If you drive one of the 8,700 vehicles that travel on Highway 35 south of Lindsay every day, you’ll need to take an alternative route for six weeks beginning Monday, September 25th.

A portion of the highway will be fully closed for around 40 calendar days as crews work to replace the Stoney Creek culvert, located near River Road 5.6 kilometres south of Lindsay.

The construction will span 0.15 kilometres. According to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, around 8,650 vehicles use this section of Highway 35 in a single day.

The work on Highway 35 will include the removal of the existing culvert and footings, construction of a new precast concrete culvert and retaining walls, installation of a new steel guide rail, and new pavement and markings.

There will also be interaction improvements on Highway 7 at Mount Horeb Road (Kawartha Lakes Road 31).

The culvert construction is scheduled for completion on Friday, November 17th. Because of temperature restrictions, surface paving will be completed next spring, with the final completion date set for May 25, 2018.

During the closure of Highway 35, traffic will be diverted onto an off-site signed detour using Mount Horeb Road and Highway 7. Temporary traffic signals will be installed at the intersection of Highway 7 and Mount Horeb Road.

All entrances near the culvert location will remain open and accessible at all times during construction. A temporary satellite ambulance station will be provided in Pontypool to ensure target times to rural emergencies can be met.

It’s also going to be noisier if you live in the vicinity. To accelerate the construction schedule, City of Kawartha Lakes council approved an exemption to the noise by-law to allow work to be done at night, on Sundays, and on statutory holidays as required between September 25th and November 17th.

A city by-law prohibiting commercial truck traffic on Hillhead Road and other potentially affected roads will be in place during construction. A police officer will be assigned to periodically patrol the area to enforce the by-law.

Planning for this provincial project has been under way for some time. A 2007 planning and design study for a future four-lane expansion identified the need for the replacement of the culvert. An environmental assessment was completed earlier this year.

Between now and the Christmas season, the nine men and two women elected to guide the City of Peterborough through its many challenges will meet 16 times, including a full late November week set aside for for budget discussions.

That schedule doesn’t include individual councillors’ responsibilities as sitting members of various municipally funded boards and committees, nor does it take into account hundreds of phone calls and email messages from, and face-to-face conversations with, taxpayers who want their ear.

Add to that their “homework” — hours upon hours reviewing City staff reports and other documents related to the matters that will come before them and require direction.

While you won’t hear any member of Peterborough city council complain, at least not publicly, about that marathon and its effect on their personal lives — after all, each wholly signed on when they opted to seek election in 2014 — their silence doesn’t speak to the reality. There is an effect on their personal lives; there is a price paid in full by those at home.

“There are still times when I wonder why he even bothers,” says Donna Clarke of husband Henry’s 20-year run as one of two councillors representing Monaghan Ward. “But it’s what he loves to do and he’s good at it. I can’t do anything but support that.

“When something is really bothering him or when he has to make a very big decision, when he’s here, he’s not here. He loses sleep. It preys on him. And for sure I worry about the backlash he takes at times.”

For councillors’ spouses and partners, watching from the sidelines as those they love are subjected to over-the-top criticism, insults, and mean-spirited innuendo is frustrating, upsetting, and sometimes tear-inducing.

“As a politician, your life is an open book,” says Don Parnell, whose wife Lesley is in her second term as an Otonabee Ward councillor. “I know that but, when people say some of the things they’re saying, I really wonder if they take the time to think what effect that has on the families.”

Both Clarke and Parnell point to last year’s debate of the $105 million sale of Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI) to Hydro One as a particularly difficult time. While both respect the right of all taxpayers to express an opinion on matters before council, that matter brought forth, in their opinion, a nastiness that extended well beyond the norm.

“PDI was the worst in terms of the absolute abuse,” says Clarke. “It was tremendously personal.

“I was getting phone calls (at home) from people where every second word was ‘f–k’. People were yelling at me, they were cursing — the names they were calling Henry and telling me to relay them. You finally get to the point where you say ‘This is our home … you’re not allowed to talk like that.

“For the first time I openly said to Henry ‘Get out of this … nobody has to take this.’ He was at a point where he was teetering. A lot of that has passed but, when you’re going through it, it’s bad.”

