Woolwich and Wellesley townships each got stimulated this week courtesy of the Building Canada fund.
Woolwich learned it will receive $1,756,000 from the federal and provincial governments to cover roadwork in the township, while Wellesley will get $664,534.
The funding was announced Tuesday by Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Leeanna Pendergast and her federal counterpart, MP Harold Albrecht.
In Woolwich the feds and the province will each contribute $878,000, with the township covering the remainder of the $2.6 million reconstruction of Arthur, Brubacher, and Second streets.
In Wellesley, the senior governments will put up $332,267 apiece toward paving portions of Steffler Road and Broadway Street in Hawkesville. The township will cover the remaining third of the $996,800 project, which will see new pavement on a 3.8-kilometre stretch.
“We are very happy, ecstatic that we got this project,” said public works director Will McLaughlin.
The local reconstruction jobs are part of 289 infrastructure renewal projects across the province, funded by some $1 billion, split between three levels of government. In 2009, through Building Canada, Ontario municipalities qualifying for the “community” component of the program should see approximately $724 million, which will be funded by both provincial and federal governments.
“The Township of Woolwich appreciates the funding being provided to the municipality through the Building Canada program. Partnerships such as this will allow the municipality to be able to address our long-term infrastructure program,” said Woolwich Mayor Bill Strauss.
The money, not accounted for in this year’s capital budget, will allow the project to go ahead this year.
In conjunction with the Wellesley project, Woolwich has budgeted to do some paving on its side of Steffler Road, a boundary route.
Satisfied with the government funding, Wellesley Mayor Ross Kelterborn also underscored the benefits that the Hawkesville project will offer in stimulating the economy, a scenario the feds hope to see played out across the country.
“I am very delighted, of course, that we got what we asked for and am very happy that we can help both the provincial and federal governments to try and get the economy turned around by creating some jobs in Wellesley Township,” said Kelterborn.
“It’s more crucial for the country and the economy: the world isn’t going to come to an end if we don’t get that road done in the next couple weeks.”
Shovel-ready and good to go, road crews could start working on the Hawkesville project in the late spring or early summer.
Also on tap in Wellesley this year is ongoing work on the $2.2 million Hawkesville Road reconstruction project that got underway last fall, as well as road reconstruction in Linwood, as Waterloo Region looks to repair sections of Ament Line and Manser Road.
“We’ve got a bit of a list but with these successes I have to admit the list is starting to get shorter and that’s a good thing,” said McLaughlin.
