Chatham-Kent is going back to the drawing board when it comes to the chance for provincial funding to repair a section of St Clair Street in Chatham.
On Friday, the Ontario government released a list of 21 communities which will be receiving Connecting Links funding for road and bridge work, however Chatham-Kent did not make the cut.
Chris Thibert, the municipality’s Director of Engineering said a proposal was submitted for reconstruction of St Clair from Gregory Drive to Pioneer Line. However, municipal officials aren’t dissuaded by the unsuccessful bid, and will resubmit the same project when the 2023-24 application period opens in the fall.
The program provides funding for up to 90 per cent of eligible project costs. This includes a maximum of $3 million for road projects and $5 million for bridge projects.
Connecting Links covers municipal roads that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community or to an international or interprovincial border crossing. In Chatham-Kent, that limits the scope to Grand Avenue and St Clair Street in Chatham, and Dufferin Avenue and McNaughton Avenue in Wallaceburg.
There is a pattern of successful and unsuccessful bids when Chatham-Kent applies for funding, being approved for projects every other year since 2016.
- 2016 – McNaughton Ave. rehabilitation in Wallaceburg – Successful for full funding allocation
- 2017 – Dufferin Ave rehabilitation in Wallaceburg – Not successful
- 2018 – Lord Selkirk – Wallaceburg – Successful for full funding allocation
- 2019 – Grand Ave. East – Chatham – Not successful
- 2020 – Grand Ave East – Chatham – Successful for full funding allocation
- 2021 – Dufferin Ave. – Wallaceburg – Not Successful
- 2022 – Dufferin Ave. – Wallaceburg – Successful and commencing this summer
- 2023 – St. Clair St. – Chatham – Not successful
- 2024 – St. Clair St. – Chatham – Will be applying for again in the fall of 2023.
“The Connecting Links Program has been a successful partnership with the MTO in previous years and administration will look to continue that partnership through future applications,” Thibert said.