Town lands some road funds

The Town of Fort Frances has received some money through the Ontario government’s “Connecting Link” program for roadwork here this summer, but not quite as much as it was hoping for.
The province announced yesterday that the town is receiving $139,140 to replace asphalt on the stretch of Central Avenue from First Street East to Church Street and Scott Street from Central Avenue to Mowat.

While asphalt first was laid down on those streets back in 2007 and then again last year, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said the contractor will have to go and fix it yet again after the asphalt didn’t meet specifications.
This work will take place this summer and probably take about a week to complete, noted Brown.
While any provincial dollars are good news, Brown added yesterday’s announcement did not include three other projects the town had applied for, including:
•the reconstruction of Scott Street from Reid Avenue to Colonization Road East;
•a traffic study to determine the need for a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of King’s Highway and Webster Avenue; and
•a set of cameras which would be attached to the traffic lights at the intersection of Keating Avenue and King’s Highway (these cameras would monitor north-south traffic flow at that intersection to allow for green lights of a greater duration for traffic heading east-west).
Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said he was somewhat “disappointed” the town didn’t get funding for the reconstruction of Scott Street from Reid Avenue to Colonization Road East, but admitted the town has been successful in getting “Connecting Link” dollars for major projects in recent years.
“I guess there’s a year you’re not going to get it, and this is our year,” he reasoned.
That said, McCaig noted he was concerned about the lateness of the announcement, adding both the town and the proposed contractor, Tom Veert Contracting Ltd., had been waiting to see if the work will go ahead.
McCaig said town delegates have brought up the lateness issue with the provincial agencies in the past—and will do so again next month when they travel to Ottawa for the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.
“They really have to get these ‘Connecting Link’ announcements out sooner. This is really late,” he remarked.
“We’re Northern Ontario—it’s not the same as Toronto,” McCaig argued. “Our construction season, for all intents and purposes, is pretty much ending the end of October. Snow could be flying then.
“We need to know sooner,” he stressed. “We should be hearing about this in April so when May comes and the frost comes out the ground, we can get rolling.”
The “Connecting Link” program enables municipalities to repair roadways which connect two ends of a provincial highway through an urban area.
This is part of an overall investment of $15 million Ontario is providing to municipalities for 17 local road and bridge repair projects throughout the province this year.
“The investments made through the ‘Connecting Link’ program will help communities build stronger roadways while stimulating the economy through job creation and ensuring the safe commute of drivers and goods,” Transportation minister Jim Bradley said in a press release yesterday.
There are about 350 km of roads and 70 bridges along connecting links in 77 Ontario municipalities.