Public Works

ALNWICK/HALDIMAND TOWNSHIP
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Public Works Department
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It is the responsibility of the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand to improve and maintain the township’s road system for the benefit of all residents and visitors of our municipality.  Depending on the season, some of the Public Works day to day operations includes, grading roads and shoulders; ditching; roadside grass mowing; patching; brushing; sweeping; and road signs.  Some maintenance is routinely performed each year, however, most roads are scheduled for maintenance only as required.  Deficiencies reported by the public are repaired on a priority basis.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Public Works Department at 905-349-2700.

There are several County Roads within our municipality and for information on, or to report issues about these roads, please contact Northumberland County at 1-800-354-7050.

County Roads include:
County Road #2
County Road #9
County Road #18
County Road #22
County Road #23
County Road #24
County Road #29
County Road #31
County Road #33 (Merrill Road)
County Road #45

Ministry of Transportation Highways include:  Highway 401

Contacts
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Troy A. Gilmour, C.Tech., rcji
Public Works Superintendent
tgilmour@ahtwp.ca

Shawn McBride, CRS –S
Public Works Foreman
smcbride@ahtwp.ca

Tel:   905-349-2700
Fax:  905-349-3902

Main Public Works Garage is located at:

Centreton Garage
2267 County Road #23,
Centreton, ON

North End Winter Garage is located at:

Roseneath Garage
554 4th Line Road
Roseneath, ON
Tel:    905-352-2049 

Hours of Operation
Winter Hours  
Monday to Thursday
6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Friday
6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Summer Hours
Monday to Thursday
6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Mailing Address:
Township of Alnwick/Haldimand
PO Box 70,
10836 County Road #2

Road Maintenance
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Spring/Summer

During spring thaw, most Township roads become too soft to withstand the weight of a fully loaded truck, no matter how many axles.  In an effort to reduce damage to the roads, the Township has weight restrictions to half loads (5 tonnes per axle) on all roads from March 1st to April 30th, or as posted depending on the weather each year.  Please do not have heavy deliveries to your property during this time period.

Each spring, during the months of April and May, the Public Works Department conducts a winter cleanup operation.  Roads and intersections are swept to remove the accumulation of sand/salt from over the past winter season.  Sweeping operations reduces the amount of dust raised by vehicular traffic.

Early to mid May the Public Works Department grades the gravel roads and applies liquid calcium chloride to stabilize the road base and control dust.

Mowing of grass along municipally owned roads is completed from early June to mid September.  Road side mowing is completed on a majority of the municipality owned roads twice per year.

The remainder of the summer months is devoted to Road Construction and Surface Treating projects.  The Township strives to surface treat between five to ten kilometers of gravel roads each year, recap existing surface treated roads and to reconstruct old surface treated roads which have become deficient.

Roadside ditches perform four primary functions:

• They serve to drain water from the road base and sub grade; they are not intended to drain adjacent properties, but in many cases, they may.
• They carry collected water to a sufficient outlet.
• They stop the uncollected sheet of surface water coming from outside the road allowance from getting on the road.
• They assist in winter snow clearing operations by providing snow below the elevation of the road surface.

Property owners do not have absolute right to outlet to roadside ditches.  The Township reserves the right to remove or restrict any outlets to ditches that cause operational issues or damage to the drainage system.  Please contact the Township’s Public Works Department before proceeding to direct water to the Township’s ditches.

Fall/Winter

The Public Works Department is responsible for the plowing and sanding of all year round maintained roads following winter weather events, based on an established route.

The Public Works Department has nine plow routes, of which three are operated from the north (Roseneath) garage, located at 554  4th Line Road) and six of which are operated from the south (Centreton) garage, located at 2267 County Road #23.

The majority of the plowing and sanding operations are completed during normal working hours.  However, it is not uncommon for the Public Works Department employees to work extended periods of time during the normal work week or even on weekends and holidays.  The Public Works Department will only respond to Fire, Medical and Police emergencies on a 24 hour basis.

Mailboxes are the responsibility of the property owner.  The Township does not clear the snow around mailboxes and does not guarantee any service levels for rural mail delivery.  The municipality will replace a damaged mailbox if the damage is deemed to be the result of a direct hit from plow equipment; this is subject to the approval of the Public Works Superintendent or Foreman.  Mailboxes which have been damaged by snowload off the plow equipment will be replaced by the municipality. Mailboxes should be constructed to withstand the impact of snow from plow operations.

Winter Tips

• Change your decorative mailbox in the winter.  This will ensure that the snow being plowed doesn’t damage you decorative mailbox.
• Put garbage in your driveway and not on the road allowance on garbage collection days.
• Pile snow on the right side of your driveway.  This is the down-side of the plow so it will help to reduce snow build-up in your driveway.
• Do not push or deposit snow from your driveway onto the road.
• Please don’t park on the road – put your vehicle in your driveway.
• Replace your mailbox post when it’s necessary.  Old posts become rotten and can be pushed over with the weight of snow being plowed.
• Please slow down!  Drive to the weather and road conditions.
• Don’t follow too closely to snow plows – especially on hills.
• Where possible, let the salt work on the roads before driving.
• If you live on a corner property and the driveway is close to the corner there is a good chance that the snow build-up in your laneway will be more than your neighbours.  This is caused by the turning operations of the snow plows.

Road Signs

Please contact the Public Works Department at 905-349-2700 if a road sign has been damaged or removed.

Roadside Trees

Please contact the Public Works Department at 905-349-2700 in the event that trees have fallen or may cause a hazard.

Noxious Weeds

If you have any concerns with noxious weeds, please contact the County Weed Inspector at 905-372-0141.

Illegal Dumping on Roadsides:

All illegal dumping should be reported to the Northumberland County Waste Management Department at:
555 Courthouse Road
Cobourg, ON  K9A 5J6
Tel:  905-372-3329 or 1-800-354-7050

Street Lights

The Township of Alnwick/Haldimand has over 200 street lights that are intended to illuminate streets, paths, parks and parking lots.  Please contact the Public Works Department at 905-349-2700 to report burnt out streetlights with the pole number that is located on each pole.

Culverts / Entrance Permits
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All culverts within the Township’s right-of-way are maintained by the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand.  If you require an additional entrance or a new entrance, or if you require maintenance to your entrance culvert, i.e., it is plugged with debris, heaved up/caved in, frozen causing flooding, please contact the Public Works Department at 905-349-2700.

If you are having your driveway repaved, consider having a representative from the Public Works Department check the condition of the culvert beforehand.  Note any end treatments of the culverts are not the responsibility of the Township and it is the property owner’s responsibility to remove and replace if required by the Township.

If you are building a new home, your building permit cannot be issued until the Building Department received confirmation that you have applied for an entrance culvert from the Public Works Department.  We may suggest delaying the installation of the culvert until after the heavy equipment is finished at your building site.  A heavy truck could crush the entrance culvert, requiring you to pay to have another one installed.  Once you have applied for the entrance culvert, a representative from the Public Works Department will check the location to see if a culvert is required and if the sight lines are sufficient for safe entry onto the roadway.

All entrances must be constructed by the owner at his/her cost and shall be installed to the following specifications:

Entrance Culvert:

• New steel culverts only
• Minimum culvert size shall be 18” (450mm) diameter and 30’ (9m) in length
• Couplers shall be a 5 corrugation bolt up coupler
• No sheet metal, dimple type couplers will be allowed; plastic culverts not acceptable.
  Backfilling
• Granular “A” gravel shall be used around the culvert and for the top surface of the entrance
• Leave 2’-3’ of culvert exposed at each end with 2:1 backslopes
• 12” (300mm) of fill over the top of culvert (minimum)
• Must be installed to warrant the drainage flow

Size of culvert may vary due to drainage requirements.  Any variation in culvert size will be determined by the Public Works Department.  For additional information or to arrange an on-site meeting, please call the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand Public Works Department at 905-349-2700.

Fee Schedule

Residential     $1,000.00        Refund        $750.00
Commercial    $1,250.00        Refund        $750.00
Agricultural     $1,000.00        Refund        $750.00

Entrance culvert must be approved by Public Works Department representative before deposit refund can be requested.

Entrance deposit refund must be requested within two years of Permit date of issuance.  Full deposit will be forfeited to the municipality after the two year date has passed.

If a property owner chooses to pave their driveway, the Township will not be responsible for replacing pavement in the event that a repair or replacement of the culvert is required due to frost heaving or as a result of construction.

Current Projects
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Weather
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Environment Canada's weather web site provides official weather warnings, current conditions, forecasts, and weather models, for public.

Please click on the below website:

http://weather.gc.ca/forecast/canada/index_e.html?id=ON

Environment Canada Facts and Figures

Environment Canada plays an important role every day and has established a legacy of action on behalf of the environment since it was first created in 1971.

Every year, Environment Canada

• issues (on average) 1.5 million public forecasts, 15 000 severe weather warnings, 500 000 aviation forecasts, and 200 000 marine, ice and sea-state forecasts;
• receives over 55 million calls to our weather information telephone line
• averages over half a billion individual visits to our comprehensive weather website weatheroffice.gc.ca;
• manages the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), the first health protection tool of its kind in the world, which lets Canadians determine how much time they should spend outside or how they should adjust their activities under higher air pollution levels;
• coordinates, manages and provides advice for over 1000 significant environmental incidents, including conducting environmental impact assessments;
• assesses the risks of nearly 1000 chemical substances that may be found in our air, water and industrial and consumer products;
• processes 7000 notices for proposed international shipments of hazardous waste permits and more than 43 000 shipment manifests involving hazardous waste;
• implements and supports hundreds of environmental technology advancement projects in Canada and abroad;
• publishes about 600 peer-reviewed scientific publications;
• provides expert advice and coordination to 18 federal departments and agencies for managing the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan; and
• tracks releases, disposals and transfers for recycling of over 300 substances from approximately 8000 facilities in Canada.