A local highway safety advocate is cautiously optimistic about the government’s plans to widen the 401.
Yesterday’s budget calls for expanding the highway to six lanes from Tilbury to London, but one thing that concerns Alysson Storey is the lack of any specific timeline.
“We’re going to be working on that to secure that from the Minster. I have a meeting set up with him shortly. We’re going to make sure he knows the importance of the timeline and we’re not going to wait another 5 or 10 years for them to get started. They have the processes in place now and it’s time to get started and get rolling on this once and for all,” says Storey.
Although the budget didn’t specifically mention building a concrete barrier, which Storey has been pushing for the last two years, she’s been told by a member of Minister Yurek’s staff that it is part of the plan.
“I’ve done a lot of studying and research across North America, and you can’t have 6 lanes with a grassy median that’s maybe 10 to 15 metres wide. That’s not how it’s done. So it has to be all part of the larger package and one of Minister Yurek’s staff has already said that while [the median barrier] wasn’t specifically listed in the budget, it is included,” Storey explains.
