New 4 Lane Highway, New highway between Kitchener and Guelph Options

[billkeay]

Hi there folks,

The Ministry of Transportation in Ontario has recently announced that a new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph will get the go ahead. It is a $400 million project that will shave time off the commute. Once the highway is complete it will take 11 minutes to get between the two cities.

The costs of the project are high in terms of dollars and opportunity cost and that is the farmland that will be consumed by the road.

There are definitely alot of advantages to commuters for the improved route: less accidents, increase safety, less delays and more efficient travel.

However, the main disadvantage is that prime farmland will be paved over. Also, the cost of the road is very high and will go up over time like all mega projects seem to do.

This transportation change will have a great impact on landlords and land owners in the area. I have a property that is close to Wellington and now a tenant of mine will be able to get to Guelph from downtown Kitchener in about 20 minutes.

I'd like to get REIN members feedback about this transportation change. Is the highway worth the cost or should they try other alternatives? The stakeholders have been talking about this highway for 15 to 20 years so the status quo is no longer an option.

Here is the link from Sept 29's article from The Record. http://news.therecord.com/article/248928

Cheers,

Bill Keay

[BMironov]

Hi Bill,

Great project! We watch after such projects very closely in Right Side Realty Corp. Thank you very much for this piece of information.

The government has said construction will not start before 2010, and will take at least five years.

Cansfield hopes the new highway will be completed before 2014, the earliest projected date.

Unfortunately, so far it just looks like pre-election article. Remember "Moving Ontario 2020" $17B project? Nothing happened. Remember project to extend TTC subway lines? Nothing happened.

All of them were "all of a sudden" announced this summer within few months from October election in Ontario.

Let's wait until "there will be some smoke", as Don says. Please let us know when you will see the "smoke".



This post has been edited by BMironov: Sep 30 2007, 07:52 AM

[billkeay]

Hi Boris,

Thanks for the reply. I read today that 6 nations needs to approve the project too, so that could mean more delays.

I didn't think that this could be a political issue so that was an interesting point.

There is a need for this project or some sort of improved traffic route between Guelph/Wellington Region and Kithcener/Waterloo Region and everyone wants one. How they go about getting the job done could be how it becomes a political issue.

Good point.

Regards,

Bill

[tfuther]

Hi Bill,

Great project! We watch after such projects very closely in Right Side Realty Corp. Thank you very much for this piece of information.



Unfortunately, so far it just looks like pre-election article. Remember "Moving Ontario 2020" $17B project? Nothing happened. Remember project to extend TTC subway lines? Nothing happened.

All of them were "all of a sudden" announced this summer within few months from October election in Ontario.

Let's wait until "there will be some smoke", as Don says. Please let us know when you will see the "smoke".