THUNDER BAY— The Municipality of Shuniah is moving forward with planned road construction.
On Monday, construction for six major culverts started on Lakeshore Drive. The work is expected to take until the end of August to complete.
Traffic is being rerouted with a detour off Lakeshore Drive that is approximately 2.5 kilometres down to Silver Harbour Drive and back.
“We have designed the construction in stages to hopefully minimize the impact on residents,” said Paul Greenwood, CAO for Shuniah.
The projected started in 2024 with several successful culvert replacements as a part of the multi-year infrastructure improvement strategy. The construction is in preparation for a full road replacement and paving project to ensure long-term durability and improved travel conditions for community members and visitors, he said.
Construction began one the first culvert on Monday and should continue with a new culvert on the Monday of the following weeks, July 7, July 14, July 21 and August 11, August 18 and August 25.
The road closures will last approximately four days each and are grouped into three sections, with the first two closures being between Silver Beach Road and Silver Harbour Road, Greenwood said.
The July 21 and August 11 closures will be just east of Cedar Bay Road, creating an additional 13 kilometres in travel distance to the city. While the August 18 and 21 closures will be in-between Blind Creek Drive and Wild Goose Beach, creating an additional 16.5 kilometres in travel distance, said Greenwood.
A media release issued by the municipality said the decision to fully close sections of Lakeshore Drive was made in order to significantly reduce construction time and material costs, saving money for the municipality and taxpayers long-term.
“Having detour routes to go around where the culverts were replaced probably would have tripled the cost of installing the culverts,” he said.
The multi-year infrastructure improvement strategy is expected to cost around $9 million dollars based on the designs provided by TBT Engineering. Approximately $1 million will go towards culvert replacement over the construction season of 2024 and 2025, he said.
“The detour on Silver Harbour Road and Silver Beach Road is low volume,” he said.
“We just ask that those who are utilizing the detour, especially in the next two weeks, please be mindful of pedestrians and people that are out.”
