SD&G/SOUTH DUNDAS – With the final layer of fresh blacktop in place, the chapter on Upper Canada Road – now called SDG 41 – is closed.
Construction crews, hired by the United Counties, completed the work a couple of weeks ago to do the $290,000 of road reconstruction.
County Director of Transportation and Planning Services, Ben De Haan, confirmed to Cornwall Newswatch the county did receive the $150,000 from the St. Lawrence Parks Commission through South Dundas.
The money was part of an offering from the commission as it wanted to get out of maintaining the road.
The balance – $140,000 – was part of the 2016 county roads budget.
All that’s left to do is put down the line markings, which will be done in a separate contract.
If you recall, the road became somewhat of a political football after the township discovered, shortly after the 2014 municipal election, that it had been the owner of the road since amalgamation, even though the St. Lawrence Parks Commission had maintained it.
The township tried several times, unsuccessfully, to get funding from upper levels of government to repair the road before it worked out a deal with the United Counties.
In a road swap deal, the county gave a section of County Road 1 (Carmen Road), south of County Road 2, to South Dundas in exchange for Upper Canada Road.
That section of road, also in dire need of reconstruction, was also included in the proposed roundabout construction and will be upgraded on the county dime.
Both levels of government have since passed bylaws to rename the road to “SDG 41/Upper Canada Road”.