Jeff Heuchert, Stratford Gazette
The figures that have been presented to the public to support construction of a new Highway 7/8 don’t add up to Paul Gras.
The Perth South resident said the Ministry of Transportation and its consultants have used inaccurate data to justify a new four-lane highway between New Hamburg and Stratford.
And, he suggested, once projections around population growth and traffic volumes have been properly adjusted, the need for the project isn’t as evident.
Gras addressed members Perth County council last week, where he asked them to withdraw their support for the highway study, noting the ministry and its project team have “fallen out of acceptable levels of accuracy” and have “never proven the need (for a new highway).
“If there’s something in this deal we don’t like, politically, we have to put pressure on them and put a stop to that,” he added.
Rather than endorse the request from Gras, council agreed to send his research to the ministry for comment and to verify the accuracy of his claims.
According to Gras, the ministry anticipates Stratford’s population hitting 35,600 by 2031 – the highway’s target date. But, based on Statistics Canada’s 2011 report and the area’s growth rate, he suggested that number is likely to be around 32,390.
The ministry is also projecting about 35,000 vehicles will travel the new highway each day, and, depending on its design, the road will be able to accommodate up to 40,000 vehicles per day.
But, “with population predictions too high, these volume predictions are still high,” Gras argued, noting even with exaggerated numbers, a four-lane road would exceed traffic predictions.
Gras also questioned whether a new highway would be much safer, noting the corridor is already below the provincial average in collisions.
The ministry and its team are in the process of finalizing a preliminary design for the highway, which would run west along the existing 7/8 before dipping south to avoid Shakespeare, eventually connecting with Line 33 into Stratford.
In the summer, the ministry will hold additional public information centres to gather feedback.
But given the one-on-one nature of those meetings, Gras said he would like to see the addition of question and answer sessions. These would give the public, media and politicians an opportunity to hear all of the questions and concerns, and hold the project team more accountable, he added.
Also last week representatives from the ministry and AECOM visited Perth East council to further respond to councillors’ questions. They previously attended a county-wide meeting back on March 22.
Perth East councillor Bob McMillan said it was with “guarded optimism” that he believes there is room for future discussions between the team and municipal leaders as the project proceeds.
