From Laura Osman at CBC Ottawa:
City councillors are being asked to increase the budget for a controversial road-widening project in Kanata South by $4 million, according to one city councillor for the area — but they don’t know it.
The $38.7-million Kanata South Link project involves widening Old Richmond Road and West Hunt Club Road to Highway 416 in order to alleviate major traffic congestion caused by new housing developments.
The roads are currently two lanes wide, and they act as a major commuter route through the greenbelt in a quickly developing part of the suburbs.
They also run into Coun. Rick Chiarelli’s ward. He told CBC News it took him nearly a week of digging to discover the cost of the project had ballooned by $4 million because it’s not apparent in the budget documents.
Chiarelli said he was never alerted to the increase, which is set to be approved in the 2018 budget on Wednesday.