A final $6-million piece of the puzzle fell in place Wednesday for Sarnia and St. Clair Township’s $12-million oversized load corridor project aimed at easing the movement of large industrial components and machinery to and from Sarnia Harbour.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced $6 million in federal funding for the project at an event on the waterfront, adding to a total of $6 million pledged earlier for the corridor project by Sarnia, St. Clair Township, Lambton County and the Sarnia Lambton Industrial Alliance.
The federal funding will help create a new docking facility to accommodate loading and unloading oversized loads at the harbour.
“It’s a great day for Sarnia,” said Rick Perdeaux, chairperson of the nearly 40-member alliance of metal fabricators and other industrial service companies.
The alliance formed in 2010 and soon after began studying the need for a permanent corridor to move oversized loads through the city to Sarnia Harbour for shipping to customers outside of the community.
The corridor will also ease the movement of large industrial components built elsewhere and delivered to local customers.
After making a case for permanently raising utility lines and adapting streets and intersections to accommodate the movement of oversized loads, the alliance received funding pledges from municipal governments, and asked the provincial and federal governments for the other half of the money.
Initial requests for funding were turned down by Ontario and the federal government, but community officials continued to seek support, including a second application to a National Trade Corridors Fund that paid off with Wednesday’s announcement.
Perdeaux praised the “perseverance and all the dedication” of those working for several years to secure the federal funding.
“I’m very proud of the whole group and the whole project, and looking forward to seeing it become a reality,” he said.
Garneau praised the project as being “very well put together.”
“We looked at it seriously in the first round, but there were so many applicants at that time” for the “very popular program” intended to improve the flow of goods in the economy, he said.
“They really did their homework,” Garneau added about the effort made by municipal officials in the successful second application.
“I’m delighted to be able to announce that today.”
The city, county and township had already decided to begin the project with half of the funding, and work on the first of five phases is expected to take place this year.
The project is expect to take approximately four years to complete, said Christoper Carter, the city’s chief administrative officer.
“This is a legacy project,” Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said. “It is going to be here for a generation to help us flow goods in and out of this community.”
Many of the metal fabrication businesses started out in years past serving customers among the refineries and chemical plants in Sarnia and St. Clair Township’s so called Chemical Valley.
While continuing to serve those customers, the alliance has been working to expand beyond the local industries.
One of the challenges was the cost of moving large components made in local fabrication shops through the city to the harbour. Fleets of bucket trucks have been needed to raise utility lines as oversized loads navigated streets and intersections not designed for their size.
A study carried out by the alliance suggested a dedicated corridor could lead to a significant increase in jobs and business for the sector.
“It gives opportunity for strengthening our existing cluster of world-leading fabricators and machine shops,” said Stephen Thompson, chief executive officer with the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership.
www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/feds-fund-project-to-ease-movement-of-large-loads