Construction is underway on a new industrial road that will run east for about seven kilometres from Highway 655 to Lake Shore Gold’s Bell Creek Mine in Porcupine. “This is going to alleviate a lot of pressure from the downtown core,” said Marcel Cardinal, director of environment, sustainability and security for Lake Shore Gold. “Our haulage will be coming up the north end of town to this haul road and it’s been a long time in the making.” Timmins clerk Steph Palmateer said the project has been in the works since 2013. “There were a lot of different property owners, there were different ministries involved, there were some private partners (and) there were private landowners,” said Palmateer. “It was a real process trying to connect all the pieces that were required to make this bypass haul road a reality.” Villeneuve Construction is one of the property owners, with around 2,000 acres. ‘The right path’ “So, you know, locating the right path and making sure that the road is safe and well done -- very proud of that,” said vice-president Mario Villeneuve. Upon completion sometime in the spring, Lake Shore Gold said anywhere from 80-100 trucks will be diverted from travelling through the city’s core. “We’ll have significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy overall and obviously alleviating a lot of the stress on the core of the downtown and, you know, hopefully making it a safer place for our residents,” said Cardinal. Timmins MPP George Pirie, who is also Minister of Northern Economic Development and Growth, said the bypass will help prolong the province’s financial contribution to the city’s connecting link. “It’s imperative that we get those trucks off that piece of highway and this is a big step- a big part of that,” said Pirie. “That’s why we need a southern link as well to bypass to get into the discovery mill or the dome mill.” Lake Shore Gold officials said the road is an investment in Timmins as they plan to be operating here for a long time.
