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

The Record reports the Ministry of Transportation has included the project in its’ latest five-year construction forecast.

Construction is expected to take five years.

The president of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce calls it great news and progress.

Ian McLean tells the Record, 2015 is a long way away so they will continue to bang away until the project gets started.

Environmental groups are still worried the impact the project will have on wetlands and farmland.