Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca made a stop in Picton to visit Mayor Robert Quaiff and talk County roads. (Photo courtesy: Robert Quaiff.)
The Ontario Minister of Transportation got a first hand look at Prince Edward County’s crumbling County Road 49 Thursday morning.
In his first ever visit to Picton, Minister Stephen Del Duca took the heavily travelled County Road 49 to meet with Mayor Robert Quaiff. They discussed much needed repairs to aging infrastructure and the County’s proposal to download a portion of Highway 33 to allow for a major development of 350 condo units on Loyalist Parkway.
For two years, Mayor Robert Quaiff has been extremely vocal at Queen’s Park about the need to secure funding to repair the stretch of concrete roadway that in 2016 was dubbed the Canadian Automobile Association’s Worst Road for South Central Ontario. The price tag to fix County Road 49 had been estimated around $21 million and is currently in the queue for a technical review.
Mayor Quaiff explained no promises were made and it was purely discussion on how the ministry and the municipality can work better together. He added the minister pointed to how County Road 49 had gotten worse since the mayor sent him a video of its condition two years ago.
Mayor Quaiff said as it stands now staff is busy preparing a report that will be provided at a future date to council on a technical review that will be done in partnership with Cement Association of Ontario and Lehigh Cement Company, formally Essroc Cement.
