News Release: Interchange Project Will Ease Congestion and Expand Access

For Immediate Release
October 17, 2000

Interchange Project Will Ease Congestion and Expand Access

TORONTO - Work has begun on a $29.2-million project to upgrade and expand the Highway 427 / QEW interchange at Sherway Gardens, Transportation Minister David Turnbull, Finance Minister and Minister responsible for SuperBuild Ernie Eves and Bob Morrison, Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer, The Canada Life Assurance Company, announced today.

"This project will greatly improve traffic flow and enhance access at a key gateway to downtown Toronto," said Turnbull. "This initiative reflects the Ontario government's commitment to invest in safe and efficient highways to accommodate economic and population growth in the Toronto area and across the GTA."

The contract was awarded to Dufferin Construction Company, of Oakville.
The project inlcudes:

• construction of a new ramp from the Highway 427 southbound collector lanes to the Gardiner Expressway eastbound;
• construction of a new exit from the Gardiner Expressway westbound to Sherway Gardens Mall;
• a road connection from Sherway Gardens Mall to the Gardiner Expressway eastbound;
• realignment of the ramp from the Highway 427 southbound collector lanes to the Queensway in anticipation of construction of a new Sherway Gardens Road.

The Ontario government and Canada Life Assurance Company, principal owner of Sherway Gardens, signed a partnership agreement to share the cost of the interchange redevelopment last May. The cost-sharing agreement included the dedication of land with a value of $7.8 million for the project by the mall owner and other private sector interests.

"Toronto's dynamic economy depends on new infrastructure," said Eves. "Through SuperBuild, we are working with public and private sector partners to make strategic investments in highway projects like this one in Toronto, others in the GTA, and across the province."

"The improved freeway access is critical to any expansion of Sherway Gardens. With these improvements, there will now be direct access to Sherway Gardens to and from Toronto," said Morrision.

Work is under way, with completion scheduled in the late fall of 2001.

This investment is part of the government's five-year, $20-billion SuperBuild initiative. The program is designed to build for the future by improving capital planning, priority setting and investment. The government's goal is to make the entire capital investment process more strategic, more responsive and more accountable. SuperBuild will facilitate the largest infrastructure building program in Ontario's history, so that the province's infrastructure is ready to meet the future needs of Ontarians.