SUDBURY, Ont. — A bypass to take traffic around the McCrea Heights and Guilletville areas of the former city of Valley East may be worthy of study, says one of two city councilors from the area.

Longtime Guilletville resident Simon Guillet heads a group of citizens who have been pushing for a bypass.

Guillet says there has been talk of widening that stretch of highway through the two communities, but he doesn’t believe that is a viable solution, in either the short or the long term.

Guillet believes there isn’t enough land available to do a proper widening of the existing roadway and, in time, the volume of traffic will warrant the bypass in any event.

There could be money available for the bypass, said Guillet if the $5 million already in the bank for another project is left to accumulate interest.

That money is committed to the ongoing four-laning of Municipal Road 80 from Elmview Drive to Hanmer.

However, Coun. Ron Dupuis, who also represents the area, said that would unfairly penalize people on Municipal Road 80 who have been waiting for that project to begin.

“We can’t do that to those people. But that doesn’t mean we can’t look at short-term solutions until we do get the bypass done,” says Dupuis.

Adding a turn lane, erecting mobile radar signs, which show how fast traffic is going in the area, and other things can be done now, he says.

There have been 23 deaths along the road, from multiple fatal collisions to pedestrians being struck by traffic, he says.

An estimated 25,000 vehicles travel on that stretch of road each day, says Guillet.