North Kawartha Mayor Carolyn Amyotte has put a call out to her fellow mayors along Highway 28 to form a coalition to better advocate for greater safety along the provincial highway.
The proposal was sent to the mayors of Douro-Dummer, Selwyn, Highlands East, Faraday, and Bancroft under the goal of coming together to lobby to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and other provincial officials to address the growing safety issues on Highway 28.
The movement comes following several serious motor vehicle accidents on the highway, including a multi-vehicle collision south of Bancroft on August 6 that killed two people and seriously injured four more.
Extending from Highway 7 east of Peterborough to Highway 41 in Denbigh, Highway 28 is a major route connecting many municipalities in cottage country.
“If we can unite with my fellow mayors and with the MTO and have a stronger voice, it’ll make a positive impact because every accident is a life-changing event for all those involved, whether it’s a fatality or not,” says Amyotte.
Amyotte says the concerns have “snowballed” since reconstruction began in June on the Eels Creek Bridge, located around 13 kilometres north of Burleigh Falls and 13 kilometres south of Apsley.
The northbound and southbound lanes have been reduced to a single lane at the Eels Creek Rest Area, with vehicular access being controlled by a timed temporary traffic signal allowing one lane of traffic to proceed at a time.
The Township of North Kawartha has received numerous complaints about the traffic backup this causes during peak commute times around weekends — including long weekends when traffic is especially heavy.
“We weren’t even notified that the construction was beginning,” says Amyotte. “The weekends in particular are brutal, when you have the main flow coming up on Friday night and going back on Sunday or the Holiday Monday.”
Bellai Alliance Civil Inc., the contractor hired by the provincial government to complete the work, issued a “stakeholder notification” about the construction dated May 28, just six days before construction began.
On Tuesday (August 13), township council approved a motion for Amyotte to contact the other mayors along Highway 28 to consider forming a coalition, and also to send a letter to MTO and other provincial officials regarding the significant delays caused by the Eels Creek bridge construction, with reference to specific data on traffic volumes.
Amyotte’s letter to MTO outlines that on the Civic Holiday Monday, the line of traffic waiting to travel through the construction site was around 18 kilometres long. The following Sunday, it was around 15 kilometres long.
“A 150-metre construction site should not be causing such unreasonable traffic back-ups and delays,” Amyotte wrote in the letter. “This has been the situation all summer long and it is not sustainable nor acceptable.”
Some drivers have had to wait up to an hour or longer to get through the construction site, according to the letter.
“When traffic is backed up 18 kilometres along the roadway, that’s not acceptable and only exacerbates the problems with frustrated drivers, which can lead to greater safety concerns,” Amyotte says.
Concerns outlined in the letter include the lack of communication when beginning the construction, the economic impact from travellers spending more time on the road and less time at local businesses, and the safety concerns in drivers having to come to a full stop on an 80 km/h stretch of highway with little advance warning.
Drivers only encounter warning signage close to the construction zone, putting unfamiliar and unsuspecting drivers at risk. It should also be noted that many drivers regularly exceed the speed limit on Highway 28 by 10 to 20 km/h or more.
North Kawartha Township is requesting the MTO control the flow of traffic at the construction site with human intervention (flag person) or an automated flagger assistance device, ensure travellers are aware of the construction zone well before the current signage locations, and improve traffic study requirements and stakeholder consultation for these types of projects in designated tourism regions .
“It’s been a challenge to connect with the MTO and work with them,” Amyotte admits. “We thought we could reach out to the other mayors, communicate, and collaborate because this roadway has a huge impact on all the communities it goes through.”
Replacement of the bridge over Eels Creek is scheduled to be completed in August 2025, with a winter shutdown of operations between December and May before construction resumes for next summer.
On a separate issue related to Highway 28, North Kawartha Township wrote to the MTO in July requesting a safety review and improvements of the highway’s access points to Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park, which lies west of Highway 28 from north of Burleigh Falls to north of Apsley.
The concern lies in the absence of a turning lane at most of the entrances to the provincial park, including Coon Lake Road, Long Lake Road, and Anstruther Lake Road.
“We’ve had concerns and complaints brought forth over the years about how scary it is to make a left turn into the park when someone’s coming around the corner and they’re worried they’ll get rear-ended or somebody will go off the road,” Amyotte says. “It’s not a simple fix and it’ll cost money, but what’s the cost of lives lost?”
It’s not the first time during her time in office that Amyotte has focused her efforts on raising public awareness about safety on Highway 28. In 2022, two zones along the highway in North Kawartha Township became designated “community safety zones,” with penalties for driving infractions doubled in those areas.
Recognizing other safety issues with the highway, Amyotte explains that part of the goal in forming a coalition with other Highway 28 mayors is to “raise public awareness to help modify driver behaviour.”
“You are coming into a wilderness area, so it’s really important to be aware and look around,” she says, noting wildlife is the number one cause of vehicle accidents. “But after that, it’s driver behaviour from not driving for the conditions, speeding, unsafe passing, and distracted driving.”
In addition to driving cautiously, Amyotte suggests travellers be aware of the extended traffic on the roadway during busy times on the weekend and adjust their schedules accordingly.
With drivers doing their part and fellow township mayors forming the coalition, she is hopeful it will lead to change and making Highway 28 safer for the many thousands who travel it each year.
“It would be great if we come together, make a list of concerns and a list of ideas and suggestions on how we can approve, and go together as one voice to advocate for this, because it’s worth seeing what we can do,” Amyotte says.
“It’s my sincerest wish that everybody who travels on that road gets to their destination safely and if we all do our part, drive with care and be aware, that’ll happen.”
