Much of highway 401 to be expanded to six lanes

TORONTO — The bookends of Highway 401 from Windsor, Ont. to the Quebec border will have at least three lanes in each direction, Ontario Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield said yesterday.

The official five-year plan is expected to be released next month, but the National Post is reporting that the plan will likely include construction for at least six lanes for the full length of the busy 401.

The original $330 million plan only called for a total of 50 kilometers to be expanded.

Truckers and motorists could see many of the new lanes as early as 2013, according to the paper. A ministry spokesperson told said that six lanes could be operational between London to Cobourg by 2011.

Next year, construction will commence on six uninterrupted lanes from the GTA westward to Highway 402 in London. In the east, two more lanes from Port Hope to Cobourg are slated for construction this fall.

OPP Sergeant Cam Woolley welcomed the news, but added there should be even more asphalt. He said the ministry should be thinking beyond six lanes, especially in the GTA, where traffic volumes are expected to double in the next decade.

— from the National Post