MPP Wellington-Halton Hills Ted Arnott has been in conversations with Ontario’s Minister of Transportation regarding the construction of the Morriston bypass after he received numerous correspondence from residents and local municipalities.
“I’ve been in conversations with the Minister of Transportation in recent days and continue to advocate for making the Morriston bypass a higher priority. The ministry is committed to the project,” said Arnott on the phone.
“In the most recent provincial budget, there were specific references to the project in the budget document as well as the most recent fall economic statement.”
Arnott noted the ministry of transportation has a long list of new highway construction projects and rehabilitation of existing highway projects on the go all the time.
However, not all of the projects are mentioned in the budget, which is why Arnott is confident the government is firmly committed to the bypass.
“But we’d just like to know a firm date of the commencement of construction. I think it’s a fair question being asked in that regard,” he said.
The provincial budget which was presented in the house on Mar. 24, 2021, stated “the expansion of highway 6 and 401 between Hamilton and Guelph will provide the needed capacity increase for Highway 401 and alleviate traffic congestion on Highway 6 improving safety highway flow and network efficiency.
Ontario will proceed the next phase by constructing a new interchange for Wellington Road 34 and Highway 6 north of highway 401 and relocating utilities. Early works are expected to begin in 2021.”
However, 2021 has come and gone, and still, no shovels have hit the ground.
Numerous Puslinch residents, such as William Knetsch with the help of Puslinch Mayor James Seeley, recently took it upon himself to write a letter to the premier and Minister of Transportation about the construction of the bypass.
Even the City of Hamilton along with the Township of Puslinch and County of Wellington have recently connected with the Morriston bypass coalition businesses to reaffirm their commitment to the bypass. 90 per cent of the businesses have confirmed their continued support in advocating for it.
“A number of the members of the Morriston bypass coalition have also written letters to me and the minister again in late December and early January. I’ve also been receiving letters from local residents as well. They’re motivated to speak up again and I’m glad that they are,” said Arnott.
“The minister is listening, and I believe she's raising it with her staff. I would hope and anticipate there will be more in the way of a public statement from the government on this.”
To date, the province has done environmental assessment studies for the bypass and the 2021 Ministry of Transportation’s (MTO) public information centre for the bypass draft designs.
