As city crews work on the roads with the spring thaw, heavy trucks are being asked to detour around the downtown core.
When Connecting Link work starts in the coming weeks, commercial vehicles and heavy trucks will be detoured down Laforest Road. The City of Timmins is asking those drivers to start using the detours now because city crews are tackling potholes on the main route through town.
The detour includes Shirley Street, Lafleur Drive, Laforest and Highway 655.
The request is to preserve the temporary patches that are being used to fill potholes on Algonquin, said Ken Krcel, Public Works and Environmental Services director, in a news release.
The work scheduled for this year is Algonquin Boulevard from Wilcox to Cedar Street, and Riverside Drive from Government Road to Shirley Street.
RELATED: Revised work plan pitched for Connecting Link
Belanger Construction, the contractor doing this year's section of the Connecting Link work, is installing temporary traffic controls this week, according to the city.
Connecting Link detours are up for discussion at tonight's (April 11) Timmins council meeting.
During the first phase — to complete the section not finished last year — the proposal is to fully close Algonquin between Preston and Mountjoy. The suggested north detour is Mountjoy to Vimy then west on Vimy to Theriault Boulevard, which leads back to Algonquin. The south detour would be Cameron Street to Commercial Avenue then East to the intersection of Mountjoy and Second Avenue.
For work on the second phase, Algonquin will be fully closed from Mountjoy Street to Cedar. The proposed detour is Mountjoy, Second Avenue and Brunette Road. The full report, including maps, is available here.
The city is also looking to put the temporary 50 km/h speed zone back in place for the heavy truck detour. If approved, it would see the speed limit drop on Airport Road for about 1.25 kilometres after the Laforest intersection. Read that report here.
