Three stretches of Crowsfoot Road will be repaved this fall as Woolwich looks to put off a major reconstruction of the route. The work would bring the poor spots back up to the standard of the rest of the road, which is in good condition for the most part.
“It fits in with the principle of keeping the good roads good,” director of engineering and planning Dan Kennaley said at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Agreeing with his assessment, councillors voted to award a $233,000 contract to The Murray Group to carry out the work. The company submitted the lowest of six bids.
The three sections of Crowsfoot Road between Sawmill and Maryhill roads are more prone to wear, largely because there tends to be more water on the road at those locations, he explained.
In backing the plan, Coun. Mark Bauman suggested the township look at creating what he called maintenance shoulders – perhaps another 18 inches of pavement on the outside of each lane. That would provide additional protection to the edge of the pavement, away from the traffic, while allowing some room for cyclists.
The work, to be completed by the end of October, would have no impact on the Crowsfoot Corner; the intersection is home to an unorthodox convergence of Crowsfoot Road, Katherine Street and Sawmill Road. It’s been under scrutiny because of the number of collisions there, including a 2002 fatality that prompted a Region of Waterloo investigation.
More recently, the region examined the intersection during a study of the cumulative impact of three gravel pits that would see trucks passing through Crowsfoot Corner. While the region determined no changes would be necessary to accommodate potentially thousands of truck passes each year, the township has reservations about the findings, said Kennaley.
“We aren’t convinced that there aren’t some improvements that could be made to that intersection,” he said in a later interview. “If there were already concerns prior to the gravel pits, doesn’t the additional traffic from the gravel pits put this over the threshold for improvements?”
