Renfrew County is finally starting to see more progress on the four-laning of Highway 17 from Arnprior to Renfrew.
Now, the county is hoping to leapfrog the Cobden area and tap into a $5 billion federal government program to four-lane the section of Highway 17 from Meath Hill west of Pembroke through to Deep River.
The plan is called the “Ottawa Valley Trade Corridor Improvement Project” and the idea is that county staff would work with “federal, provincial, and regional partners” to pursue funding through the government of Canada’s Trade Diversification Corridors Fund (TDCF).
The TDCF is a federal program designed to “build and improve trade infrastructure that connects Canada,” according to its website.
“The program will help Canada grow trade by:
• building and improving critical transportation infrastructure (roads, rail lines, airports, bridges, ports etc) in trade corridors
• addressing costly congestion that is hindering Canada’s economic growth (and)
• supporting better regional connections, new ideas, and economic growth.”
In discussion at the county’s operations committee last week, Lee Perkins, the county’s director of public works and engineering, said the county’s proposal seems to hit every point the program is supposed to cover.
“To me, it’s a slam dunk, it covers off everything,” he said…
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