After receiving provincial construction grants totalling $818,000, Fort Frances will begin a project to widen King’s Highway between York Avenue and Wright Avenue.
The money has been handed over to cover a number of construction costs, some of which already have been completed by the town.
“There’s two seasons in Ontario, there’s winter season and construction season, we’re now entering construction season,” Mayor Glenn Witherspoon said as he announced the upcoming project at the end of Monday night’s council meeting.
The first phase will see a third lane added as soon as the plan has been finalized and tendered out.
“Once we’ve finalized the final concept, it will go to tender. That will take a while, it won’t be until August,” said Mayor Witherspoon.
One plan being considered is to move the sidewalk from the south side of the road to the north side to allow the road to pass closer to the cemetery.
Eventually, the plan is to broaden the road to four lanes, two in each direction.
The provincial amount dedicated the project is $400,000, with the remaining costs being recovered from surplus revenue. The entire project will cost $1.43 million.
Besides the $400,000 allocated to the town for the widening of King’s Highway, another $34,000 was allocated to finish pre-engineering on Mill Road from the overpass to the town boundary in the east end, $354,000 for construction on that road, and 30,000 for resurfacing King’s Highway west from Pit Road #1 to the town boundary.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
