MARATHON, Ont. -- Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation is reviewing the operations of a North Shore highway contractor, after a predicted winter storm caused the TransCanada Highway to close for nearly two days.
Falling snow turned to freezing rain around noon this past Saturday. That caused the Highway between Terrace Bay and Marathon to close, re-open and then close again until 2 a.m. Monday.
The Ministry is now looking into whether Carillion Contracting was compliant with its contract.
Highway crews must take action within 30 minutes of a storm starting, or they can face a $5,000 fine per vehicle, plus another $1,000 per vehicle for every additional 15 minutes.
Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas says the highway shutdown was unacceptable and he's looking for answers.
Under pressure over northern highway conditions last winter, former Minister of Transportation Glen Murray announced an additional 55 maintenance vehicles.
Of the nine allocated to Northwestern Ontario, none were allocated to the area near Marathon.
But there were two salt and sand combination units added.
(TBT News)
