“We’re trying to minimize the impact on the businesses on the main street as much as possible,” Mayor of Hastings Highlands Vic Bodnar tells My Bancroft Now.
The work that will be happening between Old Hastings Road and Young Street in Maynooth is still in the design phase, but he explains that a by-pass of the downtown area has already been constructed to help traffic flow once work begins.
The design is not finalized, but the conceptual plans were presented to the public last week. Bodnar says they want to get started “as early next year as we can possibly do it.” That way they will take advantage of the good weather. The stretch of road in downtown Maynooth is a “main atrierty” for east-west traffic, so they can’t afford to have delays, Bodnar explains.
Work will be done to “renew” the roadway by reestablishing the sidewalks and parking areas. Bodnar says they will also work on the storm sewers. “It wouldn’t be long before they fail altogether,” he says. Bodnar explains that if they were to fail, the municipality would have to deal with sinkholes. The reworked sewers would also be deeper to lessen the impact of truck traffic.
This roadwork is a part of work that will be done on a 4.7 kilometre stretch of Highway 62. “We’re hoping to continue on as far as we can and quickly as possible,” Bodnar says about the rest of the work.
Written by Mathew Riesler