Mississippi Bridge to be rebuilt

Jeff Green | Jan 22, 2014

North Frontenac Council

Mississippi bridge set for construction in 2014, if the price is right

For a number of years, North Frontenac Council has identified building a two-lane bridge on Road 509 at the Mississippi River as a priority. The township even applied for grants to cover two-thirds of the cost of a new bridge on three separate occasions, but without success.

Finally, last year, the township received the go-ahead for the construction, this time with the Province of Ontario covering 90% of the cost, up to $2 million.

At their council meeting on Monday morning, January 13, council approved a proposal by their consulting engineer, Guy Laporte of the engineering firm, AECOM, to build a two-lane bridge to the west of the existing Mississippi bridge, provided the tenders for construction come in at or under the $2 million threshold.

Laporte said that in his analysis of the project, he ruled out putting the bridge in where it is now, the shortest span over the river, for logistical reasons.

“There was no viable detour for traffic while the bridge is being built,” he told Council.

One possibility for a detour was the Gully Road, which is close by and runs to the Elphin-Maberly Road, but Laporte said “the Gully road is not suitable for the large truck traffic that travels on Road 509. We looked also at a lengthy route that goes back to Hwy. 7, but that was too long, and we looked at building a temporary bridge but we did not have the budget to do that.”

Laporte went to a public meeting in late December with four locations as options, two to the west of the existing bridge and two to the east.

In the end he proposed a location to the west, which will require road construction and a bridge that is longer than the current one.

“That option has the least impact on neighbouring houses on either side of the river and it involves the least amount of in-water work during the construction phase,” Laporte said.

The new bridge will bisect a piece of parkland on the Mississippi River, which was a concern for Councilor John Inglis.

However, Mayor Clayton said that moving the bridge would create parkland at the bridge's current location.

Councilor Betty Hunter pointed out that the Gully road was used as a detour once before, during the construction of a bridge on the Elphin-Maberly Road, “and as I recall there were no issues. The road was fine,” said Hunter.

“In order to go back and reconsider the bridge's location, we would need another public meeting and a new Environmental Assessment. We would not be able to go to tender on the project in June in that case, and our current plan to start construction on July 15 and finish this year would have to be altered,” Laporte said.

The provincial grant that is supporting the project is also time-sensitive, he added.

The bridge will be tendered under two construction options, one being a pre-engineered steel deck on concrete abutments, and the second as a conventional concrete structure. He said that the pre-engineered option would be cheaper to build but more expensive to maintain, while the conventional option will cost more now but less later on.

Council approved the proposal as presented and will wait for the tenders to come in before giving the project final approval.

Manadatory septic re-inspections contemplated.

Eric Kohlsmith of the Mississippi-Rideau Septic Inspection office presented his report on the 2013 voluntary septic re-inspection program in the township.

For the second year in a row, the number of inspections completed was considerably less than the target of 100 inspections on waterfront properties.

This year Kohlsmith's office sent out 346 letters to property owners requesting they complete a questionnaire and set up a time for an inspection, but in the end only 61 properties underwent the inspections.

Of the systems that were inspected, 29% were in good working order, 64% required some remediation, and 5% (four systems) required replacement. Kingston Frontenac Public Health, the agency that is under contract with North Frontenac for septic permitting, was informed about the four systems that need to be replaced,

Changes in the Ontario Building Code have recently come on stream. They allow municipalities to require re-inspections of septic systems that are over 10 years old, and in his report, Eric Kohlmsith recommends that the township look into going that route in the future.

“The greatest change between the current voluntary program and the one we are proposing is that the inspections will be mandatory. It will allow for the continued education of property owners on the maintenance and operation of their system but with a mandatory inspection,” Kohlsmith said.

In order for Mississippi-Rideau to provide mandatory inspections, the township would also to have them take over doing all septic inspections, for new properties as well, and sever its longstanding relationship with KFL&A Public Health for septic inspections for new construction.

Official Plan woes

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs has returned the township's Draft Official Plan and is asking for a meeting to discuss the changes that they are insisting upon. Faced with a document that resembles what a grade one teacher might send back to a reluctant student - a page full of black lines drawn through lines and lines of text punctuated by red ink with new wording - North Frontenac Mayor Clayton asked, “Why does one size have to fit all? Why does our plan have to be the same as all other plans? Why do we go to the trouble of preparing a plan? They could just send us the plan they want and be done with it if this is the way it is going to be.”

Among the disagreements between the township and the ministry are a number of long-standing issues. One is the ministry's insistence on concentrating development in identified hamlets rather than in the rural countryside. The idea behind this provincial policy is that services are available in hamlets, but in Frontenac County this is not the case, and in North Frontenac some of the identified hamlets are nothing more than a sign at the side of the road, such as Donaldson, Coxvale, Roberstville and Wilbur.