MANITOWANING—At the initial urging of an Assiginack resident, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) will be conducting a site visit to review the locations where turtles are dangerously crossing the highway (and in some cases getting run over by passing vehicles) to see if some kind of public notification can be put in place.
“The turtles are obviously not moving fast, and if people are paying attention to the road they shouldn’t be running over the turtles,” said Jennifer Hooper, an Assiginack township councillor who raised the issue at a recent council meeting.
“I was asked by a ratepayer if we could put up some type of sign or something to alert members of the public that turtles are crossing the highway in two locations,” Councillor Hooper told The Expositor. “As is the case in many areas on Manitoulin Island, there are locations where turtles try to cross the highway or road. The ratepayer told me about two locations where turtles are crossing the highway here. One is right before Highway 6 and the rock cut just past Manitowaning Mil and at Ivy Lane to Queen Street.”
“Turtles have been migrating through those locations for many years,” said Councillor Hooper. “And now it seems there is more vehicle traffic than ever, and drivers are speeding at higher speeds. I’ve seen at least three of four turtles that have been hit on the road before,” she said, noting the turtles seem to be trying to cross the highways to get to a local lagoon and swampy areas on the other side.
“The taxpayer asked the MTO if they could put signs up alerting the public of the turtles crossing, but the MTO didn’t feel there was a need,” said Councillor Hooper, who said she has tried to save any turtles that she sees on the road, following all best practice rules to pick up turtles and put them on the side of the road they are travelling to.
Councillor Hooper told The Expositor, “I was able to contact Jennifer Newman, a senior environmental planner with the MTO. I made our concerns known and she asked me for more information, so I provided her with this. Ms. Newman said the MTO will be conducting a site visit of the two sites on June 1 with a biologist on hand who will be reviewing the two locations. From there they will see if there is anything they can do and whether this fits the criteria for signage to be put up.”
