Warwick Township council has deferred the reconstruction of Zion Line to next year.
The road is heavily used during Highway 402 closures and now, although it's not promoted as a detour route, Zion Line is seeing an increase in traffic with the construction of a roundabout at Nauvoo and Egremont Roads.
Councillor Wayne Morris said his phone was already busy when Zion Line was closed for repairs last month.
"I [was] getting a lot of phone calls about Zion, just when that culvert was out," said Morris. "I don't want to get the phone calls when the whole road is out because of construction."
Zion Line was closed at the end of July, from Arkona Road to Nauvoo Road, for culvert replacement.
"I think we should defer it," he said. "I don't want to see another one of our main paved roads taken out of service with this roundabout [construction] going on. That's just bad timing."
Councillor Jerry Westgate thinks there could be some cost savings by holding off until 2023.
"Everything was high at the start of this year and I do not believe we want to do it at the end of October, November, when we have too many farmers on the road with their stuff. We want it done right," said Westgate.
Council increased its budget for the project to nearly $430,000 earlier this year, but tenders obtained and shared in a staff report on August 8 would require almost $120,000 further to pay for the work.
The municipality is hoping it may be able to attain tighter pricing by deferring the project and combining it with the proposed 2023 road projects.
Construction of the roundabout at the intersection of Nauvoo Road [County Road #79] and Egremont Road [County Road #22] started July 18.
The closure is expected to last until mid-October, weather permitting.