The province has announced that it will be widening the Frederick Street bridge in Kitchener as part of the plan to widen Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener.
The plan will be to lengthen the bridge while also creating a multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists.
The Ontario government said contractors will be given the opportunity to begin bidding on the project on Feb. 28.
“The people of Kitchener-Waterloo have waited far too long for the new Highway 7,” Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria stated in a release. “That is why our government has made it a priority to move this project forward.”
The widening of the highway has been an on-again, off-again project for many years, with the province approving the latest iteration of the plan in 2020.
Once complete, the new Highway 7 will include seven interchanges between Kitchener and Guelph, including a multi-level connection to Highway 85, a new crossing over the Grand River and improvements to local roads.
The province says the work on the Frederick Street bridge is the third phase of the Highway 7 project. The third phase also includes construction of the new alignment of Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph, as well as the work remaining to connect new Highway 7 to Highway 85 at Kitchener, according to a spokesperson for the Minister of Transportation.
The spokesperson told Global News that the project is expected to be complete by the end of 2026.
“In addition to the new Frederick St. bridge, some of the environmental fieldwork, foundation investigations, and other engineering work to support construction of the new alignment is underway,” they wrote in an email. “Wherever possible, this work is completed concurrently.”
It also noted that the stretch of Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener is one of the busiest in Ontario, with 26,000 vehicles travelling on it daily.
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