Wellington County is asking the Ministry of Transportation to proceed “as soon as possible” with a plan to abandon the current designation for a new alignment of former Highway 24.
At the Oct. 29 county council meeting, roads committee chair councillor Gary Williamson explained that when the road, now known as Wellington Road 124, was originally downloaded from the province, “there was no discussion” on costs to the municipality.
In addition, the designation on land through the proposed new alignment corridor is “holding up development” on a number of properties in the county, he noted.
The issue dates back to 1997, when an Environmental Assessment Study was approved, calling for the Ministry of Transportation to build a controlled access highway on a new alignment to replace the existing Highway 24 connecting Cambridge at Highway 401 to Guelph at Highway 6.
The new alignment in the Wellington section was at the back lot line of the properties on the north side of the existing Highway 24. In January 1998 the province downloaded the entire length of Highway 24 from the Wellington County boundary with Waterloo Region to its boundary with Peel Region, which left the county holding the bag to fund any future enhancements.
Despite numerous requests from the county over the years, the province declined to reconsider the downloading. In the interim, a key connection to an extension of Stone Road at the Guelph end was abandoned by the City of Guelph and developers became impatient with the process, requesting an official plan amendment to remove the protection on the corridor for the new provincial freeway, as well as a request to the province to lift the designation on the proposed new alignment.
In a written report to the roads committee, county engineer Gord Ough explained a concept plan created by the county was shared with ministry staff at a meeting last March to “try to see if there was any hope of the ministry lending us a hand to deal with this huge liability that we find ourselves with.”
The ministry responded in a letter on Aug. 14 from West Region director Jennifer Graham-Harkness, indicating the ministry intends to abandon the current designation for the new alignment of former Highway 24.
“The ministry welcomes the County of Wellington input with regard to the schedule for removing this designation,” the letter states.
Graham-Harkness also suggested the county apply to the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund and the federal Small Communities fund to assist with improvements to Wellington Road 124.
“In the interest of freeing up some potential land development opportunities it is recommended that the county asks the ministry to proceed as soon as possible with the removal of the current designation for the new alignment of former Highway 24,” stated Ough in his report, which was approved by county council.
