Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Townline Road

[Shawn]

Waterloo Region Record
By Record staff

Sept 3, 2014 LINK to article

CAMBRIDGE — The City of Cambridge is expecting things to get a little noisy when work to widen and upgrade Highway 401 begins this fall.

Without discussion on Tuesday night, a committee of Cambridge council supported granting the Ontario Ministry of Transportation an exemption from the city's noise control bylaw from Sept. 8, 2014, to the end of 2018.

The exemption must still pass a vote at a Sept. 8 meeting of council.

The city's noise exemption bylaw prohibits "noise arising from the use of material handling equipment" between Saturday and Monday mornings, except in emergency situations. George Elliott, the city's commissioner of transportation and public works, said the exemption will allow at least some parts of the work to take place on weekends and at night. He said the more than four-year exemption is customary for such a large project.

"Typically the noise bylaw is meant to take care of undue construction activities or residential activities, but when it comes to a construction project, (noise) is one of those inconveniences we all have to live with."

The bylaw exemption granted by the city applies only to a stretch of highway spanning from 500 metres west of the King Street East/Regional Road 8 ramp, to the Hespeler Road exit.

The ministry says it needs the exemption because certain construction procedures will need to take place overnight on weekends, when traffic volumes are relatively low.

During the next four years, construction crews will widen Highway 401 from six to 10 lanes and rebuild four overpasses that stretch across the highway.

The province's plan calls for the residential streets of Kitchener Road and Marmel Court in the Preston Heights neighbourhood to receive sound barriers, as homes on Marmel Court are only 200 metres from Highway 401.

But there are no plans to erect sound barriers in the area of Linden Drive or Preston Parkway, despite the fact that apartments there are within about 400 metres of the highway.

Elliott said the city still has some influence over what time of day heavy construction work takes place on the 401.