As the launch of construction of a bridge over York County Road 4 (former Highway 11) for the future Bradford Bypass nears, local environmental advocates continue to raise concerns about the impact of the project, and are calling on the province to release budget, design drawings, or finalized route for the 16.2-kilometre link between highways 404 and 400.
The bridge project includes the removal of 80 square metres of fish habitat, which the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans allowed the province to proceed with by a self-assessment process, via a letter of advice, the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition said in a news release.
“DFO staff continues to work with the proponent and will be notified upon commencement of work. DFO will monitor the work site to ensure that all works are undertaken in compliance with both the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act,” said DFO communications adviser Abigaïl Theano-Pudwill.
“DFO’s role is to review proposed works, undertakings, or activities under the Fisheries Act that are likely to result in the death of fish, or the harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction of fish habitat. In addition, DFO reviews projects for activities that may affect aquatic species at risk, as per the Species at Risk Act.”
To date, the DFO has not received a request for review for the Bradford Bypass.
“The construction of the Bradford Bypass will undoubtedly cause harm to fish habitat,” said Adam Weir, fisheries biologist with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. “We urge DFO to avoid, mitigate, or adequately compensate for these losses, as well as consider the cumulative effects of multiple stressors on provincially significant inland fisheries like Lake Simcoe.”
This past summer, Bradford Bypass consultant AECOM issued a draft environmental conditions report, a complete inventory of all significant environmental conditions along the highway route.
But the problem, critics of the highway say, is the final route has not yet been determined and a significant number of the studies needed to inform the environmental conditions report have not been completed.
Preliminary design and environmental impact assessment are underway and further field investigations, design and environmental work are required to update the study, said Dakota Brasier, senior communications adviser and press secretary for the Ministry of Transportation.
She said construction costs will be updated once engineering plans are further advanced.
“The Bradford Bypass is a key part of our government’s plan to build Ontario. By getting this critical infrastructure built, we are getting people moving and saving drivers up to 35 minutes per trip, time that could be better spent with loved ones,” said Brasier.
The government announced an early works contract has been awarded to construct a bridge crossing for the highway.
“This milestone will get shovels in the ground this year and bring us another step closer to alleviating the gridlock that hurts us all,” said Brasier.
Critics claim there is little the province needs to do with the results of the studies anyway due to changing environmental legislation and that the government is “fast-tracking” the bypass project.
Brasier says the MTO has released a draft environmental conditions report to seek feedback and demonstrate the incorporation of environmental protections within the preliminary design planning stages.
“Throughout the planning process, we are committed to continuing to listen to the concerns of communities as we build this critical piece of infrastructure,” she said.
But the process is not sitting well with critics, who say the report is “littered with ‘will consider’ language, rather than ‘shall complete.’”
“Unfortunately, the news about this highway gets worse and worse. Nothing in the province’s fast-tracked environmental assessment process protects anything in the path of this highway,” said Bill Foster, chair of Forbid Roads Over Green Spaces.
“For those who think this process is inadequate, we hear you,” said Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition executive director Claire Malcolmson. “It is not OK to build new highways without proper oversight and sensible environmental planning. We continue to be astounded that the province is ignoring all of our concerns and those of the seven Lake Simcoe municipalities whose councils passed resolutions for greater oversight and proper care for Lake Simcoe and that the federal government, despite its climate and natural areas priorities, is not stepping in and helping at all.”
“Many concerned citizens have asked if this is the way Ontarians want to spend upwards of $1 billion to trash the environment, while people face serious affordability concerns, a national health-care crisis, and a global climate emergency. This question rests heavy on the hearts of the advocates for better planning,” read the release.
The Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition delivered 20,000 flyers to residences in Bradford, East Gwillimbury and Georgina and launched a new petition on its website asking the MTO and the DFO to stop work on the bypass until further environmental assessments and proper permitting are completed.
However, Brasier maintains the highway is something constituents in the area have wanted for a long time.
“For decades, previous Liberal governments ignored calls to build the Bradford Bypass, but under Premier Ford’s leadership, we are finally getting it done,” she said.
Malcolmson said she and other critics want the public to understand how little protection of natural resources is occurring with this highway project.
“We want a transparent reconsideration of bypass routes to reduce environmental impacts on Lake Simcoe and allow regional governments to properly address local traffic issues,” she said.
She said traffic modelling does not justify the need for the project and will do little to improve local traffic while negatively affecting traffic movement on the 400 and 404 highways and that local traffic issues would be better addressed at a lower fiscal and environmental cost through regional road improvements and better transit plans.
“It may be that another 400-404 bypass would be better placed somewhere further from Lake Simcoe, but we will not know that unless the province does the analysis,” she said. “Instead, it’s studying building a four-lane road, acknowledging that it will need to go to eight lanes soon. You can’t dump four lanes of traffic onto another highway without creating problems. It’s just a bad plan and a bad process.”
