Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Lennox and Addington County council endorsed a road-use agreement with Windlectric Inc. last Wednesday that will allow the company to get industrial wind turbine components to Amherst Island.
The agreement dictates conditions and routes Windlectric must follow to build the 26 turbines required to power its 75-megawatt project at various locations on the island.
The developer has already fulfilled several conditions of the agreement. It has conducted a pre-construction survey of the roads it intends to use, prepared a traffic impact study and a traffic management plan that documents procedures for road inspection and, if necessary, repair. It posted a $500,000 letter of credit as a security and demonstrated sufficient general insurance coverage.
A post-construction roads survey is another condition of the agreement.
In total, the traffic management plan prepared by consultant McIntosh Perry suggests there will be 260 large component deliveries on Lennox and Addington County roads. The majority of the deliveries (156) are to be routed from Hwy 7 south down County Rd. 41 and east on County Rd. 14. From there, they’ll head down County Rd. 14 to County Rd. 4, then to County Rd. 23 before entering the Invista property in Millhaven for shipping to the island.
The route for the remaining 104 loads, which will contain larger items like 55-metre turbine blades and 29-metre top tower sections was the subject of some discussion.
While Loyalist Township and County staff had requested the items be routed around the village of Odessa by using County Rd. 4, McIntosh Perry project engineer Jason Sharp suggested a route from Hwy 401 to County Rd. 6 would pose less of a disruption and provide a safer route for the transport of materials.
Sharp indicated turn simulations conducted by Anderson Haulage suggest the off-ramp from 401 to County Rd. 4 posed more of a challenge than that at County Rd. 6 which would limit delays at the exit. Also, those tests showed those blades and top sections could travel over a significant portion of the circular median at the roundtable there, requiring modifications to take place.
“Significant modifications to the roundabout are required to facilitate its use for safe turbine blade and top tower section delivery,” he wrote June 30. “The modifications would include nearly one-third of the interior roundtable being removed, regraded and placement of hard surface for a period of six weeks.”
The modification would require relocation of signage, barriers, and concrete aprons and for traffic calming measures to be introduced to facilitate turning.
The County’s manager of roads and bridges, Chris Wagar, agreed.
“This would require the roundabout to be in an interim state for at least 6-8 weeks for delivery and probably longer due to the difficulty of restoring the roundtable during the winter season,” he wrote in a report. “This could create issues for other traffic using the intersection. County staff have reviewed the recommendations from McIntosh Perry and agree with the proposed traffic management plan.”
Councillor Ric Bresee said he could understand the preference for County Rd. 6 and asked Wagar if the components are significantly different than a previous five-turbine Ernestown project. Wagar said he understands the Amherst Island towers are larger.
Bresee said he felt a “significant peak” on County Rd. 6 just north of the CN Rail tracks could pose an impediment and asked if CN had signed off on the plan. Wagar said he didn’t know, but said the use of County Rd. 6 would likely be contingent on CN approval.
“We just look after the roads that are under the jurisdiction of the county,” Wagar said.
Bresee asked about some of the other concerns Loyalist residents raised, including impact on school bus traffic and weather conditions.
Wagar said the County could control those through excess load permits, which Windlectric still must apply for. He noted the municipality can make stipulations regarding time of day and weather conditions during that permitting process, one of four listed in the roads use agreement.
Subject to County bylaws, Windlectric must also apply for entrances to County roads, excavation within a County road allowance, and enrichment of privately owned infrastructure within county road allowances.
Councillor Marg Isbester wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just take the deliveries off local roads entirely by utilizing rail links. She said she recently watched as 27 rail cars with blades on them passed across the Centre Street overpass.
“Is there any kind of access? I know there’s a rail line going down there. Is there any reason this hasn’t been looked at, instead of kicking the bejesus out of our county roads, putting school bus travel in peril, and generally just ticking everybody off? It must be a lot less expensive way.”
Wagar said he wasn’t aware of whether Windlectric had considered that, adding that would be in the scope of their operations.
The agreement will grant Windlectric’s trades access to specified road allowances until the latter of 24 months after the project’s commercial operation date or 12 months after required repair work has been completed in accordance with the agreement. The primary transportation period is expected to be between Oct. 30 and Dec. 21, 2017.