Construction of roads, watermains, sewers and other municipal works have been given the green light to resume in Waterloo Region.

In a briefing to the media on April 17, the region’s chief administrative officer Mike Murray gave the all-clear for essential construction to start back up.

"Our community continues to have essential needs and the region continues to serve those essential needs," he said, adding that worker safety will be a priority.

Some of the projects that will pick back up on area streets include:

• road, surface and gravel shoulder repairs and maintenance,
• sewer and ditch maintenance,
• traffic signal maintenance,
• sign replacement and installation, and
• line painting.

It’s expected that some of the work will be easier to perform than usual, given reduced traffic volumes.

"As the pandemic continues to evolve, we'll continue to evaluate and re-assess our approach with the safety of residents and workers as a priority," Murray said.

The news from the Region of Waterloo comes days before measures put in place by the Government of Ontario to suspend the operations of non-essential businesses are set to expire. Absent an extension, that order will expire on April 23.

The province amended its list of those workplaces allowed to continue to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 3. While that list significantly restricted operations in the construction sector, it allowed those projects required to ensure safe and reliable transit and transportation operations to continue.

The province’s heavy construction sector remains operating at a significantly higher capacity than its residential or industrial, commercial and institutional operations. Road and heavy civil sites are generally more conducive to physical distancing measures, and can therefore better protect workers from transmission of the novel coronavirus.