‘Incredibly frustrating’ as new Highway 7 stalls again

New transportation plan for Ontario unveiled Friday

WATERLOO REGION — Extending years of delays, the province has again stalled the new Highway 7 planned between Kitchener and Guelph.

“It’s getting incredibly frustrating,” said Art Sinclair, vice-president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve identified this as a priority project not just for moving people, but moving goods as well.”

Also stalled is the next stage of widening Highway 401 in Cambridge, between Hespeler and Townline roads.

The Progressive Conservative government put the brakes on both expansions Friday when Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney unveiled a draft transportation plan for southwest Ontario. The plan lists the projects but commits only to advancing their designs.

“On Highway 7 we’ve been stalled on the road, literally and figuratively, for the last decade,” Sinclair said.

The previous Liberal government put firmer construction timelines that were never met into its final southwest Ontario transportation plan unveiled in 2017.

> It pledged major construction on a new Highway 7 by this year, by completing twin bridges over the Grand River.

> It pledged to widen Highway 401 to 10 lanes by next year between Hespeler and Townline roads.

The government wants feedback and is inviting the public to respond online to its transportation proposals by March 17.

Mulroney was not available to be interviewed Friday. Her office would not say when a new Highway 7 will be built. Progress on the project “speaks to our commitment to moving this project for

ward,” a spokesperson said by email.

“The lack of commitment on Highway 7 confirms what this community is feeling, that this government is putting it on the back burner,” said Catherine Fife, New Democrat MPP for Waterloo. She argues it is a lost economic opportunity that condemns commuters to traffic congestion.

In its draft plan, the government proposes several highway expansions west of this region:

> Highway 3 is to be widened to four lanes between Essex and Leamington.

> Highway 401 is to be widened to six lanes between London and Tilbury, including the installation of a concrete median barrier.

> A new Windsor overpass will connect Highway 401 to a customs plaza at a new international bridge to Detroit.

Sinclair wants the same commitment to a new Highway 7 that the government is showing to widen Highway 3.

Ontario has spent more than $120 million to buy land and prepare sites for a new Highway 7.

The Ministry of Transportation approved the new highway in 2007 to ease congestion, improve safety, and speed people and products. The four-lane, divided freeway is proposed to run just north of the current highway for 18 kilometres between Kitchener and Guelph.

Its approval 13 years ago followed 18 years of planning and decades of consideration. Its full cost has not been made public.

Also proposed in the government’s draft plan are:

> Further discussions with freight rail companies to help speed GO commuter trains between Kitchener and Toronto, on the way to achieving twoway, all-day service.

> Further design to replace Grand River bridges on Highway 401 in Kitchener.

> Exploration of expanded truck parking at the Cambridge ONroute rest stops on Highway 401.

It bothers Fife that the government’s draft plan contains few firm timelines. “This isn’t a government that’s interested in being held to account,” she said.