2009-04-14
07:39:44
A major road project is about to begin in Fort Frances next month.
The $5.4 million dollar project will see upgrades to Portage Avenue beginning at First Street, Nelson Street and parts of Victoria Avenue. Operations and Facilities Manager Doug Brown says a public meeting will be held in the near future to discuss the work because of the impact it will have to several facilities.
"We are going to affect (access to) the hospital, police station, fire hall, and others," says Brown. "A preconstruction meeting is of the essence so that we haven't forgotten something."
The town has secured more than $2 million in government grants for the project with a large portion of the remaining costs being covered through its share of the federal gas tax allocation. C-A-O Mark McCaig says the project will address a number of safety issues in the area.
"There's going to be a lot of trucks travelling from the biomass land-mining sites at the landfill," says McCaig. "There's going to be travelling under our underpass and the road needs to be truck ready."
Work is to begin May 4 with a target end date of September 18.
