KENILWORTH – Despite recent calls by some Concession 4 North residents to have the gravel road paved, a recent staff report recommends against it.
Concession 4 North resident Victoria McHugh previously told the Community News she would never give up on advocating for paving.
Some of the residents living along the road, used as an aggregate haul route for three nearby gravel pits, believe it’s insufficient for the number of trucks regularly travelling along the three-kilometre stretch.
Staff have previously recommended against paving the road at a pre-tax cost of $1.68 million, while some councillors, including Sherry Burke and Steve McCabe, have unsuccessfully attempted to get the road on the township’s annual paving list.
McHugh, representing a group she called the “Concerned Citizens of Rural Roads,” delegated to council on Nov. 20.
“We propose a timeline to be voted on with council to look at paving the road in sections, so the cost is broken down into increments,” she said.
McHugh also called for reducing the legal speed and adding stop signs for traffic control.
A report about the road, authored by senior project manager Tammy Stevenson, recommends ongoing traffic counts in 2024 and keeping the speed limit and traffic signage as is.
According to Stevenson, the annual cost of maintaining the road is $39,500. If it were paved, the cost would be $93,750 each year over a 15-year lifetime, she said.
According to an October Triton Engineering Services report, overall maintenance of a paved road can be reduced, but potholes, cracks and resurfacing need to be addressed in the summertime.
The report cautions that filling potholes, spot repairs and increased winter maintenance can be costly.
The Triton report added that paving could be justified for roads with an annual average daily traffic sum ranging between 200 and 499 vehicles.
According to the report, traffic numbers recorded in May entered that threshold, but were “typical of rural gravel roads.”
October counts, done at five locations along Concession 4 North, revealed 24-hour counts ranging from 345 to 482 vehicles, for an average of 400.
The engineering firm noted the fall counts represented a 70% increase from the spring counts.
“This is not explainable by normal circumstances and indicates that there may have been an issue with some of the counts,” the report states.
“We’ve all heard from the residents out there, and there’s folks that are for (paving) and there are folks against,” Burke said.
“It’s important, if we’re going to continue to monitor it, that we do some due diligence … putting in a four-way stop to help with some of the traffic concerns.”
McCabe said he was in favour of changing the speed limit on the road to 60km/h, from the current 80km/h limit, and adding more stop signs.
“Those are simple things I think we can do and fairly cost-effective as well to keep the speed down on that road …” McCabe added.
According to 2023 traffic count data presented to council, the vast majority of vehicles (85%) were recorded travelling on Concession 4 North between 72 and 96km/h.
Councillors Lisa Hern and Penny Renken also voiced support for new signs.
Mayor Andy Lennox cautioned there’s a lot more behind determining an appropriate road speed than sticking up a sign and expecting drivers to follow suit.
Adding a four-way stop could also lead to increased noise and “washboarding” from the heavy trucks stopping and going, he suggested.
“As we go forward, I would be cautious about what we implement,” Lennox said.
Council voted 4-1 in favour of recommendations for more traffic counts and leaving the speed limit and signs as is, with Burke voting against.
