'They have done nothing': Flooded portion of Hwy. 638 concerns township officials

A township east of Sault Ste. Marie is calling on the province to fix a stretch of highway that connects the small town of Echo Bay to the four-lane portion of Highway 17. 

Members of council for the Township of Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional say a portion of Highway 638 has been flooded for months now, creating a safety hazard for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians who have had to navigate a single lane of road — in this case, a pothole-riddled gravel shoulder — all while going around a blind corner. 

Councillor Parker Brockelbank says the temporary fix by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) — a series of pylons, in addition to signage alerting the public to the lane reduction and water above the road — has done little to alleviate safety concerns from both council and residents.        

“This year, it’s been over the road all summer and even into the winter now. It hasn’t gone down at all,” Brockelbank said of the water levels on the highway. “It’s not like a huge fix, they just need to raise the road up in that spot.

"We don’t understand why a provincial secondary highway would be left like that.”  

Mayor Lynn Watson says his township has reached out to the MTO on several occasions about intermittent flooding on the same portion of road dating back to 2016. “This isn’t a major issue — this is a small piece of road we’re trying to get repaired so nobody gets killed on it,” he told SooToday. 

The last letter received by the township from the ministry stated that the issue could be looked at for consideration — but not until 2026. 

“That makes no sense,” Watson said.  

The washed-out section of road has also triggered a number of complaints by residents who rely upon the road to get in and out of Echo Bay. 

“A lot of the community, they don’t realize we don’t actually own that road — that’s an MTO secondary highway,” said Brockelbank. “We have people that don’t think we’re doing our job and repairing the road when there’s nothing we can do.”

Responding to SooToday via email, the MTO says a drainage and hydrology study of the area has been completed and design work for the road rehabilitation project will begin next year. Construction will begin once the design for the stretch of highway is finalized. 

“MTO is reviewing the current conditions and developing an interim solution to reopen the highway to two-lane traffic as soon as possible,” the ministry said. 

But Brockelbank says the township has also received similar assurances from the MTO that remedial work will happen in the interim.  

“They have done nothing, zero. They haven’t come down here and lifted a shovel,” Brockelbank said. “They just keep putting us off and putting us off.

“For us, having a secondary highway running through our village in that condition — and for them to put it off until 2026 — is a shame.”