SD&G – The United Counties of SD&G will spend an additional $2.4 million on four roads that are in very bad condition.
County council held a special meeting this morning to discuss the so-called “now needs roads” that weren’t included in the original roads budget this year.
The money is coming from $3 million in the newly-created “now needs roads” reserve fund – $2 million from the budget plus $1 million from the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF).
The biggest ticket item is a section of County Road 31, north of Morrisburg, from County Road 28 to Williamsburg at $927,000.
County Road 22, east of Maxville, from the Via Rail crossing to County Road 30 is another $552,000.
At the suggestion of Transportation Director Ben de Haan, county council agreed to a $50,000 skin patch to address a safety issue of rutting in the eastbound lane of County Road 19, northeast of Cornwall, instead of spending $423,000 to resurface the 2.5 kilometer section from Glen Brook Road to County Road 27.
De Haan believes the skin patch would allow the rest of the road to “catch up” in the amount of wear so the entire road could be resurfaced in the years ahead.
The final road, which has been discussed during the initial roads budget, was the 4.4 kilometer section of County Road 7 in South Dundas from Froats Road to County Road 8. The section of road is just south of Chesterville.
The total for all four roads is estimated at $2,439,000.
Two road sections didn’t make the cut because they didn’t get enough votes.
They were County Road 8 from County Road 18 to Beckstead Road to a section of County Road 9 from Berwick to County Road 15.
The “now needs roads” will now be packaged in a request for proposals (RFP) to allow paving companies to bid.