Road work nearing completion

For drivers in Kahnawake, the season of the orange cone and detour sign is soon to come to an end, as the work on Old Chateauguay Road (OCR) is nearing completion for the year.

Brendan Montour, the director of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK)’s Capital Unit, said that work has been progressing well, and they are expecting to be ready to open things up in the section currently being worked on by October 29, very slightly ahead of schedule.

The work done this week is the installation of new concrete curbs as well as some short sections of sidewalk, which will then be backfilled before the reconstruction of that portion of the road proper is done.

“That usually takes a while, with a lot of the surveying and checking and testing being done,” said Montour.

Paving should be started by October 27 and be done two days later, weather permitting.

Along with the OCR, a portion of Kirby Road parallel to the OCR also saw its drainage lines upgraded, which added more detours and time to the project, but was necessary.

The OCR has not been redone since the late 1990s, and with the necessary changes to the water and sewer systems as property development continues on the OCR, it was time to give the road a facelift, too.

Work will be continuing next year on the OCR as part of the rehabilitation project, where it will go up until the Mohawk Street loop.

Elsewhere on the territory, the repaving on Old Malone Highway from the tunnel to the intersection with Highway 132 has already been completed, with that section reopening slightly behind schedule, on October 6 instead of the scheduled date of October 3. The new asphalt is now just waiting for the permanent lines and markings to be painted, which Montour said should be happening soon.

There too, the road was due for some work, with the last major project also dating from almost 30 years ago.

“As we all know, the asphalt was in very bad shape. There were a lot of cracks. The two layers didn’t adhere to themselves very well, and a crack right down the middle of the road developed within two years of it being done,” said Montour.

Water also pooled in many places, due to poor drainage and sloping of the road, an issue which should now be fixed.

Early in the summer, frustrations mounted in the community regarding the detours as well as the increase in non-local traffic in the community, particularly in the side streets.

In particular, one incident in late May, which saw a large number of vehicles enter the territory to go to the halal butcher shop on the OCR for Eid al-Adha, attracted a lot of attention.

“That caused a lot of havoc for people going all over and avoiding detours. It really gave the neighbourhood a lot of headaches,” said Montour.

Ever since, though, he’s said they have not heard very many complaints, and no other incident of that scale occurred to his knowledge.

“People haven’t been so heated, it’s kind of settled down things,” said Montour.

“For the people who have been patient, we thank them for their patience for what has been a real journey this year.”

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