PETAWAWA — Petawawa council has granted a temporary exemption to the town’s noise bylaw, allowing Bonnechere Excavating Inc. to operate its asphalt plant at night during the resurfacing of Highway 17 between Chalk River and Point Alexander. However, the contract’s lane closure restrictions do not permit continuous daytime closures and milled asphalt cannot be stockpiled, and must be removed by being hauled back to 49 Portage Road overnight for recycling. BEI made what changes it could to eliminate overnight noise, but plant production hours have necessarily been extended. Recoskie said it is not unusual for the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to require construction on Highway 17 to be conducted during overnight hours. Petawawa previously authorized exemptions to the noise bylaw to allow MTO to conduct overnight work on Highway 17 within the town boundaries in 2018, 2016, and 2014.