|
 The
Kincardine public works committee was proud to display the capital
projects it had completed in 2009 in committee-of-the-whole Wednesday
(Dec. 2).
Using a power-point, with plenty of photographs, deputy mayor Laura
Haight, committee chairperson, and public works manager Jim O'Rourke,
went through an extensive list of projects, including the streets around
Kincardine District Secondary School, Phase 2 of the Huron Ridge road
reconstruction, the cemetery trail relocation and scattering garden, and
the purchase of a new loader.
However, the most exciting project was the Huron Terrace bridge which
opened to traffic this weekend. The municipality paid 40 per cent of the
cost, while Bruce County carried 60 per cent. O'Rourke said there were
few cost over-runs for Kincardine, except for the wastewater portion
which required putting in a new forcemain.
Councillor Guy Anderson asked when the handrail on the 14-foot-wide
sidewalk, located on the west side of the bridge alongside the
Kincardine Lighthouse, was to be installed.
"That's a summertime thing," said Haight, "and will be considered in the
spring. It would be removed for the winter anyway for snowplowing. The
extra girder on the bridge cost about a quarter-of-a-million dollars but
provided that viewing platform. We now have a five-scooter-wide
sidewalk."
The municipality is currently calling for suggestions to name that new
lookout. Residents can submit their suggestions at tourism@kincardine.net,
check the website at www.kincardine.net, or drop off suggestions in
person at the municipal office.
In other projects, O'Rourke said the roadside vegetation experiment is
working beautifully. Rather than spraying around the guardrails along
the roadways, grass is planted there and once established, it chokes out
the weeds and enhances the area. It's a much more
environmentally-friendly concept, but it's labour intensive, he said.
 |
Also, the roof of the Westario Power building was fixed at a cost of
$75,000; Lake Street, Inverhuron, work cost $300,000; Municipal Drain 19
cost $620,000; and Kincardine's portion of the Bruce/Saugeen boundary
road cost $220,000. The Kincardine Environmental Advisory committee was
established and has provided valuable input into the new landfill site
in Armow, said Haight.
As to the new landfill in Ward 2 (Armow), O'Rourke said the final plan
has been sent to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The project is
slated to go to tender in the spring and construction begin next fall.
The first cell is to be open by 2011.
Haight said a number of projects were deferred this year because of a
variety of reasons, including budgetary considerations. Among those are
the Mount Forest Avenue construction (Women's House), second coat to
Saratoga Road, second coat on Smith and Webster Streets, Mahood-Johnston
Drive extension, Millennium Way, and GPS system for public works
vehicles (mainly for snowplows).
"Public works is going to have an interesting year in 2010," said Haight.
O'Rourke noted that up to Wednesday night, no snowplows had been on the
roads, a dramatic difference compared to last year.
 |
for
world news,
books, sports, movies ...
