Construction finished; Port Stanley ready to welcome visitors to beach for long weekend

The asphalt has been placed and William Street in Port Stanley is ready to welcome visitors for the Victoria Day weekend (Source: Municipality of Central Elgin)

The Municipality of Central Elgin (MCE) has kept its promise.

The construction on William Street en route to main beach has been completed on time and a new layer of asphalt has been put down in time for the Victoria Day Weekend.

For the past two months, workers have torn up the main route to the beach for Phase 1A of Storm Sewer work.

“The first lift of asphalt has been placed, and the road is open and accessible for the long weekend,” MCE posted on social media Friday.

“The final topcoat of asphalt and a few remaining restoration items are scheduled for next week, along with additional street sweeping. Thank you for your patience and cooperation throughout construction.”

The completion is great news for the businesses in that stretch.

“A huge thank you to everyone for your patience during the construction process, and for continuing to support us even when getting to the bar wasn’t the easiest,” said Brent Noels of the Pierside Pub.

“We truly appreciate it! The final top layer of pavement will be going down next week, but everything will be back to normal just in time for the long weekend.”

The work was designed to better handle heavy rainfall, including the impacts of climate change. MCE says upgrades will help reduce the risk of road flooding and service disruptions, and improve safety and reliability during significant rainfall events

“We had a lot of places down here that were Summer only and now with the growth of Port Stanley, people are going to be here year-round, and we need infrastructure to accommodate them,” Andrew Sloan, mayor of Central Elgin told CTV News while the work was being done.

In January 2023, the Government of Canada announced $6.8 million from the Disaster and Mitigation Adaptation Fund.

Central Elgin contributed the other $10.2 million. CE’s portion was aided by a $9.3 million contribution by the province earlier this year.

Phase 1B will begin after tourist season in the fall and run until Spring of 2027 along Maud Street, Bessie Street, and Lotus Lane.

As part of that next step, Enbridge Gas will be renewing their gas main and services to each property on Maud Street and Bessie Street, and ERTH Power will be adjusting power poles on Maud Street.

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