Petition underway to keep Mathew Street in Sharbot Lake a two way road

Jeff Green | Aug 24, 2022

The controversy over one aspect of a road project in Sharbot Lake continues to develop. The project, which was proposed by township staff after consulting an engineering firm with expertise in traffic flow, was approved by Central Frontenac Council at their meeting on June 28th, and a bid of $640,000 from Crain’s construction, in answer to a tender from the township that was set out on June 6, was also approved at that meeting.

While plans to improve the drainage culvert at the bottom of the road, repave and improve Mathew Street were not controversial, a proposal to make Mathew a one way street for motorised traffic, with a pedestrian cycle lane, was.

Earlier in the June 28 meeting, Marlene Bertrim, who lives at the corner of Mathew Street and Elizabeth Street in Sharbot Lake, made a presentation to Council. In her presentation she talked about various factors affecting traffic in front of her house throughout the summer each year, and told Council that making Mathew Street a one-way road going down the hill from her house to Medical Centre Road, the K&P Trail and the parking lot for Sharbot Lake Beach, was a bad idea.

Council approved the proposal as presented, with the project slated to get underway in late August.

Since the project was approved the township has received letters from members of the public and the Frontenac Railway Heritage Society opposed to the one way traffic plan, mostly referring to the implications of the bottom of the hill on Medical Centre Road.

Now, as Crain’s construction begins work on the project, Marlene Bertrim is circulating a petition among community members, asking the township to keep Mathew a two way street.

“I have no problem with the construction project,” said Bertrim, “as long as the road remains a two-way street. It will be a disaster otherwise.”

Bertrim intends to present the petition to Council in September. For further information about the petition, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by call 613-583-2979.