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VOLUME 24 | ISSUE
12
MARCH 21, 2019
Pothole season well underway O N T H E R OA D
A particularly rough winter has generated many complaints, with council looking at ways to improve the situation BY STEVE KANNON
skannon@woolwichobserver.com
The teeth-chattering cold weather on its way out, township residents are now dealing with a teeth-clenching adventure when they venture out on local roads. It’s pothole season, and it’s a doozy this year. A number of freeze-thaw cycles and fair bit of rain at inopportune times have combined to leave divots in asphalt roads and turn the gravel ones into washboards, notes Jared Puppe, Woolwich’s acting manager of engineering services. “It’s pretty bad, like it was last year – a perfect storm. It’s pretty messy now.” Road crews were scram-
bling this week to patch the holes and get graders onto gravel roads where possible, he said, noting the township has received more than a few calls from residents. In response, Puppe notes that problem areas are dealt with on a priority basis – through roads are given a higher ranking than lightly travelled routes, for instance. Further complicating matters is the fact that some roads can’t yet handle the heavy equipment needed to do the work. “Gravel roads are a particular issue,” he said, noting “gravel is more challenging with the weather we’ve had. POTHOLES | 04
Gravel roads such as Reids Wood Drive north of Elmira have been particularly rutted this year. [FAISAL ALI / THE OBSERVER]
Woolwich spared from flooding that came with last week's thaw BY VERONICA REINER vreiner@woolwichobserver.com
Woolwich Township truly weathered the storm in regards to flooding in the region last week, coming out of the ordeal relatively unscathed despite rain and a sudden spike in temperatures. Other areas in
the Grand River watershed were hit a little harder. The Grand River Conservation Authority issued a series of flood warnings beginning March 13. Local areas included the Grand River in West Montrose and the Conestogo River in St. Jacobs, peaking in warning zone 1 last Friday morning.
Locally, only the surface-level bridge on Three Bridges Road in St. Jacobs needed to be shut down March 14 due to excess water and ice. “The low level bridge on Three Bridges road actually closes quite regularly at this time of year,” said GRCA spokesperson Cam
Linwood. “It is a bridge with relatively low capacity when it comes to river flows. So there are gates that are permanently installed there and it is sort of one of the first areas that are impacted when the Conestogo River starts rising.” Woolwich fire chief Dale
Martin noted the bridge is often shut down even for a rain forecast. The bridge opened up again on Monday morning after ice was cleared by township staff. While West Montrose dealt with plenty of large puddles, things could have been much worse. “West Montrose – they
dodged a bullet there,” said Martin. “The ice went out before the water really came up too high. So there was no flooding in West Montrose at all. There was no ice or anything on the road – the river behaved. The weather was such that it kind of FLOODING | 28
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