County deactivates southern 401 detour route
Posted By VALERIE MACDONALD
Posted 2 months ago
By a recorded vote of six to one, Northumberland County councillors have deactivated the southerly, urbanized Hwy. 401 detour route along County Road 2 between Cobourg and Colborne and instituted a more northerly, rural route.
The lone dissenting voice, Alnwick/Haldimand Mayor Bill Finley, argued passionately that the northern route north on County Rd. 45 and east along the Centreton Rd., turning southward again to rejoin County Road 2 just past his municipality's common border with Cramahe, is an area hit hard by winter weather conditions.
He urged councillors to keep the southerly route in place while trying out the northern one so "we we don't end up with a mess all through the area."
Finley charged that county staff and councillors didn't listen to his council's concerns which include the inability of local traffic to get out onto roads filled with tractor trailers along a route without any breaks imposed by traffic lights. This will affect those doing business, trying to get out of their driveways to go to work, school buses and responses to fires, county councillors were told.
His township is so overlooked that the route map "doesn't even show Grafton," Finley said.
"I think we've missed the boat again."
Cobourg Mayor Peter Delanty was equally adamant, but said there was no question but to go with the northern route.
With this opportunity for a "safer route" (avoiding traffic back ups onto the railway tracks on Brook Rd. and in front of Cobourg's Elgin St. fire hall), plus the government funding equalling a third of the cost of upgrading the roads involved in the north, it doesn't make sense not to institute the northerly route, Delanty said.
"I couldn't live with myself if we turned this down" and there were a calamity involving the railway and transports carrying dangerous materials, he said.
Before the debate, county transportation director Peter Nielsen said that county staff originally wanted both the south and north routes to be used -- but the transportation ministry and OPP recommended otherwise, due to staffing issues and confusion for the driving public.
The original, southerly route was established in 1999/2000, according to Nielsen's report, and a fatal accident in 2007 that tied up Hwy. 401 for a long period of time led to the examination of an alternate. The northerly route, which includes Creighton Heights hill on County Rd. 45 north out of Cobourg, is part of the area that already gets high winter maintenance and surveillance, councillors were told. This will continue to ensure the northerly route is kept in good shape when a Hwy. 401 closure causes a detour.
Nielsen said that the northern route moves congestion from the urban areas of Cobourg, Grafton and Colborne and also away from the rail lines, plus allows for a more continuous traffic flow compared to the stop-and-go pattern currently experienced on the southernly route along County Rd. 2.
In response to a question from Warden Linda Thompson of Port Hope, Nielsen said staff could look at using temporary lights at the intersection in Centreton to create a break in traffic, as requested by Finley.
Alternate easterly county routes will be examined in the future, including County Rds. 27 and 21, plus Telephone Rd. in the area through Cramahe and Brighton, Nielsen reported.
Brighton Mayor Chris Herrington urged that these more northerly alternatives to County Rd. 2 in the eastern end of Northumberland be pursued sooner rather than later.
As recently as Monday night when there was a fatality in the area of the Wooler Rd. on Hwy. 401 and detoured traffic was congesting the main thoroughfare in Brighton, she said.
Trent Hills Mayor Hector Macmillan suggested keeping the southerly detour route signs in place, while the northerly route between Cobourg and Colborne was tested, but without support, he voted for the permanent change along with all of the other councillors except Finley.
