Some informational bullets from the
www.infrastructureontario.com website
About the project:
The Windsor-Essex Parkway is the Ontario access road portion of the proposed new Windsor-Detroit border transportation system to improve the flow of goods and people between Canada’s and the United States’ busiest gateway.
Upon completion, Ontario’s Highway 401 will for the first time be directly connected to the United States interstate system. The Parkway will travel west from Highway 401 in southwest Ontario, Canada, through the City of Windsor and connect to a Canadian inspection plaza, a new international bridge, a Michigan inspection plaza and Interstate 75 in Michigan, USA.
The Windsor-Essex Parkway is the first transportation project in Ontario to be delivered using alternative financing and procurement. The Parkway will be publicly owned and controlled.
The Recommended Plan for the Windsor-Essex Parkway is documented in the Detroit River International Crossing Environmental Assessment Report, which was reviewed and approved under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act.
Project Features:
The six-lane, 11 kilometre freeway and four-lane service road will have 11 covered tunnels, be built below grade, and have earth berms and noise barriers in place to minimize community impact. The tunnels range from 120 metres to 240 metres long, totaling 1.8 kilometres.
The Parkway will include more than 300 acres of green space and 20 kilometres of recreational trail.
Full construction of the Parkway will begin in summer 2011 and it will be open to traffic in fall 2014.
Community and Green Features:
The 20-kilometres of recreational trails will connect communities and promote healthy living.
The Parkway’s 300-acres of green space will integrate with local parks and other protected natural areas to create a green corridor that supports viable natural communities, links existing natural areas and buffers surrounding communities from the new freeway.
Species at risk and their habitats are protected for the long-term and where necessary, they will be relocated to areas that are restored, enhanced or created and protected.
Economic Benefits:
At the peak of construction, WEMG, the winning bidder, estimates that between 1,200 to 1,300 workers will be on the Parkway site daily.
WEMG partnerships with local business owners and institutions will ensure the success of the project during its design, construction and operation; these partnerships will help to strengthen the local economy, and create jobs and training.
Much of the Parkway’s construction and maintenance work will be performed by local labour force and local subcontractors.
WEMG estimates it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on local labour, local supplies, and materials over the lifespan of the project.
I took the liberty of just stitching together the interactive map from the
www.weparkway.ca website for the sake of just making things easier to visual within the thread, and I was bored.