Kincardine’s 'Downtown Dig' nears completion

For the past eight months, Kincardine’s downtown has been a construction zone. While the work isn’t yet done, a large part of Kincardine’s main street reopened to traffic this week, with the completion date just weeks away.

“The grand closing in March, we nearly froze to death. Hopefully, November won’t be the same. Even if it rains or snows, it’ll be a good day in Kincardine because Queen Street is open,” said Kincardine Mayor, Ken Craig.

No one has suffered more through the downtown disruption that replaced more than 100-year-old sewer and water pipes than Kincardine’s downtown businesses.

It makes Friday a great day for them.

“Woohoo! Happy Friday the 13th. It’s awesome! The community is kind of coming back to us. Queen Street has a gorgeous vibe to it where there’s a community that lives around the street. Those are the people we’ve missed seeing, right,” said Penetangear owner, Darryl Perry.

Residents also seem impressed by the large section of downtown that reopened this week, especially those concerned about accessibility.

Queen Street in Kincardine, Ont., closed for construction since March, is beginning to reopen, with the full completion date set for Nov. 17, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“I like the nice way they’ve progressed the sidewalks to make the buildings more accessible. It really makes a lot of sense. That’s why this transition period is here. That building used to have a four inch step, now that step has disappeared, so they managed as much as possible to address accessibility,” said Kincardine resident, Jim Tripp.

Craig said the final completion date of the work left, north of Lambton Street, will be done by Nov. 17, when a grand re-opening is planned. Final touches, including planters, benches, and garbage cans for the $7.5 million ‘Downtown Dig’ will be installed in the spring.

“Staff and the contractor have completed the project on time and on budget. We’ve been really pleased with the willingness of our downtown community to work with us. This is a project that will serve Kincardine for generations,” he added.