Fort Erie’s Highland Avenue to get $816,000 rebuild
The Town of Fort Erie will be getting some substantial provincial help with an aging infrastructure system this year.
St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley made the announcement on behalf of Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Infrastructure and Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, of just over $816,000 in funding for the complete reconstruction of Highland Avenue.
The Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund will dole out a total of $60 million to 55 communities across the province, supporting projects in communities with populations of less than 100,000 as well as municipalities in northern or rural Ontario.
“This is a very big day for the Town of Fort Erie, it symbolizes that the provincial government understands the importance of infrastructure in our municipalities,” said Mayor Wayne Redekop.
Redekop said Highland Avenue is in the old section of Fort Erie known as Bridgeburg, and the sewer lines are clay allowing water to infiltrate the sewer lines.
“About a third of what we treat is ground water, if we can reduce that we can save money and take pressure off the region to expand capacity at those two plants,” said Redekop.
The project will be handled by local firm Peters Excavation that will replace or repair the water lines, wastewater, storm sewers, roads and sidewalks along the 1.1 km stretch.
Total cost for the project is $4.5 million and is part of $14 million the town has budgeted for infrastructure work in 2017.