Ontario’s Transportation Minister believes that the contractors responsible for winter road maintenance are meeting the required standards.
The province aims to have roads cleared down to bare pavement within 12 hours after a storm.
During a legislative committee meeting at Queen’s Park, Prabmeet Sakaria shared that this benchmark is being achieved.
“We can see that just this year alone we’re clearing and hitting that standard almost on average four hours before that is meant to be,” says Sakaria.
Sakaria highlighted the investments made to reach these goals.
He mentioned that nearly $400 million was spent on winter road maintenance last winter, marking a 6% increase compared to the previous winter.
They have also added more equipment to facilitate their work.
“We have added almost 300 new pieces of winter maintenance equipment that we’ve asked and worked with the contractors and invested in have been put in place over the past several years to be able to better respond to weather events that happen in the north,” says Sakaria.
“We work with all of our contractors. We hold them to account anytime that we hear that they are not addressing the needs that they are contracted to do. And we’ll make sure that we continue to have that work reviewed and make sure that they’re delivering the best standards.”
The Transportation Minister also noted that 23 portable variable message signs have been installed along highways, providing motorists with current information about weather and road conditions.
Additionally, the province has added 652 cameras for improved road monitoring.
Randy Thoms is a veteran news broadcaster with over 40 years’ experience. He is based in Fort Frances and covers stories across northwestern Ontario. Contact Randy at thoms. randy@radioabl. ca.
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