Summer evenings may get a lot noisier for those living near Hwy. 11 interchanges in Huntsville, at least for a couple of weeks.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is seeking an exemption from the Town’s noise bylaw, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. It would enable the MTO’s contractor to work on Hwy. 11 interchanges at Muskoka Road 2, Muskoka Road 3 and Hwy. 60 at night.
Chief Bylaw Enforcement Officer for the Town, Andrew Stillar, told Huntsville’s development services committee on May 15 that the contractor for the MTO would prefer to do some of the work at night when traffic flows significantly decrease. He said typically traffic flows during weekday daylight hours can run about 1,760 vehicles per hour, but after 10 p.m. the numbers drop significantly to approximately 347 vehicles per hour.
“This means there are 80 per cent fewer vehicles which will be impacted when the work is done at night. As a result, the Ministry feels that working during the evenings would provide a safer work environment for the contractor and their staff,” noted Stillar.
The MTO took their request to the Town’s general committee last year, but their request for the exemption was deferred. Further conversations have since taken place between MTO staff, the Mayor and Town staff, according to Stillar, and the request returned to the development services committee last week.
Work is set to begin sometime in June over a two-week period and would involve interchange closures. Stillar said the contractor is being required to give residents at least two weeks’ notice before the work begins and nightly ramp closures take place.
The work is part of an $11.3 million tender that went to Aecon Construction and Materials Limited. The contractor began working on the project in August 2018 and the ministry anticipates that the work will be completed this fall. It also includes resurfacing 6.8 km of Hwy.11 from the south junction of Muskoka Road 3, and northerly for 6.8 km to 1.9 km north of Hwy. 60, according to Kristin Franks, Regional Issues and Media Advisor for the MTO.
The project also involves the rehabilitation of three highway bridges. “The three highway bridges cross over the CN rail line and are located on the Highway 11 south bound lane 0.4 km north of Muskoka Road 3, Highway 11 north bound lane 0.4 km north of Muskoka Road 3, and Highway 11 north bound lane 0.8 km south of Highway 60,” wrote Franks in an email to Doppler.
“Most of the work completed last summer and into the winter focused on the repairs to the underside of these structures. Repairs on the top of the structures began in May. This work is being undertaken in multiple stages, requiring temporary nightly lane closures across the structures this summer,” added Franks.
She said a noise bylaw exemption was submitted to the Town in order to move forward with the night work required for ramp resurfacing while minimizing impacts to traffic. “The ministry anticipates these temporary closures will begin in June for a two week period.”
Franks encouraged the public to access the latest information on highway closures and construction by calling 511—MTO’s Road Information Line—or by visiting www.511on.ca.
At the committee meeting, Huntsville Councillor Jonathan Wiebe expressed concern about granting a noise bylaw exemption. He said that he had concerns when MTO first brought the issue forward to Huntsville’s general committee last year. “I felt that they severely downplayed the impact it would have on the number of homes. I think they felt that there were three or four homes on Marsh Road that may be impacted and that was it and it’s clear when you’re in the area, I live in the area, that on both sides of the highway there are many homes that would be, in my view, quite negatively impacted,” he said.
That’s what makes this very difficult because you either inconvenience a higher number of people by having them wait longer or drive around, or you’re deciding that dozens of people don’t get to sleep for a couple of weeks.
Councillor Jonathan Wiebe
Councillor Jason FitzGerald had a slightly different take on the situation. He said asking residents who are given proper notice to put up with the noise would be easier than impeding traffic. “I guess the way I look at it is if we have two weeks’ notice and we are going to subject a handful of people to noise, they could make arrangements for noise abatement… whereas we can’t do it with driving,” he said.
Director of Development Services Derrick Hammond said Town staff could speak to the contractor and ask for an accelerated schedule for work on interchanges impacting the most residences.
In the end, the committee recommended that Huntsville council approve the noise bylaw exemption request at its May 27 meeting.
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