Several hundred tons of gravel is now being delivered, each day, to the St. Clair Township site where NOVA Chemicals is going to build its $2.2-billion polyethylene plant.
About six trucks are travelling to the Rokeby Line site every hour, from 7am to 5:30pm, during the week.
Spokesperson Meaghan Lawrence says it's a pretty noticeable increase in traffic.
"Site preparations are underway and detailed engineering work continues," says Lawrence. "We have approximately 50 local tradespeople currently on site. Gravel delivery has started so we can create parking lots and roadways on site and there is construction on area roads including on Hwy. 40 between Petrolia Line and Rokeby Line."
She says work on the foundation of the new facility is expected to begin soon and continue into the fall.
Lawrence says while piling is crucial to the stability of the future facility, it does create noise, so it will primarily be done during daytime hours.
Construction of the world scale plant, on land next to NOVA's existing Corunna facility, will be the first major expansion in Chemical Valley in 40 years.
NOVA hopes to have the plant operational by late 2021.