At a March 2016 public meeting on the proposed PDI sale held at Market Hall, Parnell was in the audience. He remembers having to restrain himself from coming to his wife’s defence.

“I listen to the comments and I say ‘Wow, that’s not fair'”, he says. “‘You don’t even know my wife and you’re speaking to her in those terms?’

“There are people out there who really have no interest in trying to solve a problem. They’re just there to create a problem. If they don’t hear what they want to hear, your name is mud. There are people out there who will look at this interview and blame Lesley.

“When people say some of the things they say, they should think twice about who else they’re hurting. They may not think they’re bullies, but they are.”

For Joanne Haacke — whose husband Dave is in his first term on council representing Northcrest Ward — overly harsh criticism of her spouse, home phone calls at all hours, and his many hours spent on council business is a relatively new experience.

“One of the biggest reasons why people have such a strong response to some things is because they’re missing information … the dots don’t connect,” she says.

“We don’t why they don’t connect, but we’re frustrated by the fact that they don’t. That happens a ton, for sure. How that looks at our house is the phone ringing. Dave is in conversations regularly with people calling at many different hours of the day. That can be frustrating, but I do appreciate it when people call him and ask him to clarify something. Dave can fill in the gaps in the information.

“You see things getting so emotional over a topic or issue for someone, that respect goes by the wayside. That gets hard. What’s frustrating for him, for me, for anybody, is that feeling of not being able to reach everybody, knowing people are frustrated or have misinformation. You can’t make everybody happy and they’re not going to be happy with your decision regardless. You do have to develop a bit of a thick skin to manage that.”

Of all the spouses and partners of city councillors, Clarke is by far most active when it comes to publicly defending council decisions from what she deems uneducated, and thus unfair, criticism. She regularly writes letters to local newspapers and posts rebuttals on her Facebook page.

“I was following municipal politics long before I met Henry,” she says of the practice. “That doesn’t stop. I will defend not just my husband, but other councillors if I feel they are being unfairly sullied or slammed or people are making comments when they are grossly misinformed.

“There are certain issues I’ve stayed away from. There are comments I read that I would really love to respond to but don’t. You have to be careful. If it’s a hot button issue, I let him read it first. That’s only fair to him because he is the one who was elected. But you still get painted with ‘Oh yeah, that’s his wife.'”

She agrees with Haacke that the advent of social media and its empowering of people to comment in “knee-jerk” fashion has taken biting and insulting criticism to a whole new level.

“You really don’t take the time to think about what you’re putting down in type,” says Parnell, with Haacke adding “When you’re not face-to-face or voice-to-voice, it’s a lot easier to throw something out there.”

Still, for all the frustration, anxiety and, sometimes, anger that comes with the territory of a loved one serving as a city councillor, Clarke, Parnell, and Haacke share one thing: each would be fully supportive of their spouses seeking re-election in 2018.

“Good partners support each other at different times along the journey,” says Haacke.

Both Parnell and Clarke agree.

“As much as I see things that I do not like, I will not stand in the way of her running for office again,” says Parnell, with Clarke noting, “I would support him in anything that he wants to do. He loves this and that’s all that matters.”

That said, each has experience-rooted advice for the spouses and partners of those considering putting their name in the mix for municipal election in November 2018.

“For every difficult call, there are 10 fantastic calls,” Haacke says. “For every negative message, there are 10 positive ones. Go for it and be supportive, as it’s a journey you do together.”

Parnell notes “The good calls balance it out,” adding, “I certainly wouldn’t try to scare anybody off, but it is something to think about. You have to accept the fact that people are going to say things that you’re not going to like that may hurt you.”

“We always talk about it (Henry’s running for election) but I leave the final decision up to him,” says Clarke.

“If you start injecting a lot of personal things, especially the good old family guilt thing, that’s not fair. Henry’s career on council is just part of our life. There’s always something new, there’s always something interesting and you meet an awful lot of people you wouldn’t otherwise get to meet.”

School is back in session! Yellow school buses are back on their well-traveled routes around town, and the backpacks are bobbing up and down the sidewalks again.

