March 29, 2006

 

The following article is excerpted from the 29 March 2006 edition of the "Toronto Star".

Highway 401 will be extended through Windsor, the provincial and federal governments announced yesterday as they narrowed the field for a new border crossing into Detroit to three locations.

Public hearings begin today in Windsor on the long-awaited and much-needed new crossing....

A final decision on a new crossing is expected next year, with construction expected to begin in 2010 and be complete in 2013....

Windsor does not have a highway between the two current border crossings and Highway 401, which ends east of the city. The brunt of the delays at the border are borne by Windsor residents, who see trucks back up their local roads en route to the Ambassador Bridge.

The Detroit River International Crossing environmental study - led in Canada by Ontario's transportation ministry and Transport Canada - determined the new access road on the Canadian side will be a six-lane freeway, extending Highway
401 to the new plaza and river crossing, and will separate local from international traffic.

The five options for the extension include a tunnel below a rebuilt Huron Church Rd./Highway 3; a road at grade, either parallel to Huron Church Rd./Highway 3 or with one-way service roads on either side; and a depressed road either parallel to Huron Church Rd./Highway 3 or one-way service roads on either side.

The three options to be considered for the inspection plaza and river crossing are in the Brighton Beach area, south of E.C. Row, east of Ojibway Parkway, and at the waterfront, between Prospect Ave. and Broadway Blvd.