Windsor Gateway Initiatives Transportation Border Working Group Windsor Border Initiatives...

Ministry of Transportation

Windsor Gateway Initiatives

Transportation Border Working Group

Windsor Border Initiatives Implementation Group

Provincial Highways Management DivisionApril 2013

October 29, 2003Provincial Highways Management - Windsor Border Initiatives Implementation Group

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• The Approved Plan• Respective Roles & Responsibilities• The Rt. Hon. Herb Gray

Parkway• Parkway Features• Project Progress• Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving

Outline


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The Approved Plan

US InspectionPlaza

International Bridge

Canadian Inspection Plaza Ontario Access Road

The Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway

US Access Road(Hwy Interchange)


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The Parkway provides:

• A unique solution for a unique setting• Unprecedented in Ontario highway transportation • Achieves goals of environmental assessment • Balances impacts with benefits• Meets community needs of improved quality of life• Improves movement of traffic through region and across border


Tecumseh

LaSalle

Windsor Windsor-Essex


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• New below-grade freeway that will connect Highway 401 to a new inspection plaza and new bridge over the Detroit River

• Providing the community with the benefits of service roads, green spaces, trails and tunnelled roadway sections

• Jointly funded by Ontario and Canada, through a formal Contribution Agreement

• In December 2010, the $1.4 billion contract was awarded to construct the Parkway; over the 30-year life of the contract, the total of all future payments will amount to approximately $2.2 billion.

• Project Schedule:• Construction began: Summer 2011• Open to Traffic: Fall 2014• Final Completion of Construction: Spring

2015• Ontario's investment in the DRIC EA study,

property and pre-construction activities is approximately $360 million



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Transportation• New urban six-lane, below grade freeway• New parallel four-lane service road • Full illumination• Stormwater management facilities• Advanced traffic management

Community and Environmental • 11 tunnels covering 1.8 km of freeway• More than 300 acres of green space• 20 km of recreational trails• Noise mitigation measures• Extensive landscaping • Special measures to protect wildlife

Economic Investment• One of the most significant single highway

investment in Ontario history• Generating 12,000 jobs• Majority in Windsor-Essex region

Parkway Features


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Project Progress• Over 2012, much of the temporary

work, such as diversion road construction was complete, clearing areas of the corridor to traffic in order to move forward with final construction

• The focus for 2013 is the construction of permanent tunnel and bridge structures

• Two permanent bridges and one permanent tunnel opened to traffic in March 2013

• To date, construction is on track towards the major milestones

• The Parkway will open before the crossing is finished. Travellers will benefit from the separation of international and local traffic while traversing the Parkway on their way to existing border crossings


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Project AccomplishmentsConstruction – 2012

• 1.5 million cubic metres of earth was removed during the excavation of 11 tunnels and seven bridge structures in 2012 — enough to fill 600 Olympic size swimming pools

• 50 kilometres of utilities were relocated

• 28 kilometres of temporary diversion roads were opened

• 60 long-span girders were installed for two permanent bridges

• A new multi-lane roundabout was opened in November — a permanent section of the new Parkway


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Project AccomplishmentsMaterials Used – 2012

• 400,000 m2 of geotextile fabric was used for drains, wick drains and road protection

• 4,000 m3 of concrete was placed for bridges and tunnels

• 35,000 T of asphalt was placed for diversion roads

• 25,000 tonnes of stone was used for mud mats, which help reduce mud on roads


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Project AccomplishmentsLocal Sourcing

• Construction of the Parkway is providing an economic boost to the Windsor-Essex region with:• Estimated 500 people working on the

construction site daily• 98 percent of sub-contracts awarded to

local or partially local companies• 90 per cent of major purchase orders

sent through local suppliers• 847,560 work hours logged in 2012

and nearly 1,700,000 overall

• Partnerships have also been developed with a number of local organizations:• University of Windsor• St. Clair College• Canada South Science City• Trillium Court


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Project AccomplishmentsSpecies At Risk• Between 2008 – 2012, as a result of

intensive salvage efforts, over 400 Eastern Foxsnakes and Butler’s Gartnersnakes were relocated to protected Tallgrass Prairie sites

• An estimated 250,000 species at risk plants have been moved to protected restoration sites outside the corridor along with many associate plants

Prescribed Burns• Prescribed burns on approximately

seven hectares of existing Parkway green space in the Chappus Street and Oakwood Bush areas were conducted in March 2012

• This work also included the application of herbicide and brush cutting of invasive plant species


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Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving Strategy• In March 2004, the Governments of Canada, Ontario and Windsor

signed a Memorandum of Understanding and announced new measures as part of joint $300M federal-provincial investment to help improve the Windsor Gateway

• The Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving (LGWEM) strategy is a series of infrastructure improvements to strengthen the local transportation network leading to the Windsor border crossings, and to complement the DRIC initiative; MTO is delivering the projects on behalf of the City of Windsor and Essex County

• Overall target date of 2014 to complete the delivery of the program


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Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving StrategyProgress• To date $270 M invested• Remaining projects: Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Plaza Redevelopment

and Lauzon Parkway EA Study, well underway


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More Information

www.hgparkway.ca

www.twitter.com/hgparkway

www.facebook.com/hgparkway

www.youtube.com/hgparkway

www.flickr.com/hgparkway

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