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Downward Kenilworth Access set to be single lane until summer amid rehabilitation project

The city of Hamilton says the rehabilitation of a water reservoir will knock the Kenilworth Access down to a single land between Dec. 15 2021 to sometime in July 2022. Global News

Drivers travelling down the Kenilworth Access over the next eight months will have to put up with just a single lane due to a rehabilitation project starting Wednesday.

The city says the removal of contaminated soil, discovered at the Kenilworth Water Reservoir last year, will begin on Dec. 15 and will not be completed until some time in July 2022.

“Motorists travelling in the area during peak hours may experience delays during this time,” the city said in a release on Monday morning.

Last month, councillors awarded a $6.8-million contract to Torbear Contracting Inc. to begin the process of removing 20,000 tonnes of contaminated soil from areas around the reservoir.

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The waterway services the entire mountain population, about 160,000 people, with fresh drinking water.

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Hamilton’s public works department revealed the issue in early November 2020 after discovering a cancer-causing agent in tonnes of earth at the reservoir expansion worksite.

High levels of benzo(a)pyrene — a type of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) — was found in mid-June 2020 during a routine soil inspection tied to the $6.4-million capital project to repair a drinking water storage operation.

At the time, Hamilton’s associate medical officer, Dr. Bart Harvey, said there was no risk to residents since water quality tests in early September 2020 showed the content of PAH in the water was less than the allowable concentration by law.

 

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