Police investigate a two vehicle crash on Hwy. 3 west of Kingsville, September 1, 2016. (Photo courtesy of the OPP)Police investigate a two vehicle crash on Hwy. 3 west of Kingsville, September 1, 2016. (Photo courtesy of the OPP)
Windsor

Hwy. 3 Expansion Still Two Years Out

Saying his meeting with Ontario's Transportation Minister went well, Essex County Warden, Tom Bain admits he is disappointed Hwy. 3 expansion is still a few years away.

Bain was part of a delegation of municipal leaders who met with John Yakabuski Monday at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

Yakabuski reassured Bain and the delegates that expanding the highway to four lanes between Essex and Hwy. 77 in Leamington is a high priority for the Ford government.

"There is a small piece that still needs an environmental assessment... and there's still two or three pieces of small property that needs to be purchased yet," Bain told BlackburnNews.com.

"We were under the impression that a lot of that had been completed," he said referring to past commitments from the previous Liberal government, which decided last year not to make the project a high priority in the short-term. "We're happy in that we've got them on the case and they're working on it."

During this past spring's provincial election campaign, Premier Doug Ford first promised to review expanding the highway during a stop in Woodslee. Then, 90 minutes later, he told reporters in Leamington his government would widen "not a year down the road, but right away."

Bain did not call it a broken promise but went into his meeting with Yakabuski armed with the latest data predicting more truck and passenger traffic along the stretch which is home to many of the region's greenhouses.

"It's not going to get better on its own," he insisted.

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