A rapid return to winter closed roads and schools across midwestern Ontario on Thursday. “I don’t think it’s over yet. We’re only in mid-January here,” said Huron OPP Community Services Officer Craig Soldan. As the weather turned ugly, motorists started the frantic to search to find out what roads were open and which were closed. Soldan says this winter, the OPP detachments in Huron, Perth, Bruce, Grey, and Wellington counties all started using the Municipal 511 website as a one stop shop for road conditions and road closures across the region. “It was confusing maybe a little bit before because, motorists thought, ‘Okay, where do I get this information? Where’s the best place? Where’s the most trusted platform to get the road closure information?’ We still utilize X, we utilize Instagram, we utilize Facebook, but people would like to know, ‘Okay, just send me to one place where it’s accurate and up to date,’” explained Soldan. Soldan says Municipal 511 is updated directly by the people who are opening and closing the roads, making it quicker and more accurate than previous methods. “Our supervisors go in and add the closures and then they also do the openings when the road is reopened. So, that’s in real time and it’s immediate. So, we are the ones that close the roads, and we are the ones that go in and manage that directly at the Municipal 511 site,” he said. Soldan says the Municipal 511 site also has real time photos from MTO cameras, road conditions, and other traffic hazards. “Municipal 511 is the most up to date, most accurate source for your road closure information for weather related closures from the police,” said Soldan.
