At long last the “INVESTING IN CANADA INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM (CIP): Rural and Northern Communities Funding Stream” was announced a couple of weeks ago.   It is by far the best grant program for a municipality, with the Village only responsible for a maximum of 17% of the project.   Other grants are cost shared at 33% for each order of government and OCIF is capped at $2 million.

The application is lengthy, detailed with many components.  Village staff and our consulting engineer began the work of gathering research, conducting analysis and report writing the day after the announcement was made.  The “street scan” that was completed  on the integrity of the Village streets in 2018 – and in particular of Bedford St – will be of significant value.  

The Village meets all eligibility requirements to apply for the CIP.  All submissions will be measured against 4 criteria.  The 1st criterium states:

Criterion 1: Criticality of health and/or safety risk 

Projects will be assessed according to critical health and safety aspects. The technical schedule will provide asset type specific questions for describing the health and safety risk. 

1. Road project: Road infrastructure projects will be assessed for safety in terms of collisions and the reduction of collisions or collision severity associated with the project. This could be assessed through collision history, traffic volumes and Collision Modification Factor or Operational Performance Function depending on the project and information available. 

We know that the “street scan” will demonstrate that Bedford St has significant issues and needs to be replaced.  In the absence of a Collision Modification Factory, we have strategies to identify and explain the Operational Performance Function. The “street scan” will be invaluable and is one of the strategies.

To help establish the critical health and safety concerns, the advice from our consulting engineer is to submit several letters from the public with our application.  These letters should be representative of the type of traffic that uses Bedford St.  

I encourage people to send me a letter or an email outlining their experiences.  I hope to receive a wide variety of correspondence that includes the challenges of operating motorcycles, bicycles, antique cars, school buses, motor vehicle towing a trailer, transport truck and other classes of motor vehicles on Bedford St.

The window for applications is open for 8 weeks.  Applications and all supporting documentations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 14th, 2019. Please keep in mind these dates and email me your experience/concern at rjones@villageofwestort.ca or drop hard copy off at Town Hall, 30 Bedford St., Westport K0G 1X0.

Thank you for your help. I will keep you informed of the progress of our application.

Robin – Call any time – 273-9195