Roads and Sidewalks in Central Manitoulin

A Driveway Entrance Application Form must be filled out and paid for in advance of the Roads Department conducting a site visit. The $20.00 fee is non-refundable whether the entrance is approved or not. The form also includes the related by-law for reference. 

Please include a drawing of your planned driveway installation. Roads Department staff will let you know if it is okay or if it needs to be changed. The purpose of this procedure is to outline criteria when reviewing applications for new entrances or alterations to entrances to ensure:

• Protection of the public through the orderly control of traffic movement onto and from Municipal roads
• Protection of the public investment in Municipal roads
• Minimizing Municipal expenditures on maintenance of private entrance ways
• Providing legal access onto Municipal roads from adjacent private property

Points to remember:

• Storm water cannot drain to Town property or any other property.
• Storm water Do not disturb storm water drainage.
• from the street cannot enter your property or your neighbor's property.
• Your driveway cannot block your sight line or the sight line of street traffic when you are entering or leaving your driveway. A 200-meter sight line is required on an 80 km/h road.

All this information can be found on the Driveway Entrance Application Form.

When half-load restrictions are in effect, temporary signs will indicate when a road is off-limits to vehicles exceeding 5 tonnes per axle. However, there may be alternate routes that can be taken to reach a destination.

The main roads within the Municipality are Ontario Highways 542 and 551. The Provincial roads maintained by Emcon Services Inc. are under contract with the Ontario Provincial Government Ministry of Transportation (MTO). The main roads travelling through all of Central Manitoulins Towns, Villages and Hamlets are Provincial Roads. The Municipality has a share financial contract with MTO to care for the sidewalks in the town of Mindemoya. The sidewalks in Mindemoya are maintained in the winter by the Municipality of Central Manitoulin.

The 24/7 Road Reporting Line for Ontario Roads is 1-844-362-6615.

The Municipality of Central Manitoulin takes road safety seriously. We are committed to keeping all users of our road infrastructure safe. The following are just some ways the Municipality promotes and supports road safety.

Road Classifications

The Roads Department crew maintains approximately 440 km of roads within this Municipality. Summer and winter maintenance is done on a priority basis as per provincial road classifications. Whether you are a motorist, cyclist or a pedestrian, we urge you to familiarize yourself with the Provincial roads classifications. www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/020239. This will help you to understand which streets and which areas will receive priority treatment.

Municipal Speed Monitoring

The Roads Department also completes random speed monitoring and forwards the results to the OPP to assist with enforcement purposes. Our by-laws enhance road safety, such as: Traffic By-law, Parking By-law and Obstruction of Sidewalk By-law. Your cooperation with the municipal by-laws and other rules of the road would be appreciated.

Highway Traffic Act Enforcement 

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) actively enforces the speed limits within the municipality.

The Municipality encourages drivers to practice safe driving behavior at all times. We also ask you to help convince other drivers (and pedestrians) to be responsible too. Contact the Ontario Provincial Police to report dangerous and aggressive drivers to the police.

The Roads Department staff work diligently to keep our roads and sidewalks safe for drivers and pedestrians. Please understand that we cannot plow or sand every road at the same time. Some roads and sidewalks as well as intersections and school zones are high priority and will receive attention first.

The Roads Department take into consideration both the speed limit that applies to the road and the average daily traffic, all roads in Ontario are rated as a Classification of 1 – 6. Class 1 roads are the highest priority and Class 6 roads are the lowest priority. The roads throughout Central Manitoulin are Class 4, 5 or 6. If you want to know what class a road is, please visit the MTO website to see how roads are classified.  www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/020239

Staff will patrol our roads to see if they are:

• Bare and wet/dry
• Track bare.
• Center bare.
• Snow covered.
• Snow packed.

During winter events such as snow flurries, squalls or freezing rain, staff will base their course of action on:

• Snow accumulation
• Drifting snow
• Ice covered roads.
• Spot ice