Ontario Highway 69 - Four-laning

Four-laning

Although early planning for an eventual four-lane highway started in 1969, the commitment to expand Highway 69 to a full freeway was originally made in 1991 by the New Democrat government of Bob Rae. Although construction did commence northward from Waubaushene at the highway's southern end, the project was curtