There is good news and bad news about the Highway 34 construction project, which is affecting the traffic flow in Vankleek Hill. Work on the project to replace the water main and do repairs to the town’s sanitary sewer system began earlier this year.

The good news is that the Main Street/High Street intersection will be re-opened by this Saturday, and will be paved (“base” lift only, there will still be a final layer of asphalt to install later). The intersection work took slightly longer than expected with the lost time due to rain, and with the need to work around & under existing utilities to remain which really slowed things down. Overnight work will continue this week.

Although the intersection will be re-opened, High Street will still be closed for some time between Methot Street to just south of the Main St intersection to do underground work at the “curve” at the church and businesses. Champlain Township will be issuing a press release on this shortly.

And there is more good news: the project has picked up speed in the past few weeks and is coming along very well. The first section of watermain (south village limits to Russell St) is currently being tested and will be brought back online in the coming weeks. Curb work is expected to start next week in that same section of road.

But here is what may not be the best news. A section of High Street was left untouched approximately between Wall Street and Methot Street. The decision was made this week to not tackle this work this year, as there are worries about running out of time before winter.

The project manager, Francois Lafleur, says, “We don’t want to be in a position where the overland water is freezing, and quality of the concrete/asphalt work suffers due to the cold temperatures. As such, temporary connections will be made to existing infrastructure (watermain & storm sewer), and the work between Wall Street and Methot Street will be completed in Spring/Summer 2019.”

“The “base” layer of asphalt will be done this year on High Street, and we expect the final layer of asphalt to be done next year, once the work is entirely completed,” Lafleur added.