End of the road

Closson Road falls short of federal funding

Closson Road residents and businesses will have to wait patiently, once again, to see their road resurfaced. Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith confirmed that Closson Road would not be moving forward in the first round of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Project (ICIP) grant application process. Smith was in Trenton Friday morning to announce that the province had nominated a 2.8- kilometre section of Quinte West’s King Street to receive the funding.

The Province has committed $250 million through the Rural and Northern stream, which is part of a $10.2 billion investment in the 10-year ICIP program. The program is funded by the Federal government and administered by the provincial government. For each approved project, the Government of Canada will contribute up to 50 per cent of the project costs, while Ontario will provide up to 33 per cent.

In April, a surprise reversal saw council defeat its original motion that would have had staff apply for ICIP funding to be used to resurface County Road 4 from the Millennium Trail at Talbot Street to Highway 62. The project also included replacement of a bridge near the Highway 62 end of the road. Former Director of Community Development and Strategic Initiatives Neil Carbone explained that the key factors in staff recommending County Road 4 included a high traffic count of more than 4,000 vehicles a day, the deterioration of the bridge as well as the number of collisions that have occurred on this road compared to other eligible projects.

Closson Road residents and business owners Tim Kuepfer and Rolande Leblanc made deputations to council regarding the state of the road, and presented a petition they had started on the Easter long weekend that received 159 signatures. Councillor Ernie Margetson believed that Closson Road made the most sense from a financial standpoint. “This choice of project has some benefits beyond just the road. It has the maximum amount of grant with the minimum amout of municipal top up,” said Margetson.

At the same meeting, Mayor Steve Ferguson asked then Director of Community Development and Strategic Initiatives Neil Carbone which project had the best chance of receiving the grant. “Based solely on the grant criteria, County Road 4 has the best chance at succeeding,” said Carbone.

Closson Road is currently sitting in the capital plan for reconstruction in 2022 at a cost of $2.75 million. Combined with the $1.5 million project on County Road 2, which is set to begin in 2021, the total project had approached the $5 million maximum for the grant.

It is important to note that in 2014, the municipality paid KPMG, a consultancy, to assess infrastructure needs and recommend a path forward. KPMG determined that hundreds of millions of dollars were needed immediately to bring County infrastructure up to a satisfactory level and that many more millions of dollars would need to be spent each year to maintain it. The average annual cost to build and rehabilitate the County’s road network is about $16.2 million.

The County only spends about $7 million on rebuilding its roads and bridges each year. Each year, the County’s infrastructure needs fall further behind.