Town to spend over $800,000 on road improvements

Fort Frances town council has agreed on which roads in town now will be renovated with the available funding.
During a special meeting of the committee of the whole, council members chose how to spend the over $800,000 budgeted to the town’s operations and facilities division.
Council sat down with a list of projects that they would like to have completed, then went through them one by one to decide what areas should be a priority.
“This was a three and a half hour meeting and everything was really intense because we had about 27 items to consider,” said Coun. Struchan Gilson.
The results should be apparent over the next month as construction begins, with jobs including:
•paving Fifth St. East from Shevlin Avenue to Colonization Road East;
•road reconstruction on McIrvine Road between Fifth Street and Sixth Street;
•road reconstruction on Oakwood Road from Colonization Road west to Lyndy; and
•a widening study for the Portage Street underpass.
The funding includes already completed road construction on Frenette Avenue between Second Street and Scott Street.
The town also alloted funds for a new street sweeper, to purchase survey equipment and to purchase a digital camera for engineering projects.
The rest of the items will be done as funding becomes available.
“I ride my bike on [the roads] and some of them are terrible. But there’s only so much money and that’s the problem,” said Coun. Gilson.
“You do a couple of blocks and it’s a huge amount of money,” he added.