Shovels should be in the ground in 2015 on a new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph.

The project is included in the Ministry of Transportation’s latest 5-year construction forecast.

President of the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Ian McLean tells 570 News it’s about time, “I was a little surprised, but very pleasantly so. Between the Guelph Chamber, the Cambridge Chamber and ourselves, we put a resolution forward last spring, and we got the chambers across the province and the Ontario Chamber working on this as well, because it isn’t just a regional issue, it’s a provincial issue.”

The current Highway 7 isn’t safe, according to McLean, given the number of cars that travel it everyday and he says the improvement will make it easier for getting goods and services through the area, “So there’s business reasons, community reasons, safety reasons. In our mind it’s been on the books and talked about for 40 years, so the time for action is now and it’s fantastic to see that the government and the opposition parties have recognized that this is an issue they need to move on.”

McLean adds they’re going to stay on top of the issue because there’s always a bit of uncertainty until shovels are actually in the ground.