UNITED COUNTIES, Ontario – During the last SDG Counties Council meeting of the year, Council passed a motion supporting the replacement of five, Hwy 401 overpass bridges in SDG — four of which are scheduled for 2019.
“The Ministry is hoping a bulk of them will start in 2019 but a lot of them are bundled,” explained Ben De Haan, Director of Transportation and Planning Services of SDG Counties.
The replacement of the overpass at County Rd. 36 (Post Rd.) is scheduled for 2019. In a bundled project, the replacement of the overpass at Flagg Rd. is projected to begin in 2020 partnered with the replacement of the Westley Rd. overpass in 2019. Both overpass bridges at County Rd. 31 and County Rd. 34 are projected to begin next year.
De Haan explained that although the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) would not operate without the support of the community, the decision will largely fall on the Ministry’s shoulders. All construction projects are subject to budget approval, which has yet to be confirmed.
“The provincial government still hasn’t formally approved next year’s projects so we are still waiting on confirmation,” said De Haan, acknowledging the projects are still subject to contractor approval and budget scheduling.
All replacement projects would require HWY 401 traffic to be rerouted onto local SDG roads.
“It is short duration closures of the 401, really to allow them to demolish the old structures,” said De Haan, who believes the roads would be closed for spans of 14 hours at the most infrequently used times.
“There would be some ramp impacts for County Rd. 31 and County Rd. 34, for a short duration,” he added. “We also have some concerns at the Bainsville overpass…that structure actually goes over County Rd. 2 as well, which is our emergency detour route so we will have to do some extra thinking with that one. The Ministry has been relatively receptive to work with us on that…they recognize they can’t do these (projects) without considering the impact to local infrastructure.”
De Haan said that the Ministry has been actively rehabilitating structures in SDG over the past five or six years which is a good example of asset management.
“We are cognizant that these projects impact residents…we don’t like the inconvenience but it’s a necessary evil,” said De Haan.
