Concrete median barriers along Highway 401 remain a priority for Chatham-Kent’s delegation to the Good Roads conference this week.
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Chatham Coun. Alysson Storey said she, along with engineering director Marissa Mascaro, met with Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria and his team Monday afternoon.
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“It was important to me that I introduced the safety infrastructure issue of 401 median barriers to Minister Sarkaria,” Storey said.
“Right now, we don’t have a confirmed timeline from the province on when the remaining sections of concrete median barrier will be built. So, a key request from us was to reinforce the need for this critical safety measure, sooner than later, and request a confirmed timeline for that construction.”
Council approved the request for an expedited timeline last October, so “time marches on to receive an update” on this issue from the province, she added.
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Mascaro shared further details about the impacts on municipal engineering in terms of planning for future 401 upgrades, particularly when it comes to the reconstruction of the Bloomfield Road interchange.
“All of these items are connected and so it made sense to present them to the minister together,” Storey said.
The conference, which is taking place in Toronto, lasts until Wednesday.
It launched with a talk from urban planner Jeff Speck, who discussed how to make communities more walkable, which eases the burden on other forms of transportation.
“Not to mention, it’s better for the environment and businesses in these neighborhoods,” Storey said. “The stats he presented bear this approach out and I was excited to think about areas of Chatham-Kent where we could incorporate this approach.”
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As for overall priorities for Ontario municipalities, she said one continuing to loom large is how to fund infrastructure.
“Every municipal elected official and staff person is dealing with this, and even a few hours into the conference, it’s a key topic for both presenters on stage and in the informal chats between sessions,” she said.
“You can only wait so long for interest rates to come down, for example. And only municipalities have three tools to access revenue — property tax, user fees and development charges. And not every Ontario community has DCs.”
Storey said senior levels of government have “many more tools at their disposal,” so those partners are needed at the table.
“Otherwise, we could be seeing double-digit tax increases across the province,” she said. “It’s not a sustainable model and one that needs to change, because the cracks are clearly showing.”
Public works director Ryan Brown also attended the conference.
Good Roads has 428 municipal members and 21 First Nations members.
Its aim is to connect members to each other, to other levels of government, to academia and to relevant private-sector interests.
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