Cornwall-area politicians, drivers lament latest Hwy. 138 work delays

It was a close call last February that got Caroline Guimond fighting for a better Highway 138.

The Maxville resident was in a line of cars behind a school bus, on a route her children take, when one impatient driver swerved out to pass.

They darted past the bus, narrowly missing another driver headed in the opposite direction.

"I said, you know what? At one point a very serious disaster will happen on this road," said Guimond, an almost-daily highway user until she recently got a new job. "I have to do something about this."

Guimond soon launched an online petition urging the Ontario government to improve safety on the busy single-lane eastern Ontario highway between Highway 417 and Cornwall.

The petition got more than 1,000 signatures and she was pleased when Ontario's Ministry of Transportation (MTO) earmarked 2023 as the year for significant infrastructure work.

But now, the MTO has pushed back a big road resurfacing project to 2024.

"It's been clear from day one that the Ministry of Transportation has no intention to make any improvements to this roadway," Guimond said. "So I can't say I'm surprised."

Several deaths in recent years

Over the past decade, the roughly 36-kilometre highway has seen its share of fatal crashes:

• A 30-year-old man was killed when he hit a hydro pole near Moose Creek in January 2016.
• Azizullah Assadzada, a 27-year-old from Ottawa, died in a head-on crash with a transport truck in May 2017 north of Willy Allan Road.
• Embrun teacher Adriana Chrétien, also 27, died in a two-vehicle crash north of Cornwall in February 2020. The other driver, a 22-year-old woman from Montreal, suffered critical injuries, while two of her passengers were also hospitalized.
• An 88-year-old man from Embrun was killed last April after colliding head-on with a transport truck near Gravel Hill Road.

According to MTO statistics, there were 44 collisions reported on Highway 138 last year. Collisions were lower in 2020 and 2021 — the first two pandemic years — but still in the double digits, while the ministry said no data is available yet for 2023.

"There [are] no areas where drivers can safely pass transports or other slow-moving vehicles," Guimond said. "The drivers are very aggressive … they'll pass you whether there [are] cars in the oncoming lane or not."

It was expected the MTO would repave a 17.4-kilometre stretch of the highway in 2023, while also carrying out intersection improvements, culvert replacements and a few other projects.

But last month, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry learned the resurfacing would be postponed, much to the chagrin of Bryan McGillis, mayor for the Township of South Stormont.

McGillis told CBC earlier this month that — aside from general pandemic-related slowdowns — he hadn't been given a solid explanation for the delay.

"It's not a safe highway at this point in time," said McGillis, adding that both his brother and mother have been involved in crashes on the highway.

"I've lived in that area ... all my life. And we've never seen truck traffic like this, ever."

Distribution centres mean more trucks

Those heavy truck volumes are partly due to the the region, sandwiched between Ottawa and Montreal, quickly becoming a hub for the logistics industry.

Earlier this year, a $25-million distribution centre, complete with a 155,000-square-foot warehouse, opened in the town of Ingleside. 

In 2021 Walmart unveiled what it described as "state-of-the-art" warehouse technology at its 40,000-square-foot facility in Cornwall, while Loblaws consolidated its Ottawa and Laval, Que., warehouses into one distribution centre in the city the year before.

Another large "logistics village" is also slated to open in nearby Long Sault.

"It's not just the distribution centres pushing goods out, it's receiving goods as well. You're talking about a lot of increased consumerism and deliveries online," said Cornwall Mayor Justin Towndale.

• Pandemic shopping driving demand for more warehouses in Ottawa
• Businesses hope Amazon arrival will put Boundary Road on the map

While all those trucks ferrying packages back and forth pose a new challenge, heavy traffic and a lack of space to pass have frustrated drivers for years, Towndale said.

"Say I'm headed north, there's a car passing and there's southbound traffic," said Towndale, who's been taking Highway 138 since he was in high school. 

"I've seen it where the southbound traffic had to make room and pull off so the northbound car could continue. And that's highly illegal, highly dangerous.

"You can never really truly control everybody and their driving habits. But at the same time, if there were passing lanes [that would help]. There's a combination of different projects that need to be done, for sure."

More than 2 dozen recommendations

As Towndale and McGillis both point out, it's not like Highway 138's weaknesses popped up overnight.

In 2017, the MTO received a report from consulting firm Stantec that proposed more than two dozen recommendations for improving the highway, from new turning and passing lanes to roundabouts, carpool lots and flood mitigation infrastructure.

Most of those projects, Stantec said, could be carried out within a decade — a deadline that's now not too far off. 

"It's a 10-year plan. We're in year six, and they've implemented two, with the third coming," Towndale said.

In an ideal world, both McGillis and Towndale would love for Highway 138 to be twinned, but more passing and turning lanes would at least help alleviate some of the stresses drivers face.

They both hope the repaving gets underway in 2024. If MTO crews are already out there, the two mayors say it makes financial sense to just install those lanes while they're at it.

"If the delay results in those projects being undertaken together, it's a good outcome," said Towndale. "But if not, it just shows that the 138 seems to be expendable for some reason, when it really  shouldn't be."

Work should happen in 2024, says MTO

Towndale noted that local Progressive Conservative MPP Nolan Quinn has been "very vocal" about the highway and has brought it up on several occasions with Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney. (CBC reached out to Quinn's office but did not get a response in time for publication).

The MTO told CBC in a statement that it was moving forward with "design work" for Highway 138, including  a roundabout at Headline Road, and that construction was indeed expected to begin in 2024.

"Utility relocations and property acquisition are also being finalized in anticipation of construction beginning," the ministry said.

As for Guimond, she's not so sure.

Her theory is that the province doesn't truly believe volumes are high enough on Highway 138 and expects they'll instead keep relying on the Ontario Provincial Police to manage bad driver behaviour.

"I would love to launch another petition if I felt like the Ministry of Transportation would be receptive to making the changes that are needed to make this roadway safe," she said.

"However, I don't think that they are."

Read the 2017 Stantec report here: