The Town of Fort Frances put up a temporary stop sign today at the corner of First Street East and Mowat Avenue to alleviate traffic congestion over the weekend while U.S. tourists head home.
The new sign will come down Tuesday after the holiday weekend has concluded and bridge traffic slowed.
“We are hoping this will help the traffic flow from Central Avenue to First Street because last week we had people cutting into the line from Second Street and they wouldn’t let anyone through in or through traffic at First Street, which led to large traffic congestion,” Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said.
The Civic Centre also would like the public to know it has re-opened the truck route through town now that the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship has wrapped up.
“We don’t want the big trucks using Second Street East after today,” Brown stressed.
In related news, the much delayed construction of the Portage Avenue underpass will start next week after the town’s consultant signs off on the design.
“We’ve run into a couple of design delays that need to be clarified by the construction company, JTJ Contracting, before we start,” Brown explained.
The crews hopefully will start next week on the west wall of the underpass.
That will take about nine weeks to complete. Then, if the weather permits, crews will get started on the east wall.
However, it is known the delays mean the proposed completion date of Nov. 1 will not be met, resulting in construction to continue there next spring and summer.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
