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New Highway 7 is a go
Province pledges to proceed with long-awaited four-lane route
JEFF OUTHIT
WATERLOO REGION (Mar 24, 2007)
The provincial government has pledged to build a long-awaited four-lane Highway 7 from Kitchener to Guelph.
The divided highway, 18 kilometres long, is now estimated to cost more than $250 million. At least eight years will pass before it is completed.
But the Liberal government says it will happen, after decades of uncertainty and years of planning.
"This highway will be built," Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield announced yesterday.
"Times have changed, so it's time to change Highway 7," she said.
Cansfield cited traffic congestion, improved safety and economic development as reasons to build the highway on a route determined more than five years ago in a planning study.
It will run just north of the current Highway 7, a two-lane commuting route long plagued by congestion.
Between 1996 and 2001, commuting between Guelph and Waterloo Region soared 31 per cent. The 2001 census found 19,100 people commuting daily between the communities.
Local politicians and business leaders beamed as the new highway was announced at a news conference held in Kitchener.
"This is absolutely wonderful news," Regional Chair Ken Seiling said.
"Some people have called this a two-lane parking lot."
But transit advocate Paul Langan took aim, criticizing a new highway as old thinking.
"The end result is going to be more cars, more pollution, more congestion, just like 50 years of building more lanes on (Highway) 401 has done," said Langan, spokesperson for Transport 2000, a transit advocacy group.
He would have preferred widening Highway 7, and improving commuter rail between the communities.
"There's nothing modern about this planning, and I don't know why the Liberals are going backwards when the environment is supposed to be their premier issue," Langan said.
Calls to improve Highway 7 are at least a generation old.
"There are literally dozens of business volunteers (who) have spent time, energy and money advocating various governments throughout the decades for movement on this highway," said Todd Letts, president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.
Letts is persuaded a new highway will help forge closer ties between neighbouring economies.
"The new Highway 7 is not only a benefit from a safety perspective, but from an economic perspective as well," he said.
Cansfield indicated it at least three years will pass before there's a shovel in the ground.
The province needs these years to finalize the design, acquire property and consult with the public about the final design. Costs have been budgeted to achieve this.
Construction would then take at least five years to complete. The province has yet to put construction costs in a budget.
Officials said the highway could be opened in phases, with its middle, rural section opening first.
Cansfield does not anticipate major public opposition, saying the province has approved the study that proves the need for a new highway.
She said the province has consulted successfully with several First Nations who have made claims to the Grand River, which will be spanned by the new highway.
These consultations will continue during final design, she said.
"They are an integral part of how we are going to design this," Cansfield said of the First Nations, which include Six Nations near Brantford.
Widening Highway 7 has been ruled out because it would impact businesses on the route, and because transportation planners contend it would soon be overwhelmed by traffic.
Proponents of a divided highway say it is safer, because it separates opposing traffic by a median.
Today on Highway 7, "if people make bad decisions about passing, it is a concern," Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals said.
Regional Coun. Jim Wideman of Kitchener commutes daily to Guelph and faces stop-and-go traffic. He has witnessed several near-collisions on Highway 7, caused by impatient drivers passing long lines of traffic.
"It's an accident waiting to happen, no question," Wideman said. "I've seen three or four very close calls, some really close calls for head-ons."
The proposed route has been in place since before 2002. In its last revision, it was changed to avoid most of the sensitive wetlands that would have been damaged by earlier routes.
The new highway will be 18 kilometres long, two lanes in each direction separated by a 22-metre grass median. It includes three major water crossings, about 25 other structures over roads and water, and seven interchanges.
Today's construction costs are estimated at $250 million. That's significantly higher than earlier estimates of $130 million. These costs will rise with inflation and they exclude costs to buy property for the route.
jouthit@therecord.com
So with this, the Hanlon parkway possible freeway, the Highway 24 study, and the GTA west corridor possible freeway (gta-west.com) ; we are seeing a new network of freeways west of Toronto.
