News Roads & Paving
Chatham-Kent council asking MTO to speed up work on Hwy 401

CHATHAM-KENT, Ont. — The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is calling out the province for not providing clear timelines for the completion of projects on Highway 401 between Tilbury and London.

At a meeting Oct. 16 council voted unanimously to ask the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) for clarification on when the projects would be completed, after recent MTO updates on the status of provincial projects failed to provide a clear time frame for the area.

Concrete barriers are being constructed in three areas along Chatham-Kent’s stretch of Canada’s busiest highway, including between Essex Road 42 and Merlin Road, between Union Road and Wellington Road, and between Merlin Road and Union Road.

The first of the three, Essex Road 42 and Merlin Road, is nearing completion, but plans for the other two sections remain unclear.

The letter from council also asked MTO to speed up the process, in order to increase safety for motorists travelling through the area.

Currently the stretch has high-tension cable barriers installed to help prevent crossover collisions. The cables were installed in 2020 to help reduce collision fatalities and injuries until the concrete barriers can be completed.