Ontario Announces Replacement of Dunlop Street Bridge in Barrie for Highway 400 Expansion
The Ontario government has announced that it will replace the Dunlop Street bridge in Barrie as part of preparations to widen Highway 400 to ten lanes. The announcement was made in a provincial news release on July 4 and states that the bridge replacement is part of a nearly $30 billion plan to build, expand, and repair highways, roads, and bridges across Ontario.
The planned replacement is significant for Barrie residents, as Highway 400 is a major thoroughfare in the city. Improving this section of the highway is intended to accommodate increased traffic and future growth, and roadwork of this scale can affect daily commutes and local travel.
According to Ric Bresee, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation, more than 100,000 drivers use this stretch of Highway 400 every day. The project involves replacing the current Dunlop Street underpass at Highway 400, installing a new, taller concrete median barrier, and widening Dunlop Street between the Highway 400 interchange ramps. The province estimates that the construction will create almost 500 jobs during the project, including positions for engineers, heavy equipment operators, and labourers.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall stated that the new bridge would make it easier for residents to get around the city. Local officials, including Doug Downey, Member of Provincial Parliament for Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte, and Andrea Khanjin, MPP for Barrie-Innisfil, commented in the release on the bridge replacement’s potential impact for regional transportation and the local economy. Paul Markle, CEO of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce, also provided remarks about the project in the government release.
The release cited a report from the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, which estimates that gridlock costs Ontario’s economy up to $56 billion each year. It also noted the completion in January 2025 of nine kilometres of Highway 400 widening from Major Mackenzie Drive to King Road in Vaughan. No start date for the Dunlop Street bridge replacement was provided in the announcement.