What's in a name?
When it comes to roads and the funding to repair and maintain them, a lot.
The City of Timmins and the Town of Iroquois Falls hope there's strength in numbers in its effort to have the province resume responsibility for Municipal Road.
The approximately 22-kilometre road connects Highway 11 to Highway 101. Up to the late '90s it was known Highway 67, until the Conservative government of the day — led by North Bay's Mike Harris — downloaded it to the municipalities. Timmins is responsible for about 10 kilometres, with 12 belonging to Iroquois Falls.
In 1997-98 when provincial highways were transferred to lower levels of government, Timmins CAO Dave Landers says the city and Iroquois Falls saw a 20 per cent increase in their road inventories.
"And we're getting to the point where the magnitude of the download has become unmanageable for our municipalities. The condition of transfered of highways is very poor. The inventory requires full replacement within the next decade of the variety of roads that were downloaded. But Highway 67 or Municipal Road in particular is in a rough state," he told council on April 30.
Driving the stretch is often an exercise in dodging potholes.
Large forest, mining and construction trucks drive it, and it's the only public access to Kettle Lakes Provincial Park. There are also cottages and year-round homeowners in the area.
Any traffic beyond the residential use, is provincial traffic, said Landers.
Fixing the road is expected to cost $1 million per kilometre, which is why the two municipalities are lobbying the province to upload it — similar to what the province has done with the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, and Highway 174 in Ottawa.
"Neither of our communities really has the space in its capital budget for this project. Given the loss of industry in Iroquois Falls, it's just not likely that they'll ever be able to come up with the funds required out of their tax base. You know, a full reconstruction is probably greater than their entire tax base annually," Landers said.
Next steps
The city has been meeting with the Ministry of Transportation since 2018. This year, the ministry is doing another traffic study on the highway.
Coun. John Curley questioned how many studies can be done on a section of road.
"I don't know what a study is going to give them, to be honest with you. We all know the condition of the road and ... our MPP lives down there. He knows that road condition very well, he travels it on a daily basis," said Curley.
To answer some of Curley's questions, Mayor Michelle Boileau said the study is expected to be done in June. The city hopes to have the data for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in August when municipal leaders have a chance to connect with provincial ministers.
Curley noted the work that the city is putting into maintaining the road, such as pothole repair, snow removal, sanding, and more.
His message to the province is to consider sending cash to help with those costs before taking it over.
Landers said the highway maintenance costs could be reported at an upcoming council meeting.
For Coun. Lorne Feldman, the study is a delay tactic.
While he wants everyone to work together to develop a strategy, he also continued his push for more provincial support based on the resources being extracted from the region.
"As we've discussed in the past ... it just seems so highly inequitable that all of these valuable resources are being transported on highways that for which we're responsible, but we're receiving really none of the benefits, whether it's through royalties or anything else ... I really think that's got to be raised with the province to cordon off that inequity," he said.
