Province provides almost $8 million for road projects in Minto, Mapleton

WELLINGTON COUNTY – The province is kicking in nearly $8 million to help fund two road reconstruction projects expected to facilitate the building of more homes.

“One of the struggles with bringing on new housing is sewer and water,” said county Warden Chris White, explaining the connection between municipal infrastructure and the anticipated construction of homes.

The Ministry of Infrastructure is providing $6,945,468 to the County of Wellington for the reconstruction of Wellington Road 123, or Main Street in Palmerston, and a further $914,312 to Mapleton Township for improvements to Sideroad 15.

The funds were announced on Jan. 23 by Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae as part of more than $11 million in new infrastructure funding for Perth-Wellington municipalities.

Provincial officials say the funding will enable the construction of up to 2,705 new homes.

The funding comes from the Housing-Enabling Core Servicing stream of the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, administered by the Ministry of Infrastructure.

White said the county project, which will be completed in partnership with the Town of Minto, will involve a complete reconstruction of Palmerston’s Main Street, including underground infrastructure such as water mains and sanitary and storm sewers.

“You need sewer and water for housing,” he said.

The county applied for the grant money, opting to submit an application for the Main Street project over another project that involved a bridge replacement on Wellington Road 109, because councillors and staff believed it would be more likely to receive funding, White said.

“Overall it’s a great project,” he said. “If we didn’t get the grant, we would have had to just pay for that ourselves.”

County roads department manager Joe de Koning said the Ministry of Infrastructure funding represents half of the overall project costs, but the county has also applied to the province separately for funding for water main, sanitary and storm sewer infrastructure.

Utility relocation work is to begin this year, and the tender for construction will be out this fall, he said.

Stage one of construction, which includes building two roundabouts – one at Toronto Street and one at Minto Road – will be completed in 2026, he said.

The news release from Rae’s office stated the overall project is expected to “enable” the construction of up to 1,447 homes.

In the release, Minto Mayor Dave Turton expressed gratitude to Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma and her team for the grant, and appreciation to Rae for his advocacy.

“[Palmerston’s] Main Street is an important arterial road for the county as well as for the Town of Minto and its reconstruction is vitally important to the continued and progressive growth of our community,” Turton stated.

The project for which Mapleton is receiving funding is much smaller in scale.

Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson said it will involve the reconstruction of 5.5 kilometres of Sideroad 15, from Hollen to just outside Drayton.

“This project aligns with our asset management plan,” and will “promote growth” by improving local transportation infrastructure, Davidson said.

The project is expected to cost $1.8 million, he noted, adding, “we roughly received about half.”

It is expected to enable construction of 301 homes, the release stated.

“Families and residents need safe and reliable roads and bridges to access these homes and travel safely to and from their destinations,” Surma stated in the release.

The funding is part of $400 million in spending to help build, repair, and maintain municipal roads, bridges and culverts to promote housing growth in communities across Ontario, the release stated.

Reporter