MANITOULIN—The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has released a notice of study commencement for rehabilitation work to be carried out for Highway 540/540B and Highway 551/542 on Manitoulin Island.
“We have sent out the public notice indicating we are starting the commencement of detailed designs for the projects,” said Gordan Rennie, of the MTO, in an interview with the Recorder on Tuesday.
“The notice includes the work that is going to be carried out,” said Mr. Rennie. Study area A includes Highway 540 from Kagawong westerly for 16 kilometres and Highway 540B, from the junction of Highway 540 and Highway 542, north for one kilometre. Study area B includes Highway 551 from Highway 542 northerly for 11.2 kilometres to Highway 540 and Highway 542 from one kilometre east of Highway 551, westerly for 2.5 kilometres. Also included is the rehabilitation of a culvert west of Mindemoya in Campbell Township.
The study areas are located in the communities of Kagawong, Gore Bay, M’Chigeeng and Mindemoya and in the geographic townships of Gordon, Allan, Billings, Carnarvon and Campbell.
“MTO is proposing to undertake the following in order to improve the condition and ride quality along these sections of Highways 540, 540B, 551 and 542. The work proposed includes resurfacing of 16 kilometres of Highway 540, one kilometre of Highway 540B, 11.2 kilometres of Highway 551 and 2.5 kilometers of Highway 542; treatment of frost heaves and distortion areas; culvert rehabilitation or replacement; replacement of two structures and rehabilitation of eight structures; drainage improvements, as required; and guide rail replacement or adjustment, as required.
“Part of the work is paving the shoulders of the highway of 511 between Mindemoya and M’Chigeeng,” said Mr. Rennie, pointing out this would allow for bicycle paths.
“It usually takes a couple of years for the engineered detailed designs to be completed on a project such as this,” said Mr. Rennie. “I can tell you under the Northern Highways Projects for 2015-2017 this project is listed for construction. So we have committed to having this project done within that time frame, 2015-2017.”
