Now that spring is officially here, it will soon be construction season.
Motorists in Peterborough County can expect to find road cones in several areas this year, including the ongoing James A. Gifford Causeway project.
It’s the busiest section of roadway in the county, spanning Chemong Lake between Ennismore and Bridgenorth.
This year, the construction zone will also include Yankee Line on the western side of the causeway.
“It includes cycling infrastructure. We’re doing paved shoulders along there to support that,” Doug Saccoccia, county manager of engineering and design, said.
“Specifically along the causeway, we’re looking to implement a multi-use path. That will be adjacent along the causeway. People can get out there along the causeway, it’s a gorgeous area to view and it will connect those communities.”
The causeway project is also funded by the provincial and federal governments.
Another construction zone is planned for County Road 10 in Mount Pleasant, just west of Peterborough.
That will be an urbanization project.
“It’s currently a rural cross-section and open ditches. We’re looking to put curb and gutter there and paved shoulders for active transportation,” Saccoccia added.
Some of the other projects include road rehabilitation on County Road 42 in Asphodel-Norwood, County Road 4 in Douro-Dummer, County Road 507 in Trent Lakes and County Road 504 in North Kawartha.
Council rubberstamped this year’s budget in February, which includes a 2.5 per cent dedicated infrastructure project.
“Of that overall capital infrastructure budget, it equates to approx. $21 million and of that $15 million is for our roads programs. That includes rehabilitation, reconstruction and preservation,” Saccoccia added.
Warden J. Murray Jones said “we’re going to see a lot of action in the county this year.”
“The vast majority of the budget was to go to public works and get a handle on the work our roads need,” Jones said.
Like many rural communities, Peterborough County is dealing with aging infrastructure and a lack of money to keep up with all the fixes and replacements needed.
“We’re like $100 million shy of what we need to maintain the infrastructure we have now. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on county roads and we know it. We’re trying to peck away at it each year,” added Jones.
The dedicated 2.5 per cent infrastructure budget is in place each year to chip away at that deficit.
“The infrastructure we have now, it’s come back to haunt us. The bridges and roads were built after the Second World War. It was job creation. All that infrastructure is aging all at once,” Jones added.
“We can’t do it by ourselves. We need the province and federal government to step up, and they have when we’ve needed them, but we need them.”
An interactive map of construction projects planned up until 2030 can be found on the county’s website.
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