In an update to Centre Wellington council on June 26, Mayor Kelly Linton spoke briefly on Wellington County’s road rationalization efforts.
“The county has decided not to go that route.”
However, the mayor reported on an item of interest from a recent Wellington County Council discussion on the issue.
He said there is now a process to re-categorize a local road as a Wellington County road.
“The new policy states that when the average daily traffic exceeds the minimum number for three consecutive years, it should be transferred to the County of Wellington for further capital maintenance requirements.”
“When I asked the question at county council as to what the difference was between this (policy) and roads rationalization, I was told the difference is the trigger point.”
He said if a municipality can state a particular road exceeds a specified traffic count for three consecutive years, it can trigger that to the county … apparently it is assumed by the county.”
Linton noted the approach seemed to be on an ad hoc, road-by-road basis, rather than full-scale roads rationalization.
Linton suspected there are roads within Centre Wellington which do fit this criteria.
Colin Baker managing director of infrastructure services said there is at least one road – the Highway 6 connecting link through Fergus – which would qualify.
He said daily traffic volumes are about 14,000, which triggers a higher level of maintenance.
Baker said this is something which can be looked into more to determine the ramifications.
Linton said he was uncertain of the impact to other municipalities, but suggested it could impact municipalities on the Highway 6 corridor.
“I’m not sure what it means, but we can play it by ear to see how the policy plays out.”
