York, Simcoe partner on Bradford bypass

Yorkregion.c November 17 2011

York Region and Simcoe County are set to team up on a study aimed at making the long-awaited Bradford Bypass a reality.

The idea of a new highway linking Hwys. 400 and 404 arose in 1979. 

An environmental assessment was completed in 2002, but the project disappeared from the map when the province released its growth plan in 2006.

Both municipalities have continued to lobby for the bypass, however, and hope a study will show just how severe the need is.

Today, the GO train and three roads are the only connections between the two fast-growing communities.

The province is widening Hwy. 400 and extending Hwy. 404, but the planned connection between the two is only envisioned for sometime after 2031.

While the region has struggled in vain to change the minds of provincial officials, local leaders have taken heart from small signs the project isn’t dead, including a 2009 OMB decision citing it as a trigger for future development.

In the meantime, the Transportation Ministry is conducting its own study of Simcoe’s transportation needs, with a final report expected by the end of 2012.

It’s been a frustrating, long road, Georgina Regional Councillor Danny Wheeler told the planning committee earlier this month.

He said a bridge over Ravenshoe Road was the first iteration of the idea, back in 1966, but the closest the road ever came to reality was a 1984 plan subsequently shelved by the David Peterson government.

“I think it’s going to make a tremendous difference,” East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson said of the study, which she called long overdue.

The plan was before council today and the results of the study are expected back early in the new year.