Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Lennox and Addington County officials made their best pitch for provincial funding for County Rd. 4 upgrades this week.
County staff learned last week they’d have a chance to meet with Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli at the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference in Toronto Jan 21-23.
Warden Bill Lowry said they raised concern about the cost of fixing the stretch of concrete highway stretching from one of Canada’s busiest transportation routes to the shores of Lake Ontario. The roadway is a crucial link to the Taylor Kidd Industrial Park, which is home to Bombardier, Direct Coil and Coco Paving.
“What we’re looking at is getting some funding for County Rd. 4, which is 9.5 km from 401 down to Hwy 33,” Lowry said. “It’s over 50 years old and it was turned over to us from the province in 1996. At that time, it was 30 years old.”
Lowry said because of the road’s concrete construction, it’s much pricier to replace than a road constructed of asphalt. He estimated the current cost to upgrade the road is about $12 million and that’s on top of ongoing expenditures the County has made.
“L&A County has already spent over $5 million on the rehab of the concrete — taking it out or grinding it and replacing it with asphalt to seal the cracks and moisture,” Lowry said, adding the County also paid $500,000 toward the roundabout at the County Rd. 2 junction.
“We spent a fair amount of money on that and it’s not our highway to begin with, nor was Hwy 2,” Lowry concluded.
The County’s challenge, however, is that other municipalities across Ontario have also gone to the government hat-in-hand to talk about their own needs as it has been estimated the province has a $60-billion infrastructure deficit with roads and bridges accounting for $28 million of that total.
Just in recent years, neighbouring Prince Edward County has been quite vocal about its own concrete road problem with its County Rd. 49 named the worst road in Ontario by the Canadian Automobile Association in 2016. It is estimated to cost $22-million to rehabilitate.
Still, Lowry came away feeling Chiarelli heard the County’s concerns and will give the project further consideration.
“He’s going to have more communication with his staff and come up with a bit of a finance plan for partnership,” he said.
Lowry said that plan would detail the percentages of what the County and province would pay. He’s hopeful there may be an opportunity for federal contribution as well.
The County did not receive audiences with any other ministers — in fact, Lowry said it didn’t expect to see Chiarelli — but through the Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus (EOWC), it was able to benefit from sole presentations to three ministers and presentations in a multi-minister session. In the latter session, he said the EOWC made a presentation about the Eastern Ontario Rural Network (EORN) that was well received.
The network was completed in 2015 to provide high-speed communications to 95 per cent of homes and businesses in the region. Now, the EOWC is looking to build on that with an additional $299-million investment to improve broadband services and close cellular communication service gaps.
“We’re looking for a commitment from the province to give us indication they’ll partner with us,” Lowry said. “They’re very impressed with our proposal as far as a partnership and why we need it. It has to be done, the more we drag our heels on this, the more it affects economic development because of a lack of broadband.”
Lowry said there are too many cellular gaps in rural areas and slow upload and download speeds are negatively affecting business development. He noted the region’s ability to keep pace on the file will directly impact its competitive edge with neighbouring areas.
“There are still areas north of Hwy 7 still on dial-up with restrictions on how much you can upload and download,” he said. “If we don’t get on page and get act in motion, we’re going to be left behind. We set an example in eastern Ontario with EORN and they want to model other areas on our success from original project. It was a big success, now we need that second phase.”
The EOWC also stressed the project is important for public safety as paramedics, firefighters, and police are starting to rely more on modern communications.
According to Lowry, representatives from EOWC spent a full 45 minutes with Premier Kathleen Wynne selling her on the benefits of the shovel-ready EORN expansion. The EOWC also met with economic development minister Steven Del Duca and health minister Eric Hoskins to discuss the strategic work of the Eastern Ontario Leadership Council.
Lowry said the delegates also had time to meet Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown and NDP leader Andrea Horwath. As expected, officials from all three parties were receptive given it’s an election year For muncipal leaders, however, it was just another conference.
“Nothing changes… You’re always going for more money,” Lowry said.