Canada and Ontario mark completion of Highway 401

The Honourable Steven Del Duca, Ontario Minister of Transportation joined the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport yesterday to tour the completed Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway.

The ministers also unveiled a plaque which commemorates joint federal and provincial funding for the parkway. The plaque will be permanently located at the eastern head of the parkway trail system adjacent to Essex County Road 9 and Highway 3 in the vicinity of the roundabout.

“We are pleased to have reached this major milestone with the completion of the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway. This project has created more than 12,000 jobs and helps improve the movement of goods and people in the region. We thank the residents of Windsor and Essex County for their patience during the construction of the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway”, said Steven Del Duca, Minister of Transportation.

The $1.4-billion Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway is the Canadian access road approved under the Detroit River International Crossing study. The road will connect Highway 401 to a new Canadian inspection plaza and bridge crossing of the Detroit River in west Windsor. Ontario delivered the parkway under Ontario’s Alternative Financing and Procurement model with Infrastructure Ontario. The Government of Canada provided up to $764 million for the project through the Gateways and Border Crossings Fund.

With the Highway 401 portion of the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway now complete, and the trail system to be completed this spring, the region can begin to benefit from this important piece of new highway infrastructure by helping to manage congestion and by keeping goods, people, and the economy in the Windsor region moving.

The Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway will eventually connect to the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, linking Windsor to Detroit in the United States.

The trail system along the parkway will be completed in spring 2016.