Highway 401 widening in Oshawa to include new overpass at Wilson, new interchange at Harmony

The bottlenecks drivers face as they leave Toronto and enter Durham Region may one day be a thing of the past, though there will be a few more years of pain first as the transportation ministry continues its ongoing Highway 401 widening through the region.

The highway work, which has already included new bridge work – notably at Simcoe Street and Albert Street in Oshawa – has been in the works for nearly a decade and will continue this fall with the reconstruction of the Wilson Road overpass.

Also on the schedule is a total re-work of the Harmony Road/Bloor Street interchange in Oshawa’s east end, with a new section of Bloor Street to be built to accommodate both the highway widening and expansion of the rail tracks for new GO stations in Oshawa and Clarington.

Todd McCarthy, who represents Bowmanville and parts of Oshawa as the MPP for Durham Riding, was at a press conference this week with Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria and other MPPs to announce the Wilson Road work.

“This vital step will lay the groundwork to widen Highway 401, ensuring drivers can get across Durham faster. As our community continues to grow, our government is committed to expanding vital infrastructure to better serve residents. “

While work on the new bridge at Wilson Road will begin this fall, the new interchange at Harmony Road is still in the detail design and EA assessment stage, with a completion date “still to be determined.”

AECOM Canada has been constructed by the Province to do the work.

While that is going on Metrolinx is busy preparing the former Knob Hill Farms site on First Avenue for its future use as the new Central Oshawa GO Station.

A spokesperson for Metrolinx said contractors are currently still working on the “preservation and structural rehabilitation” of the heritage component of the  structure, which served as the home of Ontario’s largest grocery time when it opened in 1983 (it was abruptly shut down in 2000) and has a history as a iron factory dating back to 1872.

“Following this crews will continue with demolition activities of the warehouse,” said Metrolinx Senior Manager of Media Relations Andrea Ernesaks. “We will continue to provide information on timelines to the community as work progresses.”

The now demolished Albert Street bridge over the CP tracks in Oshawa

Metrolinx has also been busy with rail widening to accommodate the GO trains, with that work including the demolition of the Albert Street bridge over the CP tracks – End of the line for the Albert Street Bridge – last summer.

The new alignment for the tracks for future stations at Thornton Road and First Avenue will see the trains swing north from the existing Oshawa GO along a GM spur line to the other side of Highway 401, where they follow the CP tracks on their way to two additional future stations in Courtice and Bowmanville.

The future GO stations – with a construction value in the billions of dollars – were originally scheduled to be operational this year.

A date for completion of all four stations has not yet been announced.

The future Harmony Road/Bloor Street Highway 401 interchange in Oshawa