CORNWALL – The city has number of options on its wish list should it decide to apply for another round of Connecting Links provincial funding.
The province announced two weeks ago its accepting applications for the second round of the Connecting Links program – an envelope of $25 million.
Cornwall was successful in the first round, receiving $3 million to fix up the Canadian National Railway overpass on Brookdale Avenue, north of Tollgate Road.
The province provided $20 million in 2016-17 to support 23 Connecting Link projects across Ontario. Funding for the Connecting Links program will increase to $25 million in 2017-18 and $30 million in the 2018-19 period and the following years.
Connecting links are municipal roads or bridges that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community, or to a border crossing.
Infrastructure General Manager John St. Marseille told Cornwall Newswatch recently there are definitely some options on their radar should the city be eligible.
“We certainly have a list of opportunities that we could consider. We’ll have to review that and see…the eligibility criteria…because we were successful on intake one if we could be successful on intake two,” St. Marseille said.
He says the municipality has been “bucking the trend” by getting money in multiple rounds of funding from senior governments.
The infrastructure GM listed a “number of opportunities” that could be explored including the twinning of that same CN overpass.
St. Marseille said the city could work on some “synergies” with the province as it looks to make improvements to Highway 138, including the option for Park ‘n Ride locations.
Another option for Connecting Links funding could be the reconfiguration of the T intersection at Brookdale Avenue and Cornwall Centre Road to include a “slip lane” for more efficient traffic flow.
The city has until October 21, 2016 to put in an application to the Ontario government for projects, which would being in the spring.