My thanks to the Wellington Advertiser’s Jordan Snobelen for bringing to light the important issues of the county RMAP proposal to build a new bridge across the Grand River at Wellington Roads 29 and 18, and link it to Wellington Road 19 by way of Anderson Street for a truck bypass east of Fergus.
Our neighbourhood delegation recently informed the Wellington County roads committee of the very serious impacts such a proposal would incur, including (1) diminishing access, enjoyment and protection of a nationally, provincially and locally significant heritage site at Pierpoint Park, (2) wiping out a provincially significant, destination flyfishing and ecologically sensitive area on the stretch of the Grand River where the crossing is proposed, (3) threatening the existence of the old growth hardwood trees on Anderson Street that are in or alongside the right of way, (4) affecting the safety of children in our neighbourhood who use Anderson Street to walk and bike to John Black Public School and (5) destroying a quiet residential neighbourhood that was developed in an orderly planned manner in accordance with the duly approved plans by previous councils. A special mention needs to be made of the use and importance of Pierpoint Park by the teachers of John Black Public School who regularly walk their entire class down to Pierpoint Park for outdoor education, physical education, science and history classes during all seasons.
How has a proposal with so many adverse impacts gotten this far without objection or concern? There have been many planning failures along the way, beginning with the Centre Wellington Long-Term Transportation Plan, approved by council in 2019. Apparently the public, heritage stakeholders, professional planning/engineering staff, engineering consultants, and political representatives all failed to raise a single concern from the list of very consequential objections mentioned above until now.
However, there is good news to report: it is not too late! Plans are paper exercises that exist as a basis for change and they can be changed along the way as new information comes to light.
It is not necessary to walk off the cliff just because someone drew a map with the wrong directions. Indeed, the Centre Wellington Long-Term Transportation has the remedy already mentioned on page 67, Figure 32. This map shows the other alternative for meeting this goal – to use a nearby existing bridge at the 2nd Line and route the bypass to the same point on Wellington Road 19 using the same link to Highway 6!
We are in favour of planning for the future. But to accomplish that end, we should not destroy our heritage, the environment, and existing development to achieve the same goal as a more viable, lower-cost alternative.
Peter Boyer,
Pierpoint Neighbourhood Resident, Fergus