09-01-2014, 06:10 PM
Jan 10, 2014
Waterloo Region Record
By Jeff Hicks
LINK to article
WATERLOO REGION — Six lanes will become 10.
Two overpass bridges will be replaced.
Tall high-mast lighting, bus bypass shoulders and noise barriers will be added.
This will be the new look of the widened Highway 401 between Hespeler Road and Highway 8 in about two years. The Ministry of Transportation's target completion date for all that work, which is still in the bidding process, is 2016.
All the construction makes its first big impact this summer with the closure of the Speedsville Road bridge over the highway, according to Waterloo Region strategic transportation planning manger Paula Sawicki.
The drivers who use that 4.6-kilometre stretch of highway every day — we're talking 125,600 vehicles daily as of 2010, up from 79,000, 20 years ago — are already on notice.
Your bumper-to-bumper patience will be tested over the next two years.
"Delays should be expected," said ministry spokesperson Liane Fisher in an email to the Record on Friday.
Short-term lane restrictions and closures will be required during some phases of the widening, she said. But six lanes will be maintained during peak periods.
The design and staging details are not yet available.
Neither is the total price tag, which the ministry won't make public until after bidding is complete. But whatever headaches construction brings, a more free-flowing highway is welcomed by the City of Cambridge, which sees itself as a cost-competitive option to locating in Toronto for both business and people.
"We welcome these improvements to transportation infrastructure which will accommodate greater capacity," Mayor Doug Craig said in an email statement.
"This will also have benefit to tenants in the new Boxwood Business Campus, along with our citizens and broader business community."
Boxwood includes 100 shovel-ready acres of "prestige" industrial land east of the Cambridge Toyota plant near that stretch of the 401.
On Thursday, the countdown to the expropriation of private lands required for the widening began with a public notice of an application from the ministry. Compensation offers to owners of 20 properties will be made.
The ministry, Fisher said, expects to have ownership and possession of all the properties required for the 401 widening project by July 2014.
This spring, work to rehabilitate the old Speedsville Road and Fountain Street bridges over the 401 begins. As well, the ramp from Highway 8 southbound to the 401 eastbound will be rehabilitated. The two bridges are expected to be completed by fall, 2015.
For now, the cost estimates have not been announced.
"To ensure a competitive procurement process, we will not be publicizing cost estimates of either project," Fisher said. "However, we will share the project costs public once the contracts have been awarded."
The bus bypass lanes are not dedicated bus lanes. Instead, they are wider shoulders which Grand River Transit buses can use during severe 401 congestion. The added cost of the bus bypass shoulders will be on the region's tab, Fisher added.
Bus bypass shoulders are expected to open this year on the recently-widened stretch of Highway 8 in Kitchener.
Waterloo Region Record
By Jeff Hicks
LINK to article
WATERLOO REGION — Six lanes will become 10.
Two overpass bridges will be replaced.
Tall high-mast lighting, bus bypass shoulders and noise barriers will be added.
This will be the new look of the widened Highway 401 between Hespeler Road and Highway 8 in about two years. The Ministry of Transportation's target completion date for all that work, which is still in the bidding process, is 2016.
All the construction makes its first big impact this summer with the closure of the Speedsville Road bridge over the highway, according to Waterloo Region strategic transportation planning manger Paula Sawicki.
The drivers who use that 4.6-kilometre stretch of highway every day — we're talking 125,600 vehicles daily as of 2010, up from 79,000, 20 years ago — are already on notice.
Your bumper-to-bumper patience will be tested over the next two years.
"Delays should be expected," said ministry spokesperson Liane Fisher in an email to the Record on Friday.
Short-term lane restrictions and closures will be required during some phases of the widening, she said. But six lanes will be maintained during peak periods.
The design and staging details are not yet available.
Neither is the total price tag, which the ministry won't make public until after bidding is complete. But whatever headaches construction brings, a more free-flowing highway is welcomed by the City of Cambridge, which sees itself as a cost-competitive option to locating in Toronto for both business and people.
"We welcome these improvements to transportation infrastructure which will accommodate greater capacity," Mayor Doug Craig said in an email statement.
"This will also have benefit to tenants in the new Boxwood Business Campus, along with our citizens and broader business community."
Boxwood includes 100 shovel-ready acres of "prestige" industrial land east of the Cambridge Toyota plant near that stretch of the 401.
On Thursday, the countdown to the expropriation of private lands required for the widening began with a public notice of an application from the ministry. Compensation offers to owners of 20 properties will be made.
The ministry, Fisher said, expects to have ownership and possession of all the properties required for the 401 widening project by July 2014.
This spring, work to rehabilitate the old Speedsville Road and Fountain Street bridges over the 401 begins. As well, the ramp from Highway 8 southbound to the 401 eastbound will be rehabilitated. The two bridges are expected to be completed by fall, 2015.
For now, the cost estimates have not been announced.
"To ensure a competitive procurement process, we will not be publicizing cost estimates of either project," Fisher said. "However, we will share the project costs public once the contracts have been awarded."
The bus bypass lanes are not dedicated bus lanes. Instead, they are wider shoulders which Grand River Transit buses can use during severe 401 congestion. The added cost of the bus bypass shoulders will be on the region's tab, Fisher added.
Bus bypass shoulders are expected to open this year on the recently-widened stretch of Highway 8 in Kitchener.