Highway work to resume in May

Bay City Co. Ltd. will get back to work next month reconstructing King’s Highway, completing the job all the way to Daniel Avenue.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said last week the work to overhaul King’s Highway will resume the first week of May and must be completed by July 5, as per town’s deal with the contractor.
He noted the town is planning to put up signage from Keating Avenue to Pit Road #2 to re-route traffic either coming from—or bound for—the U.S. border.
The signs will direct westbound traffic to turn onto Colonization Road West just after the lights at Keating Avenue, proceed west to Emo Road, eventually turning left onto Pit Road #1 and then right onto King’s Highway to continue westward.
Conversely, eastbound motorists coming into town will take a right at Pit Road #1, turn left down Emo Road, and then merge onto Colonization Road West, coming back onto the highway from behind McDonald’s.
While this will mean much more traffic through residential areas, Brown noted it’s a necessary part of the project.
“Construction does not go without pain,” he said. “People should have some patience.”
Like last year, local traffic still will be able to access the restaurants, stores, motels, and gas stations along King’s Highway while the work is going on, but the flow will be reduced to one lane, added Brown.
“We’re not trying to prevent people from going to the businesses,” he stressed.
In a continuation of the reconstruction which began last summer, the work will consist of resurfacing and widening the highway, giving it new curbs and gutters, replacing watermains, and installing water and sewer lines to vacant lots on either side of the highway.
The town also is hoping to see King’s Highway widened and resurfaced from Keating Avenue to Holmes Avenue later this year, noted Brown, but still is awaiting word on funding from the Ministry of Transportation.
In other construction news, the town hasn’t yet heard if its application to the Canada-Ontario Rural Infrastructure Fund (COMRIF) will be granted to pay for two-thirds of the cost of renovating the Portage Avenue underpass.
Brown said the town will be notified sometime between next week and the end of the month.
If the town does get the money, the project is expected to proceed in late spring.
As previously reported, one lane of traffic will be open at all time during the underpass work, and at no time should residents be forced to take alternate north-south routes, such as McIrvine Road or the emergency crossing at Victoria Avenue.
The work on the underpass will be done in two phases—the west side first, then the east side—and should take about 16 weeks to complete.
The project will consist of replacing 180 metres of concrete from Third Street East to Fifth Street East, putting in new retaining walls, as well as a new sidewalk and handrail on the west side of the street.
The work also will include modifications to the railway abutment structures (installation of soil anchors), putting up new chain link fences, and upgrading to the storm sewer system (pump house and piping).
The existing roadway also will be reinforced and modified, with a view towards having an alternate truck route to the north sometime down the road.