The Ontario government has completed expansion of Highway 401 in Cambridge with eight kilometres of new lanes from Highway 8 to Townline Road now open.
“Highway 401 is the busiest and most congested highway in North America with up to 150,000 vehicles travelling between Highway 8 and Townline Road every day,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, minister of transportation said in a news release. “The Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area is among the fastest growing of any large municipality in Canada and expanding Highway 401 in Cambridge will reduce gridlock, enhance safety, boost our economy, and get drivers home to their loved ones faster.”
(Photo: Ontario Ministry of Transportation)
The expansion from six lanes to 10 includes one HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane in each direction (4.5 kilometres in the eastbound direction and seven kilometres in the westbound direction).
The project also includes replacing the Hespeler Road bridges, reconstruction of the Hespeler Road interchange, rehabilitation of the Townline Road bridge, new lighting and noise barriers and a traffic management system which includes traffic cameras and traffic counting stations.
The Greater Golden Horseshoe is a nationally significant hub for business travel and the movement of goods, with $1.16 trillion in goods transported annually on its highways.
