A section of Horseshoe Lake Road will be closed for two months starting next week.

Beginning Dec. 12 a portion of the road just south of Bethel Road will be closed to traffic as Parks Canada begins replacing the Horseshoe Lake dam.

“Though work to replace the dam will be ongoing until late summer 2017 this road closure will last only a portion of that time until approximately the end of February 2017” reads a release from Parks Canada.

The anticipated date of the reopening of the road is Feb. 24.

In the meantime motorists will need to take a detour using the northern entranceway to Horseshoe Lake Road off of Highway 35 near Twelve Mile Lake.

“For users of the river access to the area immediately above and below the dam may be restricted during the construction period but access to the rest of the river will not” the release reads. “Throughout construction water management practices will remain in place and construction should have no impact on water levels.”

About $40 million of $570 million in federal funding for improvements to the Trent Severn Waterway is being spent on projects in Haliburton County. Along with the dam at Horseshoe Lake dams at Long Lake Red Pine Lake Esson Lake Canning Lake Twelve Mile Lake Kushog Lake among others will be repaired or replaced.

Much of the infrastructure of the Trent Severn Waterway is more than a century old. The dam at Horseshoe Lake was constructed in 1909.

The new dam will include a pedestrian walkway that will allow for viewing the Minden Wild Water Preserve located just below the dam at the head of the Gull River.

Updates on infrastructure work in Haliburton County can be found at www.pc.gc.ca/TSWHaliburton.