A bridge in the county in serious need of repairs is getting fixed this summer. Dysart et al Mayor Murray Fearrey says the work on the Fort Irwin Bridge by Haliburton Lake will start in July and likely last until October depending on the weather. Fearrey says the decks, rails and other bridge components need to be replaced.The bridge will be reduced to one lane while the work is being done.
Fearrey tells the My Haliburton Now newsroom that Dysart is able to do the work this year because of a $690,000 grant under the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. The total cost of the project is approximately $740,000 and the remainder will be covered by the municipality, which is included in this year’s budget. The provincial fund comes from the Ministry of Infrastructure and contributes up to 90 per cent of for eligible projects. The fund is meant to help jurisdictions with populations of 100,000 or less with repairs on roads and bridges.
Fearrey says this is the fourth time the municipality has applied for O.C.I.F. funding and says the bridge was reaching a point where the repairs would have been funded 100 per cent by taxpayers if not for the grant. This is the first O.C.I.F. funding request to be granted in the county this year. Repairs to the Hawk River and Horseshoe Lake Bridges, as well as work on North Shore Road in Algonquin Highlands, were all declined. Highlands East also learned earlier this year that it will not receive any help from the province to realign Dyno Road.