While it was good news that the government agreed to put concrete barriers on Highway 401 between Tilbury and London, the timeline of at least two years is not.
The Minister of Transportation Kathryn McGarry committed to putting in the barriers once an Environmental Assessment is done on that stretch of the highway, but the process to update an assessment done nine years ago to upgrade the highway to six lanes is expected to take about two years.
Even though they have also agreed to construct cable barriers in the interim, two years is too long. Surely the minister can put her foot on the gas and speed up this process that is so very necessary to preventing deadly head-on collisions.
Our Ontario government seems to have no problem pushing through agenda items they insist we must have – such as wind turbines in the Green Energy Act whether the people want them or not. How about fixing a section of highway that has seen horrific accidents for years and has earned the unfortunate moniker of Carnage Alley?
People’s safety should be a top priority, especially in an area of the province that is continually ignored by a Toronto-centric Liberal government. As a main corridor for traffic to and from the United States, and with another bridge in the works, getting the barrier project going as soon as possible should be a no-brainer.
As Alysson Storey of the #BuildtheBarrier group noted, the public needs to keep the pressure up on the transport minister to get the EA process going and completed as soon as possible so drivers can feel a greater measure of safety when on Hwy. 401.
Losing loved ones in accidents that could be so easily prevented by a concrete barrier is a horrible tragedy and people such as Storey want to make sure no other family needs to live with that pain.
Get the assessment done, and get the barrier built, sooner rather than later. In this case, demanding McGarry put the pedal to the metal is a must, not a want.
