More lanes to be added to Highway 401 in the Belleville area

Highway 401, opened in 1952, is the busiest highway in North America. The provincial government wants to add lanes to it in the Belleville area. Photo courtesy of WSP

By Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

BELLEVILLE – The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is planning to add lanes to Highway 401 in the Belleville area.

The plan is to widen the 401 from four lanes to six and, ultimately, eight, to handle increasing volumes of traffic. As part of the work, there would be upgrades to the Highway 401 interchanges at Wallbridge-Loyalist Road, Highway 62 and Highway 37, as well as the Moira River Bridge, Potter Creek culvert and Sidney Street underpass.

Possible scenarios for the Belleville interchanges on Highway 401 were presented at the council meeting Monday. Photo by Dariya Baiguzhiyeva, QNet News

At Monday’s city council meeting, Neil Ahmed from the consulting firm WSP and Glenn Higgins of the transportation ministry presented preliminary plans for the project.

The public can see and comment on the plans at an open house to be held Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Banquet Centre on Alhambra Square. 

The plan includes various scenarios for the local 401 interchanges, including combining the Highway 37 interchange with a new access road in the eastern part of the city.

“We are looking at a range of alternatives – we’re not settled at anything yet,”Ahmed said. “This is out there for public consultation.”

Some of the overpasses along the highway were built in 1955 and “are approaching the end of their life and need to be replaced,” he said.

The ministry plans to include sidewalks for pedestrians and paths for cyclists on the new overpasses, he said: “We’re hearing loud and clear that there is an interest to get better access across the 401 by pedestrians and cyclists. And that’s on our radar.”

Asked by Coun. Jack Miller about the project’s time frame, Higgins said the ministry hopes to have the plan finalized by the end of 2018.

“We do recognize that the driver of this project is the age of the structures,” he said. “They’re safe but are getting old. They need to be replaced sooner rather than later.”

The public information session to learn more about the project will be held on Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Banquet Centre on Alhambra Square.