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Dryden underpass closing Thursday for maintenance

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Drivers in Dryden are being advised to plan ahead as the city prepares to close the King Street underpass to all traffic.

The department of Public Works will be out fixing roads from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, so if you’re commuting to work, either by vehicle or walking, that area will be off limits.

In a road closure notice, officials apologize for any inconvenience and say if anyone has questions or concerns to reach out to the Public Works office for further information.

Dryden Snow Removal

Repairs, snow removal causing traffic delays in Dryden

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Dryden motorists can expect some delays and disruptions around town on Friday.

Public Works crews will be busy in a couple of areas on various projects.

Duke Street will be closed to vehicles between Van Horn Avenue and Whyte Avenue from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The closure is necessary while workers complete emergency repairs to the wastewater collection system.

An alternate route for commercial vehicles will be available on Gordon Road.

Elsewhere, workers will be removing snowbanks on Memorial Avenue until 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Drivers should expect temporary road closures or minor disruptions. There will also be increased noise levels in the area.

Anyone with questions or concerns can contact the Public Works department at 223-2367.

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Traffic Light Replacement Costs Higher Than Expected

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The city of Dryden will use federal gas tax money to offset a budget shortfall for new traffic lights along Highway 17.

The city is replacing eight sets of light, some of which have been in place for 40 years.

Only only bid was received, and that was from Kenora-based Moncrief Construction.

Its initial bid came in at over $1.4 million. With hardware and engineering costs factored in, the total cost of the project came in $600 thousand higher than anticipated.

Public Workers Manager Blake Poole says materials costs had a lot to do with the higher price.

“Pricing just on wiring and a lot of other things were a lot higher. Concrete came in slightly higher. There were a couple of areas though we were a little surprised by, but a lot of it, they said, had to do with the mobilization and demobilization for the contractors,” says Poole.

Poole says they were able to lower the final cost a little but still needed $475-thousand in gas tax money.

The city received a grant last year from the Ministry of Transportation of almost $1.2 million. The city’s share is $133 thousand.

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Road Work On Overpass Underway

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A reminder of traffic disruptions starting Thursday in Dryden.

Public Works is starting road repairs on the Duke Street Overpass.

The road will be closed to south bound traffic, while the north bound lane will remain open.

The sidewalk will be off-limits to pedestrians.

Delays can be expected and you should consider alternate routes.

The work is scheduled from 7am until 7pm daily until October 2nd.

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Parking Bylaw Not Well Received By One Councillor

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The City of Dryden is taking action to assist Public Works snow removal efforts during the winter months.

Parking will now be banned on all municipal streets between midnight and 7am from the last Sunday of October to the first Sunday of the following April.

Councillor Shayne MacKinnon is upset with the new bylaw stressing the City doesn’t own the streets, the residents do, and that’s why he couldn’t support the approved changes.

“It takes maybe three nights to plow every street in Dryden. So a typical residential street would be plowed three times a month optimistically. So for 151 days during those months you are not allowed to park in front of your property?”

MacKinnon says the City should be educating people and not penalizing everyone.

“I don’t see us doing any campaigns. I’ve never seen anything, literature go out for residents.”

MacKinnon notes police only issued 11 tickets for impeding snow removal operations in 2019.

He stresses the midnight to 7am time frame also doesn’t make sense, noting people are still out and active during that time.

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Full Schedule For Dryden Public Works

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It’s been a busy start to the summer for Dryden Public Works despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Operations Manager Colin Hawkins says they have a full schedule looking ahead.

“The roadway construction work that’s ongoing this year. Including the Van Horne rehabilitation project. Including the Connecting Link resurfacing of the Overpass. And of course all our regular operations and maintenance work is well underway.”

The Van Horne rebuild will begin in earnest on Tuesday.

Hawkins adds “We’re steaming right along. We’ve got lines painted, or close to done painting, and we’ve got a lot of clean-up done around the City. There’s some flowers out although we don’t have the same flower program as we would have in non-COVID years. But we’re busy working around town.”

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Two Old Trees Being Removed From Cooper Park

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The City of Dryden is hoping to turn a negative into a positive as it continues to remove two large balsam poplar trees from Cooper Park.

Public Works Operations Manager Colin Hawkins says the trees were dying off in the crown creating some very dangerous dead wood above the pedestrian trail.

Hawkins stresses the Public Works department never endeavours to go out and cut trees down for no reason.

“Even though we have love for these big giant trees in Cooper Park, at some point in time we do have to do some maintenance just to maintain public safety on the trail and so we had to do some pretty severe cutting to these trees.”

Not all is lost as Hawkins says “We are are working with Community Services over at the Museum to cut a couple of “cookies” out of them. Hopefully the Museum can display them. And we’re trying to work with local craftsmen to see if we maybe can come up with something decorative or commemorative with some of the round wood. Maybe some park bench slabs or something just to commemorate these two beautiful trees in Cooper Park.”

Hawkins can’t say how long the massive trees have been there but they were planted when the park was first developed so they’ve been around for a long time.

(Photo Credit: Tim McKillop_

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