The finishing touches will be made on Santa’s Village Rd. in Bracebridge by the end of July.
However, according to officials with the District of Muskoka, work likely won’t start until mid-May after lifting half-load restrictions.
They explain that when work resumes, Fowler Construction will install 300 m of new sanitary service under the Beaver Creek River and Trans Canada Pipeline, finish installing watermains, do a top lift of asphalt, final driveway restoration, ditching to complete proper drainage, and final landscaping and restoration.
While construction isn’t ongoing on the road, officials point out that Lakeland Power is making utility pole improvements as well as relocating and trimming trees. They say single-lane traffic disruptions should be expected while the work is ongoing, however, they don’t give a timeline for when the work will be finished.
It’s noted that the speed limit on Santa’s Village Rd. is now 40 km/h. It was done in late 2022 in advance of the implementation of a community safety zone from Muskoka Rd. 118 to Santa’s Village Theme Park at 1624 Golden Beach Rd.
The work on the road was delayed in Dec. 2022. At the time, Mark Misko, the district’s director of engineering and transportation, explained a community safety zone is a tool municipalities sometimes put in place in the areas surrounding a school. “The community safety zone, in this case, was requested during public consultation,” he said. Misko pointed out one of the features of the zone is that it doubles speeding fines.