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Late last month, the Province of Ontario announced that construction on the 16.3-km Bradford Bypass will begin this Spring. Intended to link Highways 400 and 404 north of Bradford West Gwillimbury, this new 400-series expressway aims to serve the increasing travel demand within and around the growing towns of northern York Region and southern Simcoe County. The new roadway will also allow traffic to reroute from 400 to 404 and vice versa if one of the two highways is overly affected by congestion or a stoppage.
The expressway will begin at a new Highway 400 interchange north of where the County Road 88/Holland Street West interchange, in an area where the heavily travelled north–south Highway 400 is surrounded by farmers' fields and woodlots.
Travelling east, the bypass will skirt the northern edge of Bradford's built-up area, passing nearby to newly built subdivisions around the planned interchanges with Sideroad 10 and County Road 4, which both serve the town while also extending north toward Innisfil and Barrie.
The central segment of the roadway, from County Road 4 to Yonge Street, was the subject of significant controversy and protest during the Bradford Bypass planning phase. Set to cross both branches of the Holland River and the north end of the vast Holland Marsh, the highway's construction will require the dewatering of certain wetlands to facilitate bridge work. Opponents of the project allege that this process, along with the introduction of extensive new paved surfaces and vehicular emissions, will be detrimental to the environment close to the highway. The Holland Marsh is a major market garden crop growing area of about 8.5 km²; environmental field studies continue as final planning of this section is underway. A new interchange is planned here with Bathurst Street, in a wooded area between the two branches of the Holland River.
The final eastern segment of the highway will travel south of Holborn Road before ending at Highway 404 at a new interchange. Here, the majority of the required right-of-way consists of agricultural land, with a small number of residential and commercial structures in the immediate vicinity. Notably, the westernmost portion of this segment will see the Bradford Bypass pass without interchanging with the ceremonial "End of Yonge Street," where the famed street's original alignment terminates quietly as it reaches an non-worked section of the vast wetlands of the Holland Marsh. New interchanges will be built at the 2nd Concession Road and Leslie Street. Environmental field studies continue for this section.
For the central and eastern sections, the highway will be built with four travel lanes in each direction; in the central segment, one of these lanes will be designated for High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV). Across the western section, the bypass will initially feature two travel lanes in each direction, with the right-of-way designed to accommodate a future widening to four lanes. Opening dates for the highway or sections of the highway have not been announced yet.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Bradford Bypass Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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