Sault Ste. Marie Joins 19 Communties in Receiving Connecting Links Funding

Ontario is helping 19 municipalities across the province make the roads and bridges that run through their communities and connect to provincial highways safer, while fostering economic growth and job creation.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca was at the Sault Ste. Marie Civic Centretoday to announce that the City of Sault Ste. Marie will receive support through the Connecting Links program to resurface two sections of Second Line along Highway 550/17.

Connecting links are municipal roads or bridges that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community, or to a border crossing.

Ontario is making the largest infrastructure investment in hospitals, schools, public transit, roads and bridges in the province’s history. To learn more about what’s happening in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON.

Investing in safe, well-maintained connections to provincial highways is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

 

QUICK FACTS

• The City of Sault Ste. Marie will receive approximately $2.3 million for the Highway 550/17 project.
• The province provided $20 million in 2016-17 to support 23 Connecting Links projects across Ontario. Funding for the Connecting Links program is $25 million for 2017-18 and will increase to $30 million in 2018–19 and beyond.
• Ontario will be updating the Connecting Links program guide to allow more projects to be eligible, such as road widening projects. The new guide will be ready for the next Connecting Links intake in the summer of 2017.
• There are about 350 kilometres of roads and 70 bridges along connecting links in 77 municipalities across Ontario.
• Connecting Links funding covers up to 90 per cent of eligible project costs, to a maximum of $3 million. The eligible costs are for the design, construction, renewal, rehabilitation and replacement of connecting link infrastructure.

 

ACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Connecting Links Funding By Municipality
• Connecting Links Program

“Our Connecting Links program is one way we show our long-term commitment to Ontario’s rural and northern communities and to the families who live there. These highways are essential links in many communities, connecting people to jobs and improving the economy and residents’ quality of life.”
— Steven Del Duca, Minister of Transportation

 

“I’d like to thank the Province of Ontario and the Ministry of Transportation for granting this important funding request. We have over 24 kilometers of connecting links in Sault Ste. Marie. It is important to maintain and improve these vital roadways to ensure the smooth flow of both local and provincial traffic within our city.”
— Christian Provenzano, Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie