Repairs on the right track
Q: Is the City of Niagara Falls going to do anything about the railway tracks on Kalar Road by Beaverdams Road? The cars have to come to a stop before going over the tracks.
A: Canadian National Railway is starting repairs on the Kalar Road tracks next week.
Kalar between Beaverdams Road and Lundy’s Lane will be closed to through traffic during the repairs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Crews will also tackle the tracks on Drummond Road between Gallinger Street/Portage Road and Morrison Street on Thursday with similar road closures.
In August, Niagara Falls city council approved a motion to work with CN and the region to get repairs done to several at-grade railroad crossings in poor condition. Councillors had long complained of unacceptable conditions and people bottoming out their cars at the tracks.
Niagara Falls municipal works director Geoff Holman said getting CN to repair the tracks was in the works already, but the council request helped firm up some of the dates.
In addition to the works on Kalar and Drummond Roads, Holman said it’s anticipated the tracks at Stanley Avenue will also be repaired this month. The date is being firmed up with the region because it’s a regional road.
“There’s been some settlement between and around the tracks that needs to be re-graded and repaved,” he said. “It just comes from wear and tear.”
In September, CN did railway crossing repairs on Thorold Stone Road.
Q: After the high waters of Lake Ontario have receded down at Lakeside Beach in Port Dalhousie, the sand levels are significantly lower. As a result, three cement square blocks on the western edge of Lakeside Beach have appeared just at the edge of the shoreline. These have been covered for maybe 50 years or more by sand. No one seems to know what they are, but people think they are from the second canal. Do you know what they were from?
A: Many people have wondered about the origin of the concrete blocks, revealed after flooding earlier this year at Lakeside Park washed away some of the beach.
Speculation has included that they were part of the carousel building which was at the water’s edge, supports for lifeguard stands or part of the old canal.
But David Webb, chair of the St. Catharines heritage permit advisory committee, said the most likely answer is they are the concrete bases for lamp posts.
Postcards and photos dating back to the early 1900s show a straight line of lights along the waterfront, spaced out in a similar manner to the blocks.
Webb said four concrete blocks have been exposed this year and one of the blocks is much further away from the others. He said historic photos show a gap in the row of lights where the carousel building stood, which follows the pattern of the blocks today.
The blocks also have marks where you can see the remains of bolts.
Webb said the light posts appear to be either cast iron or concrete uprights and each stand has multiple round glass globe fixtures, which may have been gas lights.
He suspects they were probably part of the 1920s renewal of the park by the Canadian National Railway, which increased the park’s size and brought the steamship trade to Port Dalhousie.
Q: I live in the south end of St. Catharines by the Pen Centre. There is a ravine that runs from Chestnut Street down Woodcrest Drive. This summer there has been a very foul odor (sewage) smell coming from the ravine. It is a very strong odour permeating up to the houses and onto the street. It does come and go at times, but it has been quite frequent. It seems like something has been diverted to drain into the ravine. I’m not sure if the road construction on Glendale, or something from the Pen Centre is the source.
I have lived here over 20 years and have not experienced this during hotter summers. I’m wondering what it could be? And what is being done to resolve it?
A: The Ministry of the Environment is looking into the foul odour with the City of St. Catharines and the owner of the Pen Centre to determine the source.
Ministry spokesman Gary Wheeler said inane mail that results from samples collected by the city suggest sewer pipes between the Pen Centre and the city are cross connected causing the odour.
The mall owner has retained an environmental consultant to locate the cross connection and provide a plan to fix it.
The consultant’s findings and proposed corrective actions are expected imminently. Wheeler said the ministry will ensure the work to correct the cross connection happens as soon as possible.
Cross connections are when sanitary sewers, which discharge to a treatment plant, and storm sewers, which discharge to creeks and bodies of water, come in contact because of a crack and aging infrastructure or because of improper plumbing job.
St. Catharines environmental services manager Mark Green said there is no risk to residents’ tap water.