The Ministry of Transportation announced May 11 that Hawkesbury is one of 24 communities that will receive funding from the Connecting Links program for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Hawkesbury will get $824,400 for its proposed McGill Street reconstruction project.

The Connecting Links program assists municipalities with critical infrastructure projects that involve roads or bridges which connect two ends of a provincial highway that passes through a community or connect to a border crossing. This year’s program has $30 million to be shared among 24 municipalities.

McGill Street is part of the Highway 34 link connecting both Hawkesbury and Vankleek Hill to the Long Sault Bridge, which spans the Ottawa River and serves as a border crossing point between Ontario and Québec.

Last autumn Hawkesbury town council reviewed a recommendation from administration for priority rating to reconstruction of the section of McGill Street near the intersection with Main Street. The reconstruction would also involve redoing the retaining wall for that section of the street which follows the shoreline for Hawkesbury Creek. Some sections of the retaining wall are deteriorating and there is a risk of collapse if those sections are not rebuilt.