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THE
Vol. 114 – No. 2
TEMISK AMING
SPEAKER
A tough winter
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2019
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“Up to three times as much snow has fallen”
Darlene Wroe
Speaker Reporter
TEMISKAMING SHORES - This year’s snowfall has been twoand-a-half to three times that of normal, says Temiskaming Shores public works director Doug Walsh. The public works crew of 20 people have been working up to this point to plow streets and remove snow in the busiest areas. This week staff will be working to begin removing snow from all the areas of the city, he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had this much snow,” he commented in a telephone interview. The city has been following government legislated standards for snowplowing, he said, but “snow removal is not legislated. It’s a luxury and it’s costly. It’s probably the most costly of our weather operations portion. We pride ourselves in being probably second to none as far as snow removal in Northeastern Ontario.” However, he explained that keeping up to the snowfall is challenging. “We use the same equipment and we use the same staff” for both snowplowing and snow removal, he said. The city has also been striving to make sidewalks as passable as possible, he said, “and that’s difficult on its own.”
Up until this week, snow removal has been done only on night shifts “because it makes it a lot easier for our equipment operators to get around when there is less traffic,” he said. The focus has been on the busy areas of downtown New Liskeard and the school areas, he explained. But the challenge has been that snow has been falling every day or every other day, he said. The city will now be starting to remove snow on the side streets. “We pick our busiest side streets and our bus stops first,” Walsh explained. Up until now, “We just haven’t had a chance to start branching out.... We’ve been focused on plowing and then picking up in our busy areas and around the schools first.” Walsh said no streets have been left untended. “We plow every street we have in the city.” Walsh said that the 2019 city budget has not yet been set, and the city winter operation also has not yet been set. But “council has directed us to provide the same level of service that our residents are accustomed to. The problem is, we haven’t had to deal with this amount of snow in a long time.... We have 20 people that work at snowplowing and snow removal. It’s tough when we’re doing one and we can’t get at the second.”
The Dymond outdoor skating rink was really popular over the Family Day weekend February 16-18 what with lots of sunshine and cool, but not too cold, temperatures. Goalie Ray Labonte reacts to a play by Gryphon Trahan on Monday afternoon during a pick-up game with four other friends. (Staff photo by Steven Larocque)
TEAM effort – People increasingly reluctant to use Highway 11 Darlene Wroe
Speaker Reporter
DISTRICT - Efforts are underway to better understand the needs for highway maintenance on Highway 11. The TEAM Highway 11 North Working Group was recently formed by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the first meeting will be
held later this winter, according to Northeastern regional issues and media advisor Kristin Franks. TEAM is a partnership between the MTO, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and stakeholders such as area municipalities and the Going the Extra Mile for Safety group (GEMS), Franks stated in an email in response to questions
from The Speaker. “The purpose of the working group is to share information and provide operational and safety input that is intended to continue to improve the safety of Highway 11 north through the implementation of warranted operational safety improvements and public education opportunities.” She continued, “the ministry
anticipates further follow-up studies (by ministry staff or its service providers) may be required to review engineering analyses, and specific mitigation improvements identified through the group’s work.” The public may be engaged through future studies as required, she said. Franks said the working group want to “maintain and
continue to improve the safety and efficiency” of the highway from North Bay to New Liskeard. Temiskaming Shores Mayor Carman Kidd stated in an email response to The Speaker that the GEMS committee is meeting with MTO officials and pushing for a 2+1 highway pilot project for Highway 11. Continued on 8a