Active and Safe Routes to School Peterborough is eager to have everyone enjoy the walk, bike, or bus trip to and from school.

After all, walking, biking, or riding the bus to school helps increase daily physical activity, make connections within the community, and decrease congestion in the school zone.

With all those extra feet on the street, it is important for all road users to give some extra attention to school zone safety. Families and schools spend time each fall reviewing how to safely cross the road and board the bus with young students. Older students often map out safe walking and biking routes with family and friends. There are even more people in the community who work together to keep our school zones safe.

The Crossing Guards of Peterborough play an important role in our community. They are entrusted with the responsibility of assisting elementary school children in safely crossing the road to and from school. Our crossing guards are City of Peterborough employees who are sanctioned under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.

You will recognize them by their fluorescent orange safety vests and hand-held flashing STOP signs, as they spend their weekdays outside braving weather to help students get to school safely.

Drivers can do their part to ensure everyone’s safety, too. The Crossing Guards of Peterborough would like to remind drivers to slow down when approaching a school-crossing zone. When dropping of kids at school, be sure to park in an area designated by the school.

When approaching a school crossing, a crossing guard may have their STOP sign raised. If so, they are indicating their intention to enter the roadway so drivers must stop, and remain stopped, until everyone has safely crossed and exited the roadway.

The Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act, 2015 requires drivers and cyclists to stop at school crossings when a school crossing guard is present and displaying a school crossing stop sign. The Act stipulates that drivers and cyclists may only proceed when all pedestrians and the crossing guard are completely off the roadway. This applies to all school crossings, including signalized intersections with crossing guards.

Under the Highway Traffic Act, failing to obey this new law could result in a fine of $150 to $500 and the loss of three demerit points — and these fines are doubled in community safety zones.

You may have seen the Don’t Let Your Guard Down campaign, which aims to educate school children and adults about their roles and responsibilities when crossing at a school crosswalk. If you’ve missed it, or want a refresher, a short and sweet “Don’t Let Your Guard Down” educational video is available for download from the City of Peterborough’s Crossing Guards education page (or watch it below).

VIDEO: “Don’t Let Your Guard Down” – The Crossing Guards of Peterborough

The CAA School Safety Patrol program, operating at more than 800 Ontario schools, is also helping to safely keep students walking, biking, and busing to school. The Peterborough Police Service provides training for our local School Safety Patrollers, who act as an extra set of eyes and ears. They are there to assist students with crossing the road safely and often work alongside the city Crossing Guards.

There are three types of student foot patrollers: street patrollers, driveway patrollers, and student pick-up/drop-off patrollers. The students work in pairs encouraging other students to cross roads in a safe, responsible way, and educate their classmates on how to cross roads safely by setting a good example.

The Peterborough Police Service is also out in our community reminding everyone about safety for the trip to and from school. Motorists are reminded to be aware of school zone signs and to reduce speed in school zones. Be patient and wait for children to complete their crossing and remember to stop when directed to do so by a crossing guard — it’s the law!

Active and Safe Routes to School Peterborough can help families plan safe and enjoyable routes to and from school. When planning a route consider sidewalks, intersections, and where there is assistance like a crossing guard or school safety patroller.

Jump on-line at peterboroughmoves.com to see if your school has created a Route to School Planner. If not, the Active and Safe Routes to School team can help families and schools develop their own route plan. Contact Jaime Akiyama at GreenUP, 705-745-3238 ext. 210.

Also, watch for the Car Free Wednesdays program, which is rolling out at schools again this fall. Car Free Wednesdays is an Active and Safe Routes to School program that aims to get more students walking, biking, or busing to school. By doing so, you can help decrease traffic in the school zone, get more eyes and ears on the streets, and make connections that will increase safety in the community.

Students can make plans to meet friends as they walk or bike to school or meet up at the bus stop for some fun while waiting for the bus. Car Free Wednesdays are a great way to have a little fun and make connections with neighbours while everyone contributes to increasing school zone safety.

Teacher, school staff, or parents interested in having Car Free Wednesdays at your school can get more information, or register for prizes, at peterboroughmoves.com or by contacting Jaime Akiyama at jaime.akiyama@greenup.on.ca.