Ted Arnott calls the rush hour congestion on Highway 6 around Morriston “the worst traffic jam outside of Toronto.”
The Wellington-Halton Hills MPP has lobbied for years alongside Puslinch councillors for a bypass – first proposed in 1976 – around the hamlet south of Highway 401.
“We’ve been working on this for over 30 years … We don’t want to wait another 30,” Arnott said on Oct. 1.
He was speaking from Bryan’s Farming and Industrial Supply Ltd., on Highway 6 just south of Morriston, where he gathered with Puslinch councillors and owner Ken Lillycrop to again raise awareness for the project and to pressure the provincial government to proceed as soon as possible with construction.
“We want to stress that this should be a top priority for the province,” Mayor Brad Whitcombe said of the bypass, which is expected to cost upwards of $300-million.
The environmental assessment was okayed in January and the township has been assured the project is on the Ministry of Transportation’s five-year plan, though Whitcombe said, “I’m not sure what that means.”
Arnott, Whitcombe and Puslinch councillor Susan Fielding, who has advocated for the Morriston bypass for years, also questioned the MTO’s logic in pushing so hard for a new Highway 24 between Brantford and Cambridge, when the Highway 6 project has been stalled for decades.
“I challenge the ministry to clean up the messes here before they move on to other projects,” Fielding said.
Whitcombe said the MTO’s actions are particularly puzzling considering the local community’s “almost universal acceptance” of the Highway 6 plans and its strong opposition to any new Highway 24 passing through Puslinch.
The mayor also wondered when other Highway 6 improvements promised by the MTO will take place. Fielding said there have been upgrades along the highway, including larger speed limit signs and better shoulders, but only south of the township’s borders – notably at Clappison’s Corners.
Arnott said the provincial government is spending about $1.7-billion on highway projects this fiscal year, and that is expected to climb to over $2-billion next year. Given the increase, Arnott said the government needs to affirm its commitment to Highway 6.
Whitcombe said the township is also awaiting an MTO report – originally expected in August – from an April public meeting in Carlisle on the proposed highway improvements.
Lillycrop said it is next to impossible to make a left hand turn onto Highway 6 from his business, where the MTO has stated average daily traffic is over 25,000. He resorts to hiring off duty OPP officers to help direct traffic whenever Bryan’s hosts an auction. The bypass has been talked about so long, with no results, he has come to view it as somewhat of “a fantasy.”
But Arnott said there is reason for optimism. In the coming months the Ministry of Finance will be providing financial updates to the legislature, which he said is an ideal time to once again broach the topic of the Highway 6 bypass.
“I will call on the Ministry of Finance to work with the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of the Environment to see this through,” Arnott said.
Whitcombe said councillors had a “very positive” meeting with Transportation Minister Jim Bradley in February, during which Bradley acknowledged the need for the Morriston bypass, which will help address the bottle necking of the road from four lanes to two.
“There’s so many positives,” Whitcombe said of the bypass. He said locals, as well as commuters and commercial vehicles travelling between Guelph and Hamilton, will all reap the benefits of the project.
Fielding hopes the bypass will also reduce the number of accidents, many of which have occurred near her home.
According to the MTO, there were 951 total collisions on Highway 6 between January 2000 to June 2007, of which 16 resulted in 22 fatalities – three of them on the 6km stretch in Puslinch. The reason there are not more fatal accidents is likely because the road is so congested, Fielding opined.
Whitcombe said Puslinch Township is in a unique situations as a rural municipality located along the 401 – what he calls “main street, Ontario” – at the intersection with Highway 6, one of the busiest north-south routes in the province.
“It’s a great place to live, but we need some help so people feel comfortable,” he said.
