Some residents concerned City is “hiding” spill on Lifford Road

KAWARTHA LAKES-Residents who live in the area of Lifford Road are angry after they were not informed of a “spill” on Monday.

Initially the road was closed from Highway 35 to Beers Road after a crane rolled into the ditch on Monday.  But after the road remained closed Tuesday morning  Jacqueline Bradbury began to wonder what was really going on.

“An HVAC unit went up there Monday afternoon. They’re hiding it” Bradbury told Kawartha 411 on Tuesday. “There should be more communication with what happened.”

The City put out a “Road Closure” notice on their website on Monday with no mention of a “spill”.

“Please be advised there is a temporary road closure for Lifford Road in Manvers between Highway 35 and Beers Road.” said the notice.

Kawartha 411 reached out to the City on the morning of Tuesday January 28th to find out why the road was still closed. Here’s what we were told:

“The issue is a crane truck went into the ditch and is blocking the road.” Cheri Davidson, Communications for the City told Kawartha 411. “It requires special equipment to be removed, so we’re hoping that will arrive soon.”

We then asked about the presence of the spill clean-up crew and if there had been a spill of some sort. Almost 24 hours later we have not have any response from the City.

After repeated inquiries, residents living in the area received a text this morning from their councillor. “The road will be closed tomorrow until noon due to contaminant clean up.”

Just before noon today the City explained the delay in opening the road.

“The crane truck that tipped over into the ditch spilled some of its fluids and the city has been involved with putting down sand to help contain the fluid, and closing the road. That is the extent of our involvement. This is a private company and the appropriate cleanup authorities are involved. We hope the road can be reopened by this afternoon, and will notify the public when it is reopened.” Cheri Davidson explained.

Bradbury says this incident highlights a bigger problem with the road. There have been at least four large trucks/vehicles go into the ditch or jackknife on that same stretch of road over the last few weeks.

“It’s been eventful on Lifford. It’s hilly. There’s the quarry. Our roads aren’t being properly maintained and trucks are made to go down these roads. I don’t remember a winter with so many ditched trucks.” Bradbury explained. “Ends up costing everyone money when they could just sand it well enough.”

Bradbury says even the OPP had a hard time getting action on road maintenance.

Meantime, we still don’t know what was spilled or how much of it.