Activists push candidates for Hwy. 401 safety barriers

It’s a glaring omission along a long stretch of Canada’s busiest highway, a 136-kilometre section in Southwestern Ontario with no concrete safety barrier to stop deadly median crossover crashes.

But with the Ontario election set for Thursday, area activists pushing for the safety barriers along Highway 401 between London and Tilbury are keeping up the pressure — hoping what appeared to be a partial victory three months ago doesn’t slip away with shifting political winds.

The concrete barriers were installed down the 401 east of London years ago after frequent, often deadly median crossover crashes thrust 401 safety under a harsh spotlight.

But to the west of London — in an area known as Carnage Alley, where similar crashes have killed many, including the loved ones of those calling for barriers — the 401 has no such median barriers. Alysson Storey of Chatham, the face of the Build the Barrier campaign, who lost a close friend from London and her young daughter in a crossover crash near Dutton last summer, said activists have to remain vigilant to see the project through. “Each party has a slightly different approach,” she said of the big three political parties. “They ’ve all committed to it, which is very, very important.”

Last fall, barrier advocates took their campaign to Queen’s Park. Active online under the Twitter hashtag #BuildTheBarrier, they peppered the Liberal government with questions as the campaign gained steam and have carried it through the election cycle. In February, the government appeared to blink, with Premier Kathleen Wynne’s new transportation minister in a shuffled cabinet saying the barriers would come — but not right away. Instead, Kathryn McGarry said time will be needed for planning and highway widening for the barriers, and that in the meantime the province will continue installing high-tension cable barriers to keep traffic from crossing the median and crashing into oncoming vehicles.

Cable barriers have never been the activists’ preferred option. They note they’re not an effective way to stop transport trucks from careering across the median. But if the government changes in Thursday ’s election, an increasingly likely prospect, even the steps the Liberals have outlined could be set back if a new government orders widespread program and spending reviews.

Rick Nicholls, Chatham-KentLeamington’s Progressive Conservative MPP in the last legislature who is seeking re-election, said his party has committed to concrete barriers if elected, but believes it will come down to timing. “We’d all like to see it immediately. That is something that we’ll have to look at, to be quite frank,” he said. “Our biggest concern right now is just what kind of financial mess are the Liberals really going to leave us in.” Chatham-Kent-Leamington’s Liberal candidate, Margaret Schleier Stahl, said the Liberals are sticking to the plan of cable barriers for now, then researching the issue further.

Jordan McGrail, the riding’s NDP candidate, said if the NDP wins the election they’d do research to find the most appropriate solution.