Hwy 539 Rehab To Get Underway in 2024

Councillor, Anne Tessier informs council that the $15M project will get done this year.

At the April 16th meeting, council requested that staff provide an update on various Ministry of Transportation (MTO) projects affecting West Nipissing.

Most importantly council wanted an update on the status of the long-awaited rehabilitation of Highway 539 between River Valley and Warren. The majority of the 23km stretch linking the two communities is situated in West Nipissing. The provincial road is in a terrible state and was long overdue to be repaired.

In 2019, council sent a letter to the MTO asking that this project be accelerated. At the time, Mayor Joanne Savage said that the municipality was receiving numerous complaints about potholes and that temporary patch jobs didn’t hold.

During the 2022 elections, former ward 6 (River Valley) councillor, Rolland Larabie told residents that this project would be completed shortly. However two years later, council was still left wondering when this main artery would finally be fixed.

West Nipissing’s Director of Infrasturcture, Elizabeth Henning along with the town CAO, Jay Barbeau gave council a brief update, however they seemed to think that the project could be delayed once again until 2025.

But current ward 6 councillor, Anne Tessier said she had looked into the matter and confirmed the project had been awarded two months ago.

According to the MTO website, the tender process for this project started in January and was awarded to J & P Leveque Bros. for just over $15 million in March.

This will be welcome news for residents of Field, River Valley and Kipling who frequently rely on this highway. This project is also bound to bring positive economic activity to the region.

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