Hwy 407 RAMP it up! Campain

MEDIA RELEASE

The Corporation of the City of Oshawa

For Immediate Release

February 7, 2011

If you have been waiting for the 407 to be extended to Hwy 35/115, now is the time to speak up! Please read the press release below and have your vote heard!

Hwy 407 RAMP it up! campaign continues to drive forward

Oshawa Mayor’s road tour takes him to Markham on Tuesday, February 8

OSHAWA – The City of Oshawa’s RAMP it up! Hwy 407 East Extension campaign continues to drive forward.

Week three begins with Oshawa Mayor John Henry visiting the Town of Markham on Tuesday, February 8 to ask municipal Council to support the expedited construction of the Hwy 407 East in one continuous phase from Brock Road in Pickering to Hwy 35/115.

The campaign calls for residents and businesses across southern Ontario to join the City of Oshawa, Durham Region, Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes in urging the province to honour its commitment – as originally promised and planned – for the benefit of southern Ontario.

Community members can show their support by adding their names to an online petition (www.oshawa.ca/407) or by completing a postage-paid petition postcard. Postcards are available at businesses and municipal buildings across Oshawa, as well as in southern Ontario communities that Mayor Henry is visiting during the road tour campaign. The City of Oshawa is gathering all petition postcards for delivery to Queen’s Park in March 2011.

Since the RAMP it up! launch on January 24:

• Nearly 750 names have been added to the online petition at www.oshawa.ca/407;

• 50,000 postage-paid postcards are being distributed to communities across Ontario;

• over 50 municipal/regional governments (Durham Region Municipalities, GTA Regions and GTAH Municipalities) have received a campaign toolkit; and,

• 106 Ontario MPs and 107 Ontario MPPs have been emailed, asking for their written support.

Public and political pressure surrounding the Hwy 407 East Extension project has been building since the province unexpectedly announced it would build the extension in two phases – contrary to years of preparation, study and promises for a one-phase extension from Brock Road in Pickering through to Hwy 35/115. Currently, the province plans to stop Hwy 407 at Simcoe Street in Oshawa using a two-phased approach, which will ultimately mean higher costs for all provincial taxpayers. In addition, it will cost the residents of Durham Region and the City of Oshawa approximately $329 million in unplanned capital road work plus ongoing maintenance costs.

For more information, visit www.oshawa.ca/407 or follow the campaign on twitter @oshawacity.

What Are Ice Dams?

As the name would suggest, an ice dam is a dam of ice that has formed along the lower edge of the roof line or inside the gutters. This dam prevents the water caused by the melting snow on the roof from traveling to the gutters and downspouts. When the water hits the ice dam it refreezes to form even more ice. These dams can be quite a concern to the home owner because sometimes the water backing up behind the dam can actually leak into the house damaging walls, ceilings, insulation and other areas!

Ice damming generally occurs when there is significant accumulation of snow on the roof. If the attic temp. is above freezing often due to inadequate insulation, venting or heat leakage from the house, it will warm the roof sheathing which in turn melts the snow on the shingles. When the water reaches the roof edge which is not warmed by the attic and is below freezing temperature, it will freeze, which begins the ice dam.


The next time you take a walk through your neighbourhood, take a look at the roofs. The homes with a full roof of snow are probably well insulated and properly vented. If you see a home that has vertical sections of visible roof chances are it is not vented and insulated properly allowing the heat from the house to warm the roof between each of the ceiling rafters which melts the snow creating an ice dam.

You can see the bare roof area in this picture. It seems as though there
is significant heat loss around the chimney area which has melted the snow creating the icicles.


The best way to protect your home from ice dams is to seal all attic air leaks and increase the ceiling/roof insulation to reduce the heat loss. It is recommended that the insulation should have an R-Value of at least 30.