CORNWALL – The province is giving the City of Cornwall $3 million to fix up the Canadian National Railway overpass on Brookdale Avenue.
The money, announced Friday (April 1), is from the Ontario Connecting Links program.
It represents up to 90 per cent of the cost of the project, north of Tollgate Road, which is estimated to cost $3.5 million.
The overpass rehab was eligible for the funding because Brookdale Avenue is also part of Highway 138 (to Thirteenth Street), and a link between Highway 401 and the United States.
“This is wonderful news for Cornwall. This investment…will help our community maintain a sustainable network of roads which is essential for our families, and to grow our economy,” Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy said.
The city has budgeted $269,000 for structural improvements to the overpass this year.
Infrastructure Division Manager Steven Wintle told Cornwall Newswatch, design work will be done this year and construction should begin in 2017.
Wintle said the city also put aside $269,000 in 2015 and will have to come up with the difference in 2017, which will depend on the cost of design factored in.
“We will have to put out an RFP (request for proposals) for design. It’s really specialized work and although we do a lot of engineering in house this more specialized bridge work we tend to go to the specialists on,” Wintle told CNW.
After the RFP is complete, Wintle said the project will be put out to tender for construction in 2017.
The deal with the province still has to be signed by way of a bylaw at a future city council meeting, likely April 11, 2016.
Wintle said the resurrection of the Connecting Links program (April 2015), which had been terminated by the province, and their successful application are very timely as the city had been trying to build a nest egg to repair the CNR overpass.