The province has finally committed to building a Highway 6 bypass around the village of Morriston.
The new 5-kilometre bypass will connect Highway 6 north just south of Morriston and the Hanlon Expressway. It will also improve access to Highway 401.
Construction is expected to begin in 2019 with no finish date announced. Work on finalizing plans, conducting all the necessary tests, assessments, design work and consultations will begin soon. The project does not yet have a price tag.
The announcement was made by provincial Minister of Transport Steven Del Duca at the Puslinch Community Centre Tuesday afternoon. Four MPPs (three of them cabinet ministers), the mayors of Puslinch, Guelph and Hamilton and a large throng of locals were on hand.
Del Duca thanked those, including the local citizens coalition, who fought for the bypass all these years.
"Thank you for pushing, for being patient but for being relentless with your advocacy," Del Duca said.
For years the region, and locals, have been calling for a bypass as traffic slowed and snarled its way down through Morriston, just south of Highway 401.
Del Duca said it is one of the busiest two-lane provincial highways in Ontario, with 25,000 vehicles, including 2,800 commercial vehicles, travelling through Morriston every day.
"A new highway is needed to help improve safety and improve manage traffic volume," he said.
The project includes an improved connection to Highway 401 from the Hanlon Parkway, widening of the 401 from six to 10 lanes, future high occupancy vehicle lanes and construction of three new interchanges.
Vehicles will still be able to access Highway 401 from Highway 6.
Guelph MPP Liz Sandals said people commuting to work in Hamilton, those going to Hamilton for medical treatment as well as commercial traffic using Highway 6 will all benefit.
"Morriston has been the bottleneck in the north/south transportation network around here," Sandals said. "Time is money if you're running a trucking business or a manufacturing business."
Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott "it was a long road, to get this road. While we're still not there just yet, it's a significant step forward."
He praised the multi-party effort to get the project on the books.
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie was a spectator at the event.
"This is really great for Guelph, especially for businesses," Guthrie said. "It truly is a bottleneck that needs to be addressed so it's great to see the advocacy work at all levels that got this done.
"There's the economic level and there's the people level as well. It's just good news all around," Guthrie said.
The project is part of the province's plan to spend $160 billion on infrastructure projects over the next 12 years.
