By Chad Ingram

Published Feb. 17 2017

The closure of a portion of HorseshoeLake Road south of Bethel Road will last longer than Parks Canadainitially anticipated.

In early December the federal agencyclosed a portion of the road as it got to work on the replacement ofthe Horseshoe Lake dam.

That project is one of a number of damrehabs and replacements that will be performed throughout HaliburtonCounty representing about $40 million of $570 million the federalgovernment is spending on improvements to the Trent Severn Waterway.

While the road closure had beenanticipated to last until the end of February a Feb. 16 pressrelease from Parks Canada says the closure is now scheduled to lastuntil early April at which point one lane of the road will bereopened.

“Due to a prolonged and greater thanaverage January thaw contractors experienced delays building acofferdam that would divert the Gull River around the constructionsite” the release reads. “The cofferdam is now operational andsluices 1 & 2 have been demolished. The water management strategyon the Gull River will not change. The remaining two sluiceways willbe available to accommodate the increased flows that are experiencedduring the spring melt.”

According to the release both lanesshould be reopened to traffic in early May.

Much of the infrastructure of the Trent Severn Waterway is morethan a century old. The dam at Horseshoe Lake was constructed in1909.

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

Anyone with any questions about the project can send an email toOnt.TrentSevern@pc.gc.ca

and write “Horseshoe Lake Dam” in the subject heading. Updateson projects in the county can be found at www.pc.gc.ca/tswHaliburton.