Ministry chooses new highway route to QEW
http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/article/878005--ministry-chooses-new-highway-route-to-qew
It’s being called a major step toward what could eventually be a new highway in southern Niagara, one that itself could end up being the first phase of the long-discussed mid-peninsula highway linking Niagara to the Greater Toronto Area.
After years of work on the idea of what’s often called the east-west corridor — a highway linking Highway 140 to the QEW in the south end of Niagara — Ontario Ministry of Transportation staff have selected their preferred corridor out of five different options being mulled.
Ken Brothers, commissioner of public works for the Region, told regional politicians at a meeting on Tuesday that the ministry’s preferred corridor is in the area roughly between Netherby Road and Bowen Road, which would be roughly from the Welland area to Fort Erie. Now that the preferred corridor has been chosen, the next step is to identify a more detailed route — a step that Brothers said could take a year — then eventually the land acquisition and detailed design phases.
The east-west highway is seen by regional politicians as important to promote what’s known as gateway economic areas in the southern tier of Niagara, which the Region wants to see grow in the years to come.
But with the province planning on widening the QEW between Hamilton and St. Catharines from six lanes to eight lanes to handle what’s expected to be a crush of congestion in the years to come, some regional politicians were asking Tuesday if the east-west highway would in essence be competing with the QEW widening for limited provincial dollars.
Brothers said he sees the two projects a complementary.
Last July, John Slobodzian, a project co-ordinator with the ministry, said even an eight-lane QEW might find itself overwhelmed with traffic within 20 years. That will require another major project, possibly a new freeway in southern Niagara, Slobodzian and a ministry consultant said.
St. Catharines Coun. Andy Petrowski asked Brothers what his most optimistic estimate on how soon the new highway could become a reality.
Brothers said a highway project that could cost billions of dollars typically takes about 10 years. Petrowski said that could push the proposed new highway, which he called critical with Highway 406 now being widening to four lanes from Port Robinson Road to East Main Street in Welland, far down the road.
“It sounds like a project my grandchildren will have to worry about,” he said.
But Brothers said senior staff with the Region are working hand-in-hand with their counterparts from the City of Hamilton and Waterloo, Peel and Halton regions to reach consensus on major transportation priorities such as the south Niagara highway, to bend the ear of the province. “It’s a collaboration we think is powerful,” “he said.
Brothers said a top priority will be getting the south Niagara highway on the ministry’s five-year construction plan to fast-track it by stressing its importance to economic development.
“It will be our job to assure this stays on the front burner,” he said.
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