Upcoming study quashes report request

Amherstburg Municipal Building.

A town councillor’s report to have an engineer study Concession 6 North won’t go further due to a study on all the roads coming next year.

The road has been the subject of concern by residents, especially between Alma St. and County Road 10.

Councillor Diane Pouget wanted a report on Concession 6 North and asked administration to obtain a traffic engineer “to carefully examine” the road’s current condition and to provide a full report, including the cost to repair said road before budget deliberations.

Mayor Michael Prue questioned whether that time frame was possible, but deferred to CAO Valerie Critchley for further comment.

A new roads needs study is planned for 2026.

“It is scheduled to be updated next year at which time we’ll be doing all roads in the municipality,” she said. “I would caution against doing one road in isolation and not in totality of what all the other roads are.”    Any decisions on capital projects can be dealt with during budget but the roads needs study will help with the apportioning of resources, she added.

Pouget said Concession 6 North had been a priority in 2023, but “at the very last minute” council was told money could go to fix the road or to be invested into parks.

“Since then, there’s been a lot of work on the other concessions and it has forced other residents to use the 6th North,” she said. The road appears to be delipidating, said Pouget, “and all I’m asking is to have another look at it prior to this budget to see if it can be moved up.”

Prue said the budget will be started “within a few weeks” and wondered if the town could find an engineer for the projects in time. Councillor Molly Allaire said the roads needs study is already funded for next year.

“We’re going to look at all the roads as a whole,” she said.

Allaire cautioned against putting one road ahead of another, especially in an election year. She said the engineering funding was moved up in the last budget for the roadway.

“That just looks terrible to say the least,” she said. “I won’t be supporting it. I appreciate the thought and the effort. I’m a huge fighter for the county.”

The town is already doing work on Concession 8 North with work on Concession 5 North planned, Allaire added. 

“It’s up to these engineers to tell us and looking at it as a whole is more important than picking which one we want,” said Allaire.

Councillor Linden Crain said the town has to follow the roads needs study that outlines what roads to tackle first. He believed it would be piecemealing it to tackle the road before budget.

Pouget’s motion was defeated.

Upcoming study quashes report request

By Ron Giofu