This article originally appears in the London Free Press on January 17, 2020 and is written by Jennifer Bieman.
No high-speed rail, but public transit improvements and better regional train service instead.
The Progressive Conservative government is out with its new road map for transportation investment in Southwestern Ontario, a 22-page draft document that highlights more than 40 ways to improve connections in the region.
“Southwestern Ontario matters. Encouraging economic growth, supporting the creation of good, well-paying jobs and building strong connections between communities in Southwestern Ontario matters,” said Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, who unveiled the first-of-its-kind report Friday morning at the London Transit Commission depot on Wonderland Road South.
Instead of the $20-billion high-speed rail corridor from Windsor to Toronto set in motion by the previous Liberal government, the Tories’ draft plan focuses on bolstering inter-community rail service. The province wants to boost capacity on existing rail lines by working with Via Rail on offering train service jointly with GO Transit.
The province also intends to work with freight line operators to improve track access for passenger trains.
“I think you see here, for the first time, a willingness to work with existing networks to move things along more quickly than just massive projects that take a very long time to build,” Mulroney said. “We are prepared to see what we can do to get GO service moving in this region.”
Improving rail service in Southwestern Ontario is about more than just expediting trips to Toronto, Mulroney said.
“People want to be able to travel more efficiently within their own region,” she said. “The previous government only cared about connecting places like London and Windsor to the GTA . . . Our government takes a different view.”
The plan has many good features, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said, but the key will be execution. Bradley, who has been pushing for regional transportation strategies for decades, said he’s concerned the draft report doesn’t put enough emphasis on linking people in the region to Toronto.
“Lack of access to the GTA is one weakness in the plan. I noticed even with reference to the rail everything seems to end in London. That’s not what we have been thinking,” he said.
The wide-ranging draft plan also includes strategies to help Southwestern Ontario prepare for a future including driverless cars.
The report calls for creation of an “Innovation Corridor” on Highway 401 between London and Tilbury to provide a testing ground for new technology, including road features and pavement markings that could help driverless vehicles navigate.
Assessing airport capacity in the region and supporting the commercial trucking industry, including repurposing an old inspection station on Highway 402 into parking, are also actions included in the draft report.
The regional report is the first of several the province has planned for other areas of the province, Mulroney said. The preliminary report, Connecting the Southwest, is not a fully costed document with timelines for each initiative.
The absence of a concrete action plan in the provincial report is concerning, London-Fanshawe NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong said.
“Londoners and Southwestern Ontario residents have already spent years waiting for improved transportation connection to the rest of the region, and for government to help increase their economic opportunities by making travel to the GTA faster and easier,” Armstrong said in a statement.
“Southwestern Ontarians are waiting on a regional transportation plan with actual dates to put shovels in the ground. People in this region deserve better.”
The Southwestern Ontario draft report includes several previously announced transportation projects, including the widening of Highway 3 to four lanes between Essex and Leamington, which drew fire from one opposition MPP.
“You can’t widen a dangerous highway with reannouncements,” Essex NDP MPP Taras Natyshak said in a statement. “Essex County drivers were fed a steady diet of promises and announcements on the widening of Highway 3 from the Liberals, and now we’re getting more of the same from Doug Ford.”
Friday’s announcement comes nearly a year after the province earmarked $11.65 million for inter-community transit projects in Lambton Shores, Middlesex County, Strathroy Caradoc, Chatham-Kent, Grey County, Perth County, Stratford and Tillsonburg.
In the Ford government’s inaugural budget last April, the province committed to expanding Highway 401 to six lanes from four along a 128-kilometre section between London and Tilbury. Concrete median barriers will be installed along the stretch, a feature road safety advocates have been pushing for after years of deadly cross-over crashes.
“We asked the former Liberal government to take action, but instead they made an empty promise with no plan,” said MPP Jeff Yurek (PC-Elgin–Middlesex–London), one of four cabinet ministers on hand for Friday’s announcement. “Our government is committed to getting shovels into the ground.”
The province is collecting public input on the draft document through an online survey available until March 17.
Connecting the Southwest: Key recommendations
- Bolster inter-community bus service in Southwestern Ontario
- Work with Via Rail to potentially offer train service with GO Transit
- Create an “Innovation Corridor” on Highway 401 between London and Tilbury to test new technology, including pavement markings and road design, to help driverless vehicles
- Survey airport activity and infrastructure in the region
- Strike task force of mayors and leaders from communities across Southwestern Ontario to enhance and integrate public transit across the region
- Widen Highway 3 to four lanes from Essex to Leamington
