Talk:Ontario Highway 401/sandbox

Future

The MTO intends to widen all of the remaining four-lane sections to a minimum of six, and place an Ontario Tall Wall along the entire length of the freeway.

Southwestern Ontario

In Southwestern Ontario, most improvements along the 401 have been completed to provide six lanes from London to Toronto, and eventually from Windsor to Toronto, in response to the Carnage Alley pile up in 1999. West of Manning Road, the highway is currently being widened in anticipation of the Windsor–Essex Parkway. Between Tilbury and Highway 402, the 401 remains four lanes wide with a grass median. The widening and upgrading of this section is in the planning stages, with construction possibly beginning in 2012 and lasting for several years. Several interchanges are planned for improvement as part of this construction.

East of London, closing the remaining four lane gap between Woodstock and Kitchener is a high priority, widening it to six lanes with a tall wall median barrier and paved inner and outer shoulders.

Windsor–Essex Parkway

In 2004, it was announced that a new border crossing would be constructed between Detroit and Windsor. The Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) was formed as a bi-national committee to manage the project. The MTO took advantage of this opportunity to extend Highway 401 to the international border, and began an environmental assessment on the entire project in late 2005. Alongside this, the City of Windsor hired New York traffic consultant Sam Schwartz to design a parkway to the border. Schwartz's proposal would eventually inspire the DRIC's own design, but his route was not chosen, with the DRIC opting instead to take a northern route. On February 8, 2008, the MTO announced that it had began purchasing property south of the E.C. Row Expressway, upsetting many area residents who purchased properties in the years prior.

On March 3, 2008, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the MTO (in partnership with Transport Canada and the Federal Highway Administration of the United States, and the Detroit River International Crossing group) completed a joint assessment on the soils along the Detroit River and determined the soils along the river could indeed support the weight of a new bridge; a grave concern of all parties involved in the project was the stability of the underlying soil and clay, as well as the impact of the nearby Windsor Salt mine.

On May 1, 2008, it was announced that the extension of the 401 will be named the Windsor–Essex Parkway, and a preferred route was selected. The new parkway will be below-grade and have 6 through-lanes. It will follow (but not replace) Talbot Road and Huron-Church Road from a new interchange at the current end of Highway 401, to the E.C. Row Expressway, which it will run concurrently with westward for 2 km (1.2 mi). From there, it will turn northwest and follow a new alignment to the border. Initial construction of a new bridge south of the Highway 3/401 junction, as well as a noise barrier from North Talbot Road to Howard Avenue began in the third quarter of 2009. The project has an expected completion date of 2013.

London Area

In the London area, construction is underway to widen several kilometres of the highway east of the junction with Highway 402. A new interchange with Wonderland Road is in the planning stages to help improve access to Highway 401 westbound in the city's growing southwest end, as well as reconstructing the outdated cloverleaf interchange with Highway 4. In addition, an environmental study is underway to reconstruct the three-way trumpet interchange with the Veterans Memorial Parkway into a four-way interchange that would connect the expressway to Wilton Grove Road and eventually as far south as St. Thomas: a city within London's Census Metropolitan Area.. Long term plans call for Highway 402 to be widened to eight or ten INSERT REFERENCE FOR 10 LANES HERE lanes from Highway 402 to the city's east end.

Waterloo Region

Long term plans call for Highway 401 in the Waterloo region to be widened to eight lanes. The interchange between Highway 401 and Highway 8 (King Street) is to be reconstructed to make it free-flowing for all directions of travel, easing congestion and improving traffic flow in the area.

Central Ontario

Despite its width, traffic congestion is common along many sections of Highway 401.

In their 2007 plan for southern Ontario, the MTO announced long-term plans to create HOV-lanes from Mississauga Road west to Milton. Construction is also underway to widen Highway 401 to a 12 lane collector-express system from Highway 403 and Highway 410 west to Mississauga Road.

Greater Toronto Area

Within Toronto, a select number of projects are being completed during overnight construction projects. This includes the widening and rehabilitation of the Hogg's Hollow bridge, as well as the replacement of the original gantries throughout the collector-express system.

Oshawa

In Oshawa, Exit 416 (Park Road) was replaced by a new interchange at Exit 415 (Stevenson Road). The contract, which began September 7, 2005, included the interchange as well as the resurfacing of 23.4 km (14.5 mi) of the highway between Oshawa and Highway 35 / Highway 115, at a total cost of $65,097,000.00. The westbound ramps were opened in mid September, 2007 and the eastbound ramps in mid-2009. Resurfacing is expected to be completed by July 31, 2010.

Current expansion plans in Durham include the construction of two new freeways north from the 401. The first will be directly east of Durham Regional Road 23 (Lakeridge Road), while the second will lie to the east of Durham Regional Road 34 (Courtice Road). Following the 407 east extension's approval, Highway 401 will be widened to an extension of the express-collector system, from its current end at Durham Regional Road 1 (Brock Road) in Pickering to Durham Regional Highway 12 (Brock Street) in Whitby. Long term plans also call for HOV lanes to run from Brock Road to Durham Regional Road 33 (Harmony Road), though no planning has begun at this time.

Eastern Ontario

East of Durham, the MTO is planning to widen the entire length of the highway to 6 lanes. Preliminary work includes the widening of the bridge over the Trent River in Trenton, as well as the realignment of some roads alongside the highway. By mid 2012, the 401 will be widened for 6 kilometres through Kingston.