Clarington announced that work has finished on a ground-breaking project to extend Lake Road in Bowmanville.
In 2013, the Municipality of Clarington made the decision to upfront the cost to extend the dead-end Lake Road to Bennett Road–unlocking 13 hectares for industrial development and providing businesses a direct route to Highway 401 access, said a municipal statement.
“This is a great example of the Clarington Board of Trade identifying the needs of local businesses, and the Municipality of Clarington acting on that input to help the economy and create more job opportunities right here at home,” said Mayor Adrian Foster.
Clarington advanced approximately $1.4 million for the road extension, with a mechanism built-in to recoup the costs from developers. The project was a proactive way to unlock employment lands, making more development possible and bringing with it the opportunity for job creation.
First Phase
Lake Road’s existing business owners, employees and customers praised the first phase of the road extension, which extended Lake Road over the creek and connected to South Service Road in 2014. South Service Road is no longer connected to Bennett Road and is now a dead-end road north of Lake Road.
Property sales, development site plans and building activity has been underway in earnest along the east end of Lake Road. Clarington has approved 7,500 square metres (81,000 square feet) of new industrial facility space. On-going development applications could bring an additional 8,000 square metres (86,000 square feet), according to Amanda Tapp, Clarington’s Development Review Manager.
Last week, crews finished their work on the final stage of the project. The Lake Road extension from South Service Road to Bennett Road is now open to regular traffic.
“We thank council for their approval of the project and municipal staff for their commitment as we celebrate together the completion of the extension of Lake Road to Bennett Road,” said Bonnie Wrightman, Manager of Business Development at the Clarington Board of Trade.