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Feature Article December 9, 2004

Feature article December 9, 2004

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Road survey identifies $9.6 million dollars in needs

by Jeff Green

A draft roads/bridges survey was presented to Addington Highlands Council this week by Roads Supervisor Royce Rosenblath and the study deemed the Skootamatta Lake Road, which is shared between Addington Highlands and North Frontenac, as the road most in need of repairs.

The roads survey, which was completed by the engineering firm of Tottenham/Sims/Hubicki of Kingston, considers a variety of factors to determine which roads and bridges need the most attention, including traffic counts, condition of the road surface, ditches, and others.

The survey identified 19 roads as requiring immediate repairs. The survey also identified $9.6 million worth of road repairs, not including resurfacing requirements, and $1.3 million worth of bridge repairs that will be necessary in the next one to five years.

It might as well be $100 million as $9.6 million, said Reeve Ken Hook, because we arent going to be able to do that amount of work with our tax base.

The Skootamatta Lake Road, located just north of Cloyne, was divided into two sections by the report. It is estimated that fixing the section of road between Hwy. 41 and Hughes Landing will cost $283,000, and the portion from Hughes Landing to Jacques Bay Road, $262,000.

The Skootamatta Lake road is a boundary road between North Frontenac and Addington Highlands and is jointly maintained. A discussion about what to do about repairing the Skootamata Lake Road took place at a joint meeting between the two townships last month, but no decision has been made.

At this weeks Addington Highland Council meeting, the possibility of applying for funding support to the newly announced Canada Ontario Municipal Reinvestment Funding Program (COMRIF) for the Skootamatta Lake Road was considered. The funding program will cover 2/3 of the costs of projects that are accepted, but Reeve Hook said, We will have to contact North Frontenac to see that they are intending to do. If they are applying to the COMRIF for something else, then we cant exactly go ahead on our own.

Other roads that were identified as being critically in need of repairs include Central Street in Denbigh, which needs new sewers and gutters, a $314,000 project, and the Hughes Landing Road, a 7.4 kilometre road that needs rebuilding at an estimated cost of $2,987,000.

The highest priority bridge repair identified in the report is a bridge on Hartsmere Road, which will cost $227,000 to repair.

Council will be receiving the final roads survey report from Tottenmham/SimsHubicki in the coming weeks. A decision on what project will be chosen by Addington Highlands for an application for COMRIF funding will be considered at the next Council meeting, once information about the intentions of North Frontenac is received.

With the participation of the Government of Canada