County council doesn’t want to get stuck with the full burden of future improvements on Wellington Road 124.
At the Sept. 27 meeting, council authorized staff to initiate a meeting with Ministry of Transportation (MTO) staff to discuss possible participation by the province in work required as a result of the MTO abandoning the designated highway corridor on the county road. Council also authorized staff to call for requests for proposals for the completion of a Schedule “C” Municipal Class EA Study on the area.
The final report on a concept study of the road released in August notes the province has advised the county it intends to abandon its designated new freeway corridor for Highway 24 between Cambridge and Guelph within two years. The designated corridor is also reflected in the county’s official plan and has been used to control potential development activities within the area.
The study calls Wellington Road 124 (former Highway 24) between Cambridge and Guelph “a very busy highway,” and notes the province’s abandonment could dump additional costs on the county.
“Without traffic relief provided by the proposed new Highway 24 alignment, additional lane capacity for east-west travel will be required on WR 124, and other significant improvements will also be required in the corridor, particularly at WR 32/WR 124 intersections,” the study notes.
Also pointed out in the study is that, “Virtually none of the traffic on this corridor has both an origin and destination in Wellington County.”
Some major development opportunities within the study area have been impacted by the uncertainty of future plans for the road network.
“Now that the province has clarified its intention to abandon the designation for a new Highway 24 corridor, the county is in a position to assess the implications for its road network and respond to the province,” the report states.
Without provincial support, the report suggests, “the county may not have the financial capacity to proceed on its own” although “some opportunities will be available for the county to work with local land owners/developers on short-term improvements to the current road network.”
In 1998 the province transferred Highway 24 to Wellington County. However, at the time, the province retained a designation for a new controlled access Highway 24 corridor between Highway 401 at Cambridge, and Highway 6 (the Hanlon Expressway) that had received Environmental Assessment (EA) approval in 1998.
“Over the years, the county has requested the province to construct or to support the county in constructing the new, approved provincial highway alignment, which is also designated in the county’s official plan,” the report explains.
“The province continued to retain the designated corridor and indicated that the need for construction would be reviewed in a Ministry of Transportation, Ontario (MTO) area transportation study. This area study was delayed while a GTA West corridor study was undertaken by MTO. In 2008, a Guelph Wellington Transportation study addressed the transportation conditions in the corridor and re-affirmed the need for the new provincial highway alignment.
“The MTO has recently completed a data-gathering exercise with the intention of conducting an area transportation study for Wellington/Waterloo/Brant (the WWB study). A municipal advisory committee has been meeting with MTO staff concerning this WWB study, and a study terms of reference is expected soon.”
The study suggests if the designated corridor had been abandoned at the time of downloading, the province would likely have provided the county with more financial compensation based on future road needs. It also notes the province paid for the full cost of the Hespeler bypass on a section of the former Highway 24 in Waterloo Region and assisted Dufferin County and Orangeville by constructing a county road bypass linking Highway 9 with County Road 109 west of Orangeville.
The report states Wellington County recognizes “the capital costs of the required road improvements resulting from the provincial decision to abandon and never construct its designated new highway in this corridor are not affordable within the context of the county’s road budget.”
The most significant transportation pressures in the region result from development and growth in Guelph and Waterloo Region, “and there is no opportunity for Wellington County to capture a contribution toward the capital costs of necessary road improvements … from these municipalities.” Longer distance truck travel, linking Ontario’s automotive, agri-food and advanced manufacturing sectors with the Michigan gateways is also a factor “and should be … a provincial responsibility.”
“Do we have the option of building a toll road at the county level?” wondered councillor Bruce Whale, mayor of Mapleton. “If we have to redo that road ourselves it’s pretty significant.”
“Through Mapleton,” Warden Chris White quipped in reply.
Councillor Joanne Ross-Zuj said the county could establish toll roads. However, she added, “I believe provincial permission is required.”
“I don’t want to put the wrong message into the room that at this point we’re considering toll roads,” said White. “In this particular instance we’re going back to the province to find out if they should have given us more money when they downloaded it.”
