Saying the town doesn't have much choice, Leamington's mayor says it will go ahead and pay to pave the shoulders along a stretch of County Rd. 18 with, or without county council's cooperation.
"People's lives are at risk," says Mayor John Paterson. "If you look over the last 20 years there's been at least 12 either migrant workers or local citizens who have been killed on these roads that don't have safe trails for them to ride."
Paterson says he's asked county council to share the $98,000 cost, about $36,000, but it said no, despite what's spelled out in the County Wide Active Transportation System plan.
"It states in there that any time they repave roads, they will repave the shoulders," he says. "As much as we argued the point, they said well, we're not really going to listen to our own preachings."
The county is paving County Rd. 18 from Hwy. 77 to the Trans Canada Trail and Paterson says the town will attempt to recoup the cost for the shoulders from the county later.
Asked if the conflict suggests support for the CWATS plan is flagging, Paterson says he isn't sure, but there will be a discussion on it at the county council.
"We're having a few cracks show up in regards to how our capital expenses go on roads," he says. "There seems to be a real deficiency on where those monies are being spent in the southern half of the county."
The cost to the Town of Leamington won't impact ratepayers since the funding will come out of gas tax revenues.
