'We cannot afford to wait any longer:' Build the Barrier founder feels encouraged

CHATHAM-KENT, Ont. — A local group pushing for concrete barriers along Highway 401 from Tilbury to London is optimistic about plans for the project, but is also voicing concerns over its future.

Alysson Storey, the founder of the advocacy group Build the Barrier, says another mention of the project in the provincial government's latest transportation plan for southwestern Ontario is encouraging, but worries construction may be on the back burner.

“We definitely are encouraged to see it in the plan but that makes us even more insistent that we have to see something a lot more detailed ready to go for construction season because we cannot afford to wait any longer,” says Storey.

The plan calls for 128 kilometres of the highway to be widened from four to six lanes with concrete barriers.

The group is not satisfied with the high-tension cable barriers installed under the previous government.

Storey calls the stretch without concrete barriers ‘Carnage Alley’, alluding to the deaths caused by traffic crossing into opposite lanes.

Storey understands the project is significant, but hopes to see initial planning and construction begin this spring and summer.

The plan was also included in the Ontario budget delivered in April, 2019.