Construction begins today on a new road connecting Yellek and Duchesnay in Nipissing First Nation. The road begins at the railway crossing at the corner of Nova Beaucage Road in Yellek and ends at the northwest corner of Goulais Crescent in Duchesnay.
“We’ve done a lot of pre-planning and now we’re going to be doing some pre-blasting before the actual roads starts to be built this coming spring,” explained Chief Scott McLeod.
“We need to blast to get some of the infrastructure in that will go along with the roadway, so that will be starting this week.”
Nipissing Miller will be moving in equipment and completing clearing on and along the new roadway over the next three weeks.
The railway bed will be closed to all traffic during this time, Nipissing First Nation explained in a release, including pedestrian, all-terrain vehicle, and snowmobile traffic.
The project is expected to be complete “next year,” Nipissing First Nation mentioned in their release, adding that “it will provide a much needed and safe local road link for school buses and residents to avoid travelling on Highway 17.”
“It will also open up land for development,” and offer “a secondary means of emergency access to both communities to improve fire and emergency service response times.”
“There will be some inconveniences to our community,” during construction, Chief McLeod said, “but at the same time, in the long term, it’s going to benefit everybody here”
“I think we’re well prepared for this to take place,” he said.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
