Widening of Hwy 3 continues march toward Leamington

Essex County Council last week approved the recommendation to enter into a contract with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to proceed with the next phase of widening Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington.

The project title is a misnomer — as pointed out by Leamington Deputy Mayor Larry Verbeke — because the widening to four lanes will only reach into the Town of Kingsville at County Rd. 34 and not find its way into Leamington.

This is the second contract as part of Phase 3 of the widening of Highway 3 to a four-lane highway.

The first contract of this phase was recently completed near Essex and this new portion will widen the road from east of County Rd. 23 (Arner Townline) easterly to the intersection of County Rd. 34 and Highway 3. It’s a 15.7 km stretch.

The contract was awarded to GIP Paving in June of this year.

The project will include the widening and improvement of five intersections, which will be traffic light controlled. Those include where Highway 3 intersects Belle River Rd., Division Rd., County Rd. 18, Graham Sideroad and County Rd. 34.

The project will also include the closure of Cameron Sideroad, Marsh Road, Inman and Upcott Sideroads where they meet Highway 3.

An Ontario Land Tribunal meeting on the closures was to be held on Thursday, November 2.

Concerns were mostly about the closures of the side-roads, with Verbeke concerned about farm machinery not having a way to get from one field to another easily.

“Some of these farmers have farms on both sides of Highway 3 and they’ll have to go all the way around,” he said.

Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kimberly DeYong spoke on the same issue, saying that although she’s fully in support of the widening of the highway, the closures of those sideroads will force agricultural machinery to detour through populated areas such as Cottam and Essex — creating safety issues for pedestrians, schools and commercial areas.

“We’re trading safety on Highway 3 for the safety of our residential streets,” she said. 

According to MTO spokesperson Kyle Saulnier, the project will undergo two designs and construction reports and will be sent out for public comments and consultation for a 30-day period.

The project has a website at hwy3essex.com where the public will be able to comment once that opens up.

Council voted unanimously to enter into the contract with the MTO for the project, for which construction is expected to get underway in 2024 and be completed in 2027.