The AFA has proposed three alternative road corridors in this case. Following are some of the details they supply in their Appendix 3 "Alternative Primary Roads Corridors" .. Appendix 3

In the last cycle the Three Mile Lake Road ran down the west side of Three Mile Lake, at some points along the shore. Access to the area south of Three Mile Lake was via this road. The road is currently not driveable and options are being looked at to avoid rebuilding the road along the shoreline of Three Mile Lake.

Alternative corridor number 1 has disadvantages associated with being located close to Three Mile Lake, but would require the least use of aggregate and construction related disturbance, since the entire length would be r4econstructed upon the footprint of the existing road. It also has the social disadvantage of using the portage between Manitou Lake and Three Mile Lake as the road for approximately 1 km.



Alternative corridor number 2 - Three Mile Lake Bypass .. The new proposed location for Three Mile Lake Road with three new bypass sections located outside the 2005 FMP Brook Trout AOC on Three Mile Lake. A total of approximately 9 km of new road construction would be required to locate the road further from the lake, in addition to the use of sections of rebuilt road from the previous harvest cycle. It has the advantage of avoiding five small water crossings associated with Alternative 1, south of Three Mile Lake.

Alternative corridor number: Alternative 3- Totem Lake Road would involve the construction of approximately 6.3 km of new road on the east side of Three Mile Lake, linking the Maple Lake road with the southern portion of the existing Three Mile Lake road. It is approximately 1 km shorter than Alternative 2, and 2.5 km shorter than Alternative 1. It has the social advantage of avoiding the crossing of the portage between Kawa and Upper Kawa lakes, but does require the crossing of the low use portage between Upper Kawa and Totem lakes.

Please post any thoughts you may have in considering one alternative over the others ...

Barry Bridgeford
Executive Committee
Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists
http://www.ABRweb.ca

For the same reasons I described in the Thompson Lake thread, Alternative 3 is the shortest distance road option and so has the least potential to result in ecological damage over the long-term, along with lesser capacity to disturb campers.

The validity of this choice will be limited by the amount of information on the map.

After careful examination, it appears that Route 1 will pass within 100m of 4 different sites on 3 mile lake and has the added hazards of canoeists and logging trucks for 1 km of an existing, heavily travelled portage. It's proximity to 3 mile lake also increases the risk from contamination from fuel spills, etc
Route 3 Appears to be within 100m of the sites on Totem lake and 500m of Upper Kawa lake and has the added disadvantage of following the side of the 300' hill north of Teepee lake and west of Wahwahtaysee lake virtually guaranteeing any runoff will enter the lakes. It also crosses the stream between Beverly and Arrow lakes and the headwaters of North Silvia Creek wich could impact all three lakes in the event of a spill.
route 2 appears to follow a natural lowland between hills along most of it's length which may help to contain any spills and has the added benefit of reducing noise impact on 3 Mile Lake. although this is the longest route it lessens the impact of the existing road by moving all stream crossings (which are already impacted) farther away from the lakes (with the exception of Namea) and lessens the chance of erosion and noise issues.
My choice would be route 2