$3-million grant for Wallaceburg’s Dufferin Avenue

3 million grant for Wallaceburgs Dufferin Avenue

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has received a $3-million grant from the province to support a rehabilitation of Dufferin Avenue in Wallaceburg.

The grant from the Connecting Links Funding program will cover up to 90 per cent of the costs of the project. Council will need to approve the municipal funding of the project to use the grant, which was the maximum a road project can receive.

The municipality has previously received funding through this program for McNaughton Avenue in Wallaceburg in 2016, the Lord Selkirk Bridge in 2018 and Grand Avenue East in Chatham in 2020.

“Similar to the Grand Avenue reconstruction project, we are going to use this as an opportunity to upgrade other infrastructure on this stretch which will be funded by the respective municipal budgets,” Brendan Faulkner, the municipality’s manager of engineering for roads and bridges, said in an email.

The municipality previously applied for funds for Dufferin Avenue for the 2018 and 2021 rounds of this program, but was unsuccessful.

According to a report that went to council in October, this project will cover Dufferin Avenue from the McNaughton Avenue and Lisgar Street intersection to 100 meters west of Walnut Street.

The project will fix the pavement and any “deficient” features, such as curbs, gutters, sidewalks, catch basins, sewers and watermains, the report said.

At the time the application was made, the design phase of the project was expected to be finished this year and a request for proposals was planned for spring 2023.

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