Although relatively few residents will be impacted by a highway resurfacing project in the south end of Puslinch, councillors here are asking the Ministry of Transportation to provide advance notice.
The item came up during correspondence updating council on the detail design assessment for the resurfacing of Highways 5 and 6 for the City of Hamilton.
The project limit for Highway 5 will be from Highway 6 to Highway 8 and the Highway 6 project limits will be from one km north of Maddaugh Rd. to Concession 11 East.
Most of the work is expected to take place during the evening and off-peak hours.
Signs will be placed in advance to inform motorists of any closures.
As such, the MTO made an application for a noise exemption to make allowance for the work to be done.
Required equipment for this work includes the following:
– asphalt grinder;
– paver;
– dump trucks;
– vibratory roller; and
– grader.
Work is scheduled between May and November 2014.
Councillor Susan Fielding agreed the work only impacts a small area of the township, but it would still affect some Puslinch residents.
She noted the work is proposed for mainly weekends between May and November.
“That is a huge amount of time,” she said.
Fielding then asked if the MTO “could be a bit more precise on what dates they plan to do the work. It’s only fair to the neighbours.”
She alluded to concerns raised during similar work in Morriston at night.
“We had a lot of complaints. The work was happening all night and residents could not sleep in their homes (because of the proximity of the homes to the work being done). I understand the work had to be done.”
Fielding had problems with offering carte blanche on the time frame.
Mayor Dennis Lever expressed his own concern.
He suspected part of the current time frame was in part due to work last year in which one window of work was projected, and then it had to be extended.
He suggested if they don’t know when exactly the work is going to happen, to contact the municipality when they do “such as if work is going to happen in two weeks, then we can try to notify the residents.”
