Revised Bridgenorth Bypass plan released

BRIDGENORTH -Peterborough County’s newest environmental assessment on the Bridgenorth Bypass is available for public viewing.

The report, written by the county’s consulting firm BT Engineering in Ottawa, is meant to update the last EA – completed in 1996, with addenda in 2011 and in 2015 – on ways to move traffic through Bridgenorth.

The proposed County Road 18 bypass would link the James A. Gifford Causeway over Chemong Lake with Chemong Road through a new road that bypasses the residential and commercial areas of Bridgenorth, resolving the backups that occur at the causeway turn during busy cottage country traffic times.

The bypass idea has been controversial for years: The Bridgenorth Business Association asked county council in 2015 to scrap it for good because it will draw business away from Ward St.

But at a public meeting in Bridgenorth in September, BT Engineering president Steve Taylor said the bypass could eventually transform Ward St. into a thriving downtown.

The plan also calls for a roundabout where County Road 18 meets the proposed bypass. That would keep traffic flowing, Taylor said (the other option is a set of lights, which would create stop-and-go traffic instead).

The new report – 371 pages – can be viewed at the county public works offices on Armour Rd or online on the county’s website.

It recommends three changes from the original bypass plan: south-end intersection refinements, multi-use path alternatives and a change in the route’s curvature to modern standards.

Written comments on the report are expected no later than March 21, and can be sent to county director of public works Chris Bradley (cbradley@ptbocounty.ca) or to Taylor (steven.taylor@bteng.ca)

Citizens may also ask the province to order a more-detailed environmental assessment by filing an appeal with the provincial Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

The deadline to file an appeal is March 21; it must be sent to both the Ministry (at 77 Wellesley St. W. in Toronto) and to the director of the ministry’s environmental approvals branch (135 St. Clair Ave. W., 1st floor, Toronto).

Copies of appeals to the ministry must also be forwarded to Bradley.

NOTE: View the full Bridgenorth Bypass environmental assessment addendum at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.