Controversial Peterborough detours need 'massage,' says Riel - ThePeterboroughExaminer.com

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Coun. Keith Riel said on Monday evening there could be a way to “massage” the detours and residential road closures associated with the replacement of the Warsaw Swing Bridge, yet both Coun. Gary Baldwin and Mayor Diane Therrien said no changes are likely.

Riel said at City Hall on Monday evening that there had been a meeting earlier in the day between city and County of Peterborough officials to discuss how people are being inconvenienced by the road closures.

"We understand there's a problem — we sympathize," Riel said. “It’s a plan that can be massaged.”

Parkhill Road East was closed between Armour Road and Television Road on Oct. 5 as Parks Canada replaces the bridge, which is 64 years old and worn out.

The replacement of the bridge is expected to take eight months and requiring wide detours in the meantime.

The main detour route for eastbound traffic and all trucks follows University Road, Nassau Mills Road and Armour Road.

A secondary detour for westbound traffic follows Television Road, Lansdowne Street and Ashburnham Drive.


There are also traffic restrictions along nearby residential streets. McFarlane Avenue, Old Norwood Road and Maniece Avenue (between Television Road and Ashburnham Drive) are also closed to through traffic during the project to allow local traffic and emergency vehicles to access properties along these roads.

The detour routes and road restrictions aim to discourage motorists from taking a short cut by using the nearby Lift Lock tunnel or McFarlane Street bridge.

"We have to find that sweet spot of how we can move people" without hurting the residential streets, Riel said, adding he came away from the meeting earlier in the day Monday thinking the road closure plan can be adjusted to arrive at “a workable solution.”

Fellow Ashburnham Ward Coun. Gary Baldwin — who was at the same meeting with Riel — didn’t see it that way.

“If we can massage it, great — but there was no commitment to massage,” he said. “We may end up having to stay the course of what we have now.”

Mayor Diane Therrien also said the closures are unlikely to change.

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“We’ve already found out it's a difficult situation, but we do need to manage expectations here,” she said.


“Because we can’t have huge volumes of traffic, plus trucks and heavy loads going over the McFarlane bridge … We’re conscious of the issues, but we have to manage expectations: it (the series of closed roads) is not just going to open up.”