OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a letter about the Old Barrie Road on-ramp to Highway 11, published Feb. 15.
I lived on Harvie Settlement Road for 10 years. I contacted the Ministry of Transportation on a number of occasions asking them to do something about this ramp.
They told me they were revamping the Old Barrie Road bridge and would take a look at the ramp situation. I gave them comparisons with other ramps in the area and pointed out that the Old Barrie Road ramp was the shortest in the area.
They said they would keep me updated. However, they did the bridge and made a change to the ramp as it came off Old Barrie Road, but nothing to the ramp onto the highway.
When I contacted them, they said they were going to look into it within the next 10 years.
They put a chain-link fence along the highway through Orillia. When I questioned them on the installation of the chain-link fence, I was told it was to protect the people of Orillia from crossing the highway.
Who in their right mind crosses the highway? We needed the ramp fixed to protect the people of Orillia, not a chain-link fence.
I suppose this is the way the government works. They don’t like people pointing out problems and they do what they think needs to be done, not what should be done for the safety of the public.
Ian Richards
Orillia
