BRADFORD, ONT. — Dufferin Construction Company has been awarded a contract to build part of a lane on Highway 400 that will connect to the future Bradford Bypass.
The contract, awarded by the Province of Ontario, includes building part of a southbound lane on Highway 400 that will connect to the new bypass; reconstruction of the Highway 400-Simcoe County Road 88 interchange and its underpass bridge; and widening Simcoe County Road 88 from two to four lanes along with widening the Highway 400 platform to accommodate future expansion to 10 lanes.
The announcement was made by Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria July 17.
In May, the Ontario government awarded the contract for the detail design of the west section of the Bradford Bypass, which will run 6.5 kilometres from Highway 400 to Simcoe County Road 4.
Construction is beginning this summer on the four-lane, 16-kilometre Bradford Bypass.
The bypass is among more than 100 actions identified in Connecting the GGH: A Transportation Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
During construction, the project is expected to support up to 2,200 jobs annually and contribute up to $286 million to the province’s gross domestic product, a release indicates.
Construction has started on other parts of the highway including widening four kilometres of Highway 400 from Langstaff Road to Major MacKenzie Drive from eight to 10 lanes. A new High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane is being added in each direction.
Widening 9.5 kilometres of Highway 400 from Major Mackenzie Drive to King Road from eight to 10 lanes is also underway and one general purpose lane is being added in each direction.
Highway 400 is currently being widened 12 kilometres from King Road to Highway 9 from six to 10 lanes, with one HOV lane and one general purpose lane is being added in each direction.
“RCCAO welcomes these concrete next steps by the Ontario government to build the Bradford Bypass and add transportation network capacity in this fast-growing region,” said Nadia Todorova, executive director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, in a statement. “This critical piece of transportation infrastructure will better connect communities and improve the movement of people and goods in the northern part of the GTA, spurring economic development and enhancing the quality of life for residents.”