Ontario Is Planning To Widen Highway 401 & Here's What You Need To Know

There could be some major changes coming to Highway 401 if Premier Doug Ford gets re-elected in June.

On Thursday, April 28, the Ontario government revealed its budget for next year, which outlined what Ford has in mind for the province from gas cuts, tax breaks for low-income Ontarians, transit plans, and more.

Within the budget, per the press release, the Ford government has a dedicated section just for building highways and other key infrastructures in the province, and among the slew of plans include fighting gridlock on Highway 401.

According to "A Capital Plan For Building Ontario" in the 2022 budget, Ontario is planning to start the process of widening Highway 401 to "relieve congestion" at Brock Road in Pickering and throughout eastern Ontario. The "early works" of the project are proposed to kick off in Oshawa and Port Hope.

The future widening of the 401 is just one of the many plans included in Ontario's budget.

The Ford government is planning to invest $25.1 billion over the next decade to build and plan highway projects throughout the province.

Ontario previously announced it would be building Highway 413, a new 400-series highway that'll stretch across Halton, Peel and York Regions, in an effort to cut travel times for drivers on their commutes.

On top of this, they also revealed that the Bradford Bypass will connect drivers between highways 400 and 404.

There are also plans lined up for Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph, widening Highway 417 from Arnprior to Renfrew, and the QEW Garden City Skyway rehabilitation project which will build a "new twin bridge" connecting St. Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake.