February 1, 2012
Contractor must meet
highway standards: MTO
by Terry Myers
Thirty. Two. Sixteen.
Those are the critical numbers when it comes to winter maintenance on
Highway 17.
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) says that under the terms of its
contract for the local highway, operator Transfield Services is
required to monitor weather and road conditions “in order to respond
quickly and appropriately” to a winter storm.
Once the weather moves in, Transfield is required to begin spreading
salt or sand within 30 minutes of a “storm event,” get plows on the
road when there is an accumulation of 2 cm of snow or slush, and
continue working until the highway is “essentially bare of snow or ice”
within 16 hours.
MTO says it “continually monitors the contractor's operations to ensure
they are meeting the requirements of their contract and our high
standards for winter maintenance.”
“If we find that an operational requirement is not met, we impose
consequences and compel the contractor to review and modify their
operations to ensure that requirements are met in the future.”
The figures and comments from the MTO are contained in an exchange of
emails between local resident Bob Burton and the constituency office of
local MPP John Yakabuski.
Burton said road conditions on Highway 17 this winter have been
“atrocious to say the least.”
“We have had two significant storms, well forecasted, and it has taken
several days to clean the roads up, especially in the upper Ottawa
Valley - from Deep River to North Bay.
“Even with minor storms, such as the flurries on New Year's Day (again
forecasted), there was no apparent road clearing crews in operation
even though the holiday traffic was heavy.”
Winter maintenance on Highway 17 has been a hot topic in the area
lately.
Laurentian Hills council vowed last month to protest the highway
conditions to MTO, particularly in light of the apparent change in
standards at the turnaround on the Petawawa plains.
Highway conditions have not only been an issue in North Renfrew,
however.
The Ontario NDP has set up a special email account to take reports of
bad road conditions from drivers across Northern Ontario.
“In December, we provided the Ministry of Transportation with real
examples of closures and accidents caused by poorly cleared roads in
ridings across the North.
“Not only has the Ministry not responded to the concerned motorists in
our ridings but there is no indication that a review is taking
place,” said NDP Transportation Critic Gilles Bisson.
“We will not stop until there is action taken to address the issue of
the reduction of highway clearing standards for contractors, and to do
that we need to hear about all the problem roads from the people who
see it first hand.
“We will keep up the pressure on the Liberal minority government to
take the situation seriously,” said Bisson, MPP for Timmins-James Bay.
The NDP is inviting drivers to submit reports about roads in poor
driving condition to northernroadreport@gmail.com.
“This isn’t the time for petty party politics and playing the blame
game. The McGuinty Liberals have been in power since 2003 and they must
take responsibility for the current state of the roads,” Bisson said.
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