Former Huntsville mayor and local developer Claude Doughty is calling on the MTO and the Town of Huntsville to figure out who is going to bring Shay Road up to standard, plow it, and reopen the road.
Barricades have been put up on a stretch of Shay Road owned by the province, just north of Sabrina Park Drive, and a couple of meters before it meets with the extension of the road, built by Doughty and partners, behind Freshco. The road was extended as part of the Paisley development. That development includes the plaza where Freshco is located, which has the Shay Road extension running behind it from Centre Street North to what is currently a dead end with the closure of a stretch of Shay Road. Another road, Paisley Road, is also planned to service the Fairvern Nursing Home and surrounding lands, with plans to connect to Shay Road on one side and Centre Street North on the other.
Doughty said with plans to eventually build 600 dwelling units near Fairvern, including multi-residential units, more than one access point will be required for the anticipated traffic volume. He also said the top of Shay Road, where it used to exit onto Hanes Road, was closed because it was too close to the Hwy 60 intersection.
In the meantime, the stretch of Shay Road that has been closed is a right of way that belongs to the MTO and has made arterial connections to that road impossible. The Town has been plowing it for years, but it has only recently come to light that it does not own that section. “So there’s two portions of the road. There’s the portion that the MTO built in 1972 when they extended Hwy 60 straight through to Hwy 11; that part is in good shape because it wasn’t that long ago in the context of this discussion,” said Doughty. “It’s the old part, the colonization road from just north of Sabrina Park up to approximately where it parallels [Hwy] 60 that is in bad need of repair.”
Town of Huntsville Engineering Technologist Brandon Hall said the Town’s position is that it is willing to continue winter maintenance on the road but is asking MTO to upgrade its portion, “and it turned out that they wanted to just close it instead, which is Ok with the Town as far as our plow trucks… beating them up going up and down that road,” said Hall.
As far as access to the Paisley development, which, according to Doughty, has been draft-approved by both the Town and MTO, Hall said it’s an MTO issue. “One thing to understand is it’s not the Town’s issue. It’s the Ministry of Transportation, [they] issued the Town of Huntsville a letter that they are closing Shay Road.”
Hall said the municipality has no jurisdiction over the Paisley development’s connection to Shay Road. “The Town of Huntsville would entertain the thought of maintaining that road for this winter, but due to the condition of it, we had concerns, and the Ministry said fine, we’ll close it.”
Hall said the MTO has a contract with Fowler Construction for winter road maintenance, but because the Town of Huntsville had been clearing Shay Road, it was not part of its maintenance program. “Now that it has come to light that it is Ministry of Transportation owned lands, that’s when Huntsville said, Ok, let’s take a step back here, see if we can get a maintenance agreement in place. Let’s see if we can get some repairs done to the road, and they said that they’re going to add it to their 2025 maintenance, so that’s why it’s closed,” said Hall.
Doppler reached out to the MTO and received the following written statement: “As part of a joint decision with the Town and to ensure the continued safety of all road users, a portion of Shay Road will be closed for the winter months.
“We understand this closure may cause some inconvenience to residents, however while further work is being developed to address rehabilitation needs, a full detour is available.”
Doughty argued that you cannot simply close a road because it requires maintenance. He said the MTO has an obligation to keep it in good repair, “and they don’t have an option just to close it because it’s not been kept in good shape,” he said. Doughty also argued that better signage, including warning lights, should have been put in place to advise motorists of the closure.
“Our lawyers will be reaching out to MTO to have a frank discussion with them about what their obligations are and to get this thing resolved,” said Doughty. “At the end of the day, Shay Road needs to function all the way down to virtually West Road.”
Cement blocks noting the closure of Shay Road just north of Sabrina Park Drive in Huntsville.
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I agree with the Town, why plow that part of Shay road when no one uses it and no one needs to use it.