Chatham-Kent is on a list of 50 municipalities that qualify for provincial assistance in maintaining connecting links to highways, but the head of infrastructure services says a lot of municipal funds are still needed.
Thomas Kelly says the local links are the portions of Hwy. 40 through Chatham and Wallaceburg.
"That's about 12 km for Chatham-Kent along with five structures, so it's a significant investment," he says. "These are very busy, heavily travelled roads, so they require a significant amount of lifecycle funding."
Kelly isn't sure that the $15-million allocated across all qualifying municipalities will help, but says maintaining those specific roads alone costs $2.1-million per year.