By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Traffic flow in Cobourg will change for three weeks, as Brook Road North closes down completely and vehicles are diverted onto D’Arcy Street for a detour.
In a special meeting of Northumberland County council Monday, councillors voted unanimously on the closure of Brook Road North (County Road 20), as opposed to an option that would keep one lane open, as important construction takes place.
Manager of Infrastructure Peter Deshane said that the closure allows the installation of underground infrastructure and the widening of the road itself. This work will accommodate the Tribute Communities development at the southwest corner of Elgin and Brook Road North.
While road closures of fewer than five days require only staff approval, Deshane said, a closure any longer than that requires council approval.
Behan Construction Limited had requested the closure Aug. 22, noting that – though the original plan had been for the one lane to remain open – the full-closure option would be “much safer for the general public and especially for our workers.”
As considered in the report Deshane had submitted to council, the one-lane option risked taking longer.
And, as it pointed out, “any asphalt work completed after November 1st of any given year is subject to weather.” Should those temperatures get low enough, it said, “the asphalt would be considered sacrificial and non-comforming.”
Councillor Scott Jibb asked for confirmation that emergency services would get proper advance notification. Deshane said he was requesting a two-week period to review options with “all appropriate services – EMS, busing, fire, and also work with the Town of Cobourg on developing the detour route.”
Given the choice of a three-week closure and a longer period of traffic flow reduced to one lane, Councillor Olena Hankivsky of Port Hope (where downtown Walton Street has been undergoing reconstruction since April) had no trouble deciding.
“Given that we have been having a little bit of a construction project in Port Hope, I can speak to the fact that faster is always better,” Hankivsky stated.
“So I would really like to see the option that facilitates that, having gone through what we have gone through in our community.”
“I don’t enjoy any full road closures, but I see three weeks vs. an extended time,” Councillor Lucas Cleveland said in making the motion to go with a full closure.
The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned within eight minutes.
It is anticipated that the coming two weeks will be a time of consultation and planning, followed by the three-week closure.