Province pledges to proceed with long-awaited four-lane route
JEFF OUTHIT
WATERLOO REGION (Mar 24, 2007)
The provincial government has pledged to build a long-awaited four-lane Highway 7 from Kitchener to Guelph.
The divided highway, 18 kilometres long, is now estimated to cost more than $250 million. At least eight years will pass before it is completed.
But the Liberal government says it will happen, after decades of uncertainty and years of planning.
"This highway will be built," Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield announced yesterday.
"Times have changed, so it's time to change Highway 7," she said.
Cansfield cited traffic congestion, improved safety and economic development as reasons to build the highway on a route determined more than five years ago in a planning study.
It will run just north of the current Highway 7, a two-lane commuting route long plagued by congestion.
Between 1996 and 2001, commuting between Guelph and Waterloo Region soared 31 per cent. The 2001 census found 19,100 people commuting daily between the communities.
Local politicians and business leaders beamed as the new highway was announced at a news conference held in Kitchener.
"This is absolutely wonderful news," Regional Chair Ken Seiling said.
"Some people have called this a two-lane parking lot."
But transit advocate Paul Langan took aim, criticizing a new highway as old thinking.
"The end result is going to be more cars, more pollution, more congestion, just like 50 years of building more lanes on (Highway) 401 has done," said Langan, spokesperson for Transport 2000, a transit advocacy group.
He would have preferred widening Highway 7, and improving commuter rail between the communities.
"There's nothing modern about this planning, and I don't know why the Liberals are going backwards when the environment is supposed to be their premier issue," Langan said.
Calls to improve Highway 7 are at least a generation old.
"There are literally dozens of business volunteers (who) have spent time, energy and money advocating various governments throughout the decades for movement on this highway," said Todd Letts, president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.
Letts is persuaded a new highway will help forge closer ties between neighbouring economies.
"The new Highway 7 is not only a benefit from a safety perspective, but from an economic perspective as well," he said.
Cansfield indicated it at least three years will pass before there's a shovel in the ground.
The province needs these years to finalize the design, acquire property and consult with the public about the final design. Costs have been budgeted to achieve this.
Construction would then take at least five years to complete. The province has yet to put construction costs in a budget.
Officials said the highway could be opened in phases, with its middle, rural section opening first.
Cansfield does not anticipate major public opposition, saying the province has approved the study that proves the need for a new highway.
She said the province has consulted successfully with several First Nations who have made claims to the Grand River, which will be spanned by the new highway.
These consultations will continue during final design, she said.
"They are an integral part of how we are going to design this," Cansfield said of the First Nations, which include Six Nations near Brantford.
Widening Highway 7 has been ruled out because it would impact businesses on the route, and because transportation planners contend it would soon be overwhelmed by traffic.
Proponents of a divided highway say it is safer, because it separates opposing traffic by a median.
Today on Highway 7, "if people make bad decisions about passing, it is a concern," Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals said.
Regional Coun. Jim Wideman of Kitchener commutes daily to Guelph and faces stop-and-go traffic. He has witnessed several near-collisions on Highway 7, caused by impatient drivers passing long lines of traffic.
"It's an accident waiting to happen, no question," Wideman said. "I've seen three or four very close calls, some really close calls for head-ons."
The proposed route has been in place since before 2002. In its last revision, it was changed to avoid most of the sensitive wetlands that would have been damaged by earlier routes.
The new highway will be 18 kilometres long, two lanes in each direction separated by a 22-metre grass median. It includes three major water crossings, about 25 other structures over roads and water, and seven interchanges.
Today's construction costs are estimated at $250 million. That's significantly higher than earlier estimates of $130 million. These costs will rise with inflation and they exclude costs to buy property for the route.
jouthit@therecord.com
So with this, the Hanlon parkway possible freeway, the Highway 24 study, and the GTA west corridor possible freeway (gta-west.com) ; we are seeing a new network of freeways west of Toronto.
