Province still silent on when it will build Highway 7

Approved in 2007, latest construction forecast has no completion date

WATERLOO REGION — The provincial government is still not saying when it plans to build a new Highway 7 from Kitchener to Guelph.

Ontario’s latest highway construction forecast, released Wednesday, lists the four-lane freeway as a planned project costing more than $80 million with no completion date.

The province approved the new highway in 2007 to ease congestion, improve safety, and speed people and products between Kitchener and Guelph. Every government since then has delayed building it.

The Progressive Conservative government said last summer that it expected to award a construction contract for the new highway this year.

“We’re seeing progress,” said Art Sinclair, vice-president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, which has long advocated for the new highway.

He expects the business lobby group will grill political candidates about the proposed highway leading into the provincial election next June.

“We will be certainly trying to get assurances from all parties that they will be moving ahead,” he said.

Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said the government of Premier Doug Ford will help prepare for the new highway by replacing the Frederick Street bridge across the expressway in Kitchener. Construction is planned next year.

“We are one step closer to our goals of improving commute times and enhancing safety, growing the economy and connecting neighbouring communities,” Mulroney said Wednesday in a statement, referring to the Frederick Street project.

The four-lane freeway to Guelph is proposed to run for 18 kilometres just north of the current two-lane highway. Taxpayers have already spent more than $120 million to buy property, conduct field work, realign streets and relocate utilities.

In 2017, the province forecast it would complete twin bridges over the Grand River for the new highway by 2020. The bridges were not built and are without a completion date.

The latest highway forecast lists more than 580 expansions or rehabilitations that are underway or planned by 2024. Other local projects include:

Widening of Highway 401 to 10 lanes through Cambridge, which is underway between Hespeler and Townline roads at more than $80 million.

Replacement of Highway 401 bridges over the Grand River near Doon, which is underway with a budget of more than $80 million.

Various repaving and signage projects on the expressway in Kitchener and Waterloo between 2021 and 2024.