Bath’s Main Street, also known as the Loyalist Parkway and part of Hwy 33, will be getting a face-lift thanks to a grant from the Ontario government.
Ontario’s oldest highway, which dates back to 1780, will undergo box culvert replacement, storm sewer repairs and 1.45 km of road resurfacing.
Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Daryl Kramp announced the Loyalist Township project last week. Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney informed Loyalist mayor Ric Bresee that the work can begin immediately.
“This is an important investment in a route that has heavy use by both local residents and by visitor traffic, which we hope will soon be able to resume to traditional levels,” said Kramp, noting the Connecting Links program was used in 2019 to cover costs for the detailed design of this project.
The 2020-21 Connecting Links program will support 24 municipalities across the province to help build, repair or replace municipal roads and bridges that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community or to a border crossing.
“We understand the maintenance and repair costs of roads and bridges places a heavy burden on our municipal partners,” said Mulroney in a release. “That is why we continue to support our local communities with investments that will keep families safe, goods moving, and drive economic growth and job creation.”
Across the province, the funding will support three bridge repairs, 10 resurfacing projects, seven reconstruction projects and four detailed design projects to prepare for further infrastructure investments.
“This road was first built from Kingston to Bath in the earliest days of the province, and then between 1798 and 1801 was extended to link Kingston to Toronto (then, York),” said Kramp, “with that work headquartered at what is now Finkle’s Shore Park.”