News

Public meeting #3

23 March 2026

The City of Waterloo invites you to attend a public information session about the reconstruction of Union Street East and see how it might affect your property, business or residence. This informal ‘drop-in’ style information session provides you with an opportunity to review the project in detail with City and Project staff.

The public meeting will be held at:

Date - Thursday, April 2, 2026

Time - 6 - 7:30 p.m.

Place - Waterloo City Hall (main atrium) 100 Regina Street South, Waterloo, ON

Main atrium can be accessed from doors facing parking lot. This meeting space is accessible.

This third meeting will be attended by representatives from the City, its engineering consultant: WalterFedy, and the contractor hired for this project: Regional Sewer and Watermain. Representatives from all three be available to answer questions regarding the upcoming construction.

The purpose of the public information session is to allow residents to view the final designs and ask questions about the construction process, and how they may be affected. If you have not already done so, please contact the City’s project manager regarding any mobility or medical challenges you may have to ensure that accommodation can be made during construction. Without this information, decisions may be made during construction that favour expediency over access, based on the assumption that special accommodation is not needed.

Construction is anticipated to start on or about April 20, 2026. Updates during construction may be posted on Engage Waterloo at various intervals or prior to key events. Please ensure you are signed up to receive updates from Engage Waterloo when posted.

Prior to the start of construction local residents may be contacted by a company retained by Regional Sewer and Watermain to conduct a pre-construction condition assessment of your property. This survey will include visual inspection and photography of various interior and exterior features of your home to determine pre-construction conditions in the unlikely event that damage is caused during construction. Please respond to the inspection company as soon as possible to schedule an inspection as the timing window is small.

Once construction starts, the typical work hours will be 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Construction for this project will be phased over two years, with Phase 1 being completed in 2026 from Willow St to King St S. Phase 2 will be completed in 2027 from Willow St to Moore Ave S. Within each phase will be sub-stages in order to minimize the length of inconvenience for everyone. Each block will be a sub phase (e.g. Willow to Herbert, Herbert to Mary, etc.). Work will only progress to the next block when work on the previous block is nearly complete. There will be some overlap between sub phases and blocks not actively worked on may still be used for moving construction equipment and storing materials. Residents will need to be aware of their surroundings even if their block is not currently the active work zone.

During the initial few days of construction on each block, residents may have roadway access when the contractor is not working directly in front of your driveway. Once the initial setup work is complete the contractor will remove the roadway asphalt and curbs and begin replacing underground infrastructure. During working hours and occasionally overnight, the roadway will be closed and residents will need to park their vehicles on nearby streets. Overnight access restrictions are more common near the end of construction when new curb, sidewalk and driveway aprons are installed due to the drying time needed for concrete.

Residents will be provided with one or two parking passes per household/unit. Businesses can request additional passes as necessary. The parking pass allows for parking on nearby streets for longer than 3 hours (where no specific time limit is posted) or overnight. All parking related signage must still be obeyed and all other parking rules still apply (e.g. no parking in front of fire hydrants, no parking within certain distances of driveways or intersections, etc.) Please note that some on-street parking signage may be temporarily altered to allow some on-street parking for local residents with parking passes. For more information on parking rules please refer to the City’s Traffic and Parking bylaw on the City’s website:

https://www.waterloo.ca/en/living/traffic-and-parking-bylaw.aspx