At its January meeting, Huntsville Council directed staff to pay an invoice for $142,036 from the District of Muskoka for half of the cost of paving and widening the shoulders on Muskoka Road 3 (North) and Muskoka Road 3 (Aspdin Road).
While staff were given direction to seek out active transportation opportunities requesting the District to include ‘paved, widened shoulders in the design of all projects that include repair, rebuilding, or resurfacing of any District roadways within the Town of Huntsville where such widening is possible,’ the cost for shoulder work on Aspdin and Muskoka Road 3 North were unbudgeted.
Brandon Hall, Civil Engineering Technologist for the Town, told Council the need for paved shoulders can be attributed to growth and therefore eligible for Development Charge funding. He was recommending that the invoice be paid as follows: $60,000 from Development Charges and $82,036 from Town Working Funds Reserve.
Hall said a report should have been brought to Council with a cost before the work was done and in future staff will work with the District to include such work in the Town’s capital budget. “So we are currently working on all that now with the District… just the time of the motion, they were already under contract and although it wasn’t the perfect scenario, we would’ve reported back but the District paved ahead in good faith…”
Council heard that the Town does not currently have a reserve for such projects. Hall also told council that the paved shoulders will not be plowed for people to walk on until the Town dedicates them as active transportation trails, but they will still belong to the District.
You can find Hall’s report, HERE.
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Maybe Huntsville Bracebridge etc. could consider outsourcing all road paving etc to the Town of Muskoka. There would be all kinds of efficiencies. Co ordination of repairs, timing of repairs, pricing, contracting, and expertises are just a few. Too much overlap and duplication is costing the taxpayer more than it should!
I agree with Mr Tapley. Paved shoulders make sense. It would in my opinion also make sense to have one level of government ( District or Municipal) have full control of the roads within their jurisdiction. It should be more efficient and remove a layer of administration. Less administration should save us money. Our water and sewer is all looked after by the district and that seems to work.
To be clear, I am not advocating that the district take over all the roads, in fact I would rather the towns and townships control the roads.
There is only one level of tax payer yet we in have in Muskoka have four levels of government .
Paved highway shoulders have benefits other than just a few bikes.
This is obviously one of the main benefits, at least in summer but consider some other factors.
1- In 50 years of driving I’ve seen a few accidents and the a lot of head on collisions on two lane roads seem to have been caused when a driver drops off the paved area and ends up with the right wheels on the gravel shoulder. Incorrect recovery procedures can cause the car to veer into oncoming traffic with tragic results.
2- I don’t know what it costs to continuously grade and add gravel to the shoulders but this job must not be cheap, and it needs to be done quite often with heavy traffic or rain.
3- Washouts of the gravel shoulder happen too often. This problem is mostly solved when the shoulder is paved as the vegetation can grow close to the edge of the paved shoulder and thus prevent a lot of washouts. Even if some occur they are not so close to the traveled portion of the road to be very dangerous.
For these three reasons alone, paved shoulders make sense.
hooray! There are many bikers.