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+--- Thread: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph (/showthread.php?tid=225)
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - westwardloo - 08-06-2025
Bridge over the grand has been delayed from 2025 start date to 2027-2028 start date as per "2025-2028 Southern Highways Program - Summer edition" . This is so they can reallocate funds to the Bradford bypass and HWY 413.
https://www.ontario.ca/files/2025-07/mto-southern-highways-program-summer-2025-en-2025-07-03.pdf
Looks like the target completion date for building the Frederick st bridge is 2027.
2025-2
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ZEBuilder - 08-06-2025
(08-06-2025, 02:19 PM)westwardloo Wrote: Bridge over the grand has been delayed from 2025 start date to 2027-2028 start date as per "2025-2028 Southern Highways Program - Summer edition" . This is so they can reallocate funds to the Bradford bypass and HWY 413.
https://www.ontario.ca/files/2025-07/mto-southern-highways-program-summer-2025-en-2025-07-03.pdf
Looks like the target completion date for building the Frederick st bridge is 2027.2025-2
It was never going to start in 2025. They haven't developed a contract number and haven't even undergone the procurement process so it was never going to be 2025. The next two projects for Hwy 7 are the Frederick St bride which has already been issued, it's entirely waiting on Kitchener to finish the trunk sewer relocation before it can start. The contract is #2023-3030 it was issued to Graham Bros Construction worth $32,537,455.00. Then the Hanlon/Woodlawn interchange was supposed to advance in 2025/2026 under contract #2021-3018 but that never ended up going to tender.
The MTO has focused much of their resources on GTA projects as mentioned, however there is also a focus on other highways, for example Hwy 3 and then some random stretches of the 401 outside of the GTA instead of other projects which would arguable make life easier (Morriston Bypass/Hwy 7). For example the MTO is planning on widening the 401 from 6 to 10 lanes from Townline Rd to Wellington Rd 32 (bridge before the On Route) again it isn't out to tender yet but it's expected to start in the next few years.
Hwy 7 will never be a priority of the provincal government and for the cost it has ballooned to (over 1 billion) it might make sense to change direction on it.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SammyOES - 08-06-2025
I’ve come to accept that highway 7 is just going to go the way of highway 6 from Morriston to the 403. A road where every time I drive it, I think to myself:
“Every section of this road is absolutely terrible. It’s terrible in town. It’s terrible in a long single file line. It’s terrible with cars racing and jockeying for position when it’s 5 lanes. It’s terrible when you have to turn left/right on it.”
Luckily I don’t have to drive highway 7 regularly or at the worst times. But it’s got just such a terrible future and there are zero plans to make it better.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ijmorlan - 08-07-2025
(08-06-2025, 03:27 PM)ZEBuilder Wrote: Hwy 7 will never be a priority of the provincal government and for the cost it has ballooned to (over 1 billion) it might make sense to change direction on it.
They should at least change the order. Build the link roads on either side under the railway. Those provide a useful bypass of the Victoria/Lancaster intersection and will get used no matter what happens with the highway project, whereas the Grand River bridges will be a huge white elephant until the rest of the expressway is built. Build the river crossing only if and when there is a firm plan to build the highway connecting to it.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Wingers19 - 11-04-2025
Frederick St bridge set to come down December 6th as part of this rebuild:
https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/11/04/frederick-street-bridge-set-to-be-demolished-in-december-mto/
small steps forward!
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ZEBuilder - 12-07-2025
The bridge demo went really smooth tonight, it would not be surprising if the expressway opens early, unsurprisingly PDI is the demo contractor (it was either going to be them or York1).
They closed the highway at 10pm, by 2:30am the bridge was gone save for the bottom half of the columns which were buried in the rubble pile.
At about 3:30am they started moving rubble to the grass section between the Edna ramps.
At 4:15am they took a coffee break and started back up at 4:30.
By 6:30 they were starting to remove the protective sand in the northbound collectors to prep it for street sweeping.
In total they have 3 rock trucks, 3 front end loaders that are PDIs and 10 excavators from a variety of manufacturers (Volvo, Komatsu, Case, CAT). There's a couple machines that are Limen's (GC) and there's a few front end loaders that may be PDIs but I couldn't get close enough to tell. The largest excavator they had is a CAT 374F, generally used in mining or large site grading projects, just for a comparison on how large that machine is you have to take it apart to transport it legally down the highway. The largest you tend to see on road reconstructions are CAT 336s (or equivalent) you can see bigger machines but it isn't all that common.
I had to leave around 6:30 am due to prior commitments so I didn't see them finish but I did get some pictures, they're the best I could get without going into fenced off areas and the fact it was dark, but I'll post them once I sleep a little.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ZEBuilder - 12-07-2025
As promised here are some of the photos that I took of the demo.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - the_conestoga_guy - 12-08-2025
Thanks for sharing these! It's nice that they were able to finish the demo work within the scheduled time.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Rainrider22 - 12-08-2025
Awesome pics , thanks for posting
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ZEBuilder - 02-16-2026
The Province has begun early works for the Grand River Bridges through the 2023-3045 contract, issued to Kiewit. They're clearing land that will allow for advanced grading operations to occur. This allows for some additional geotechnical work to occur for the bridges, that geotech work was delayed for various reasons that I'm not at liberty to discuss. The bridges themselves are however close to having the design and construction contract completed (pending things like the remaining geotech work).
Kiewit has a site office set up off of Shirley and have already cleared significant portions of land down around the Walter Bean Trail.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SammyOES - 02-17-2026
(02-16-2026, 08:00 PM)ZEBuilder Wrote: The Province has begun early works for the Grand River Bridges through the 2023-3045 contract, issued to Kiewit.
3045 seems about right.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - tomh009 - 02-17-2026
There will be multiple new bridges across the Grand River?
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - danbrotherston - 02-17-2026
(02-17-2026, 11:51 AM)tomh009 Wrote: There will be multiple new bridges across the Grand River?
One per direction probably. Certainly there are no plans for a ped or transit bridge.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - creative - 02-17-2026
And you know that for a fact?
Separated bike and pedestrian lanes are being built on the Frederick street bridge.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - MidTowner - 02-17-2026
The reports all refer to "Grand River Bridges," yes because there will be one bridge for eastbound lanes, one for westbound.
No, there is no plan for a sidewalk or bike lanes on those Grand River Bridges, and no separate bridge for same that I have ever seen. It's easy to see why Frederick Street would be in a lot more need for that kind of infrastructure.