By Chad Ingram

For the second time in a year Algonquin Highlands township will replace guide rails at the intersection of St. Peters Road and North ShoreRoad after they were damaged by transport trucks. The rails had justbeen replaced in fall of last year.

During their June 18 meetingwhich took place via online conferencing platform Zoom councillorsreceived a report from public works director Adam Thorn. “Over thewinter season one of the new sections of the replaced guide rail wasdamaged due to large trucks with trailers (transport trucks) trying tomake the turn at this intersection and is now in need of replacementagain” the report read.

The repair work will be sole-sourced to the same company that installed the rails in the fall at a cost ofapproximately $11000 plus taxes.
“Basically it will be a full replacement of the one side” Thorn told councillors.

Mayor Carol Moffatt said the issue was GPS systems will tell truck drivers to turn down St. Peters Road even though transport trucks are too largeto safely make the narrow passage.
“It is tremendously unfortunateand as noted in [Thorn’s] report I can tell you it’s the GPS” Moffatt said adding she often sees trucks that are too large to be theretrying to make that turn. “We had spoken a little bit about maybe someadditional signage as well. Not that we want to add any more signpollution to our countryside but to encourage trucks to continue on toAirport Road.”

Moffatt added ideally trucks should remain on thehighway and said the county’s 511 system would allow the township toprovide a notification.
“We will be able to put a caution on thatsystem so that it will turn up for truckers so that they don’t veer offthe highway and wander down the side roads” she said.