figures the money for the new road would be better spent on better transit.

Further delaying road construction "gives them time to think about whether or not they should be putting in an east-west LRT," he said.

Coun. Tom Galloway is urging Waterloo regional council to build the road without further delay. Council must decide on the matter as part of its 2020 budget, which is expected to be finalized Jan. 22.

"It was supposed to have gone ahead a long time ago," Galloway said. He wants to see cycling paths built on the new road and he worries about Fairway Road traffic.

"We need a reliever for Fairway Road," he said. "It's a bit late to decide all of a sudden to defer it."

The current plan is to connect River Road to Bleams Road. The road would span Highway 8 and skirt the natural Hidden Valley area.

The new road is to be four lanes wide with a raised centre median and paths on both sides for cycling and walking. It includes a new interchange at Highway 8.

The road has been planned in part to ease traffic congestion on Fairway Road, where new development is underway and where two intersections are ranked among the region's 13 most dangerous stretches of road.

The latest road design took years to finalize, slowed in part by a law that protects endangered Jefferson salamanders.

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It's estimated that 12 years of delays have cost taxpayers up to $11 million, including $2 million by not co-ordinating with Highway 8 widening, $4 million or more due to construction inflation, and $5 million to redesign the road to skirt the salamanders' habitat.

Council has acquired land for the road and must borrow to build it. Government planners asked politicians last month to delay six road projects to save $65 million in debt.

River Road is the biggest project proposed for delay. Other road expansions that might be delayed by one to three years include:

• Maple Grove Road from Hespeler Road to Fountain Street in Cambridge.

• South Boundary Road from Franklin Boulevard to Dundas Street in Cambridge.

• Fountain Street from Maple Grove Road to Kossuth Road in Cambridge.

• Franklin Boulevard between Avenue Road and Bishop Street in Cambridge where two more roundabouts could be built.

• Fischer-Hallman and Bearinger roads, from Columbia Street to Westmount Road in Waterloo.

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