South Frontenac to apply for millions in provincial funding for Road 38

Oct 16, 2024

Before South Frontenac was created through the amalgamation of Portland, Bedford, Loughborough and Storrington Townships, Highway 38 was a provincially maintained road running from the border between the foot of Portland township at Orser Road, to the northern border of Portland at Boundary Road in Piccadilly.

Luckily for South Frontenac, just before the new township was established, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation paved Highway 38 all the way through Portland, to the border with Hinchinbrooke, which became part of Central Frontenac on amalgamation day, January 1, 1998.

With amalgamation came the download of Highway 38 to the new townships, Central Frontenac was saddled with the cost of reconstruction, a project that took almost ten years to complete, as the township worked to secure grants from the provincial and federal governments.

Twenty five years later and South Frontenac is faced with the cost of reconstruction of their section of the road, at a cost that has risen exponentially.

The township has included the first section of the road, from Murton Road at the foot of the township, to Kingston Road in Harrowsmith, as part of its road work construction budgets over the next couple of years, and now, like Central Frontenac did many years ago, South Frontenac is looking to the Province of Ontario for support.

A new $400 million provincial infrastructure granting program, announced in late August, called the Housing Enabling Core Servicing Program, looks promising.

The program “aims to build, maintain and repair core assets such as municipal roads, bridges, and culverts that support the construction of new homes,” according to a report to South Frontenac Council by Director of Public Services Kyle Bolton.

The Road 38 project appears to be suited to the program since pre-engineering is already underway and it is scheduled as part of road construction plans over the next two years. The granting program requires that infrastructure replacements be identified in municipal asset management plans and be prepared to get underway before the end of September in 2025.

According to Bolton, there is just over $7.9 million in eligible costs for the grant in the way the construction project has been developed. The grant can cover up to 50% of eligible costs, and South Frontenac Council is being asked this week to approve an application for every penny that it can find, a total of $3,954,940.35.

In order to make the project more attractive to the province, South Frontenac Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Louise Fragnito has approached Frontenac County CAO Kevin Farrell to see if Frontenac County will agree to joint application for the project. Applicants must commit funds towards the project, but South Frontenac staff is requesting that the $517,000 transfer under the Canada-Building Fund from the county to the township, which was already in place, be considered the county contribution to the project.

That will ensure, according to Bolton’s report, that there is no financial impact to the county in becoming a joint applicant.”

The proposed application was being considered by South Frontenac Council early this week (Tuesday, October 15) and if approved, it was slated to go before Frontenac County Council at their monthly meeting the following morning.