A grassroots initiative to build a pathway connecting Long Point with Port Rowan has been terminated, despite widespread community support.
The Causeway Community Coalition recently announced it couldn’t come up with a feasible design option for a dedicated safety pathway linking Long Point with Port Rowan.
The coalition believed a pathway would ease traffic congestion on the Long Point Causeway and improve vehicular access to Long Point. It would also ensure emergency access by way of ATVs when the causeway becomes impassable because of flooding or fallen trees.
The coalition, which formed in July 2022, spent the past 11 months consulting with Norfolk County staff, engineering, and coastal and engineering scientists, as well as Environment Canada and local individuals, in search of a viable plan.
“The simplest option of building the dedicated pathway on landfill was rejected by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans due the the amount of critical coastal wetland habitat that would be lost,” the coalition said in a statement.
“The estimated cost of this option also ballooned from the original budget of $1.2 million to $18 million.”
The coalition said construction of a pathway on pillars above the wetland is not feasible because the geotechnical survey showed the unstable ground would require piles to be driven more than 15 meters into bottom of the marsh.
The cost of pathway on pillars option wasn’t calculated because it would be significantly more than building a pathway on landfill.
Meanwhile, the final option of using floating dock technology was rejected because it needs at least 0.3 meters of water and cannot touch any plants. That, coalition officials said, isn’t possible within the causeway road allowance.
Community support for the initiative was exceptional, with more than 900 people signing a petition in support of the pathway. A survey published in the Port Rowan Good News found that a large number of people in the community supported the idea.
Norfolk County council also supported pursuing the idea, coalition officials said.
The county, independently of the work done by the coalition, is planning to add 0.6 meters of paved shoulders on both sides of the existing causeway in hopes of improving safety.
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