Ancaster’s Garner Road East will be closed this summer
Ancaster residents and businesses will have to endure another construction season of troubling road closures, starting May 7.
Coun. Lloyd Ferguson said Garner Road East is expected to be shut down during the summer, from Glancaster Road to Southcote Road, to install a trunk sewer, trunk storm sewer and new water main. He said the road will also be rebuilt.
The road will be closed from May 7 until Aug. 24.
“It will be a horrible inconvenience,” said Ferguson. “It will be tough on the merchants. I did my best to fight it.”
One of those businesses that will be directly impacted is Bennett’s Apples & Cider, where “people have moved to (Ancaster) just for the apples,” said Ferguson.
He said staff insisted there was no other way to accommodate motorists and businesses along Garner Road, other than to shut down the road completely. He said the pipes to be installed are at depth require workers to use a trench box to prevent cave-ins. That means the entire road will have to be closed.
“It’s a safety issue,” he said. Ferguson said the project will begin April 30, when Raymond Road will close between Garner Road West and Robertson Road.
The city has already installed signs saying that Raymond Road will be closed to traffic.
Ferguson said the detour around the construction will be Southcote Road, Book Road then to Glancaster Road, then back to Garner. “It’s the only detour. It’s going to be tough on those roads, too.”
Ferguson said to make sure the project is completed before school begins in September, the city forced an agreement with the construction firm to complete it before September or face a penalty of $5,000 per day.
“It’s a big project,” said Ferguson. “But they have the best weather of the year. If you have to do this stuff, it’s the best time.”
Ancaster residents and businesses had to endure nearly three years of road construction along Wilson Street from Rousseaux to the traffic roundabout. The last part of Wilson Street was completed earlier this year.
The project, which is being paid for by developers, is to accommodate the hundreds of new residential developments that are being constructed along Garner Road.
“There are a lot of homes on Garner, and they want to open up a bunch more,” said Ferguson. “It’s all in the urban area boundary. Once this area is done, we are pretty much finished with any new developments in Ancaster.”