Sidewalk near LaSalle Causeway closed due to state of wall at Fort Frontenac
The City of Kingston is immediately closing the sidewalk along Ontario Street leading up to the LaSalle Causeway for public safety reasons.
Following a recent assessment completed by the Department of National Defence, it has been determined that the historic stone wall at the perimeter of Fort Frontenac is in need of urgent structural repairs, according to the City of Kingston.
The sidewalk along Ontario Street will is now closed from The Tragically Hip Way to the east side of the LaSalle Causeway.
“The City and the Department of National Defence are working to determine an alternate route for pedestrians and will announce it as soon as possible,” the City of Kingston said in a press release at approximately 1 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 12, 2019.
According to Capt. Jeremy Mathews, public affairs officer with the Department of National Defence, the harsh freeze-thaw cycle this year caused damage to the stone wall.
“We are erring on the side of caution and have public safety as our primary concern,” Mathews said when asked if there is a danger the wall might collapse.
“There are two sections of where the façade could break away from the main wall.”
Mathews said there had previously been a plan to remediate the wall over the next two summers, however, due to the damage from the winter, a pedestrian bypass had to be put in sooner than expected.
“The work will begin this summer and could take up to three summers to complete,” he said.
“The cost is estimated at $4 to $5 million.”
Kingstonist will continue to monitor this situation. We will update this article as new information becomes available.
If memory serves, the wall was repaired/reconstructed not so many years ago.
It also occurs to me that, while they’re at it, why don’t the Feds bite the bullet, and fix the whole darned Causeway, from RMC west. It will never cease to be a traffic flow challenge until someone picks up the ball at City Hall, and presses the Feds into action.
To avoid the damaged wall when travelling east on foot enter the fort by the west gate and leave via the north gate or heading west do the opposite. There is another way but you will have to use the tunnel under the road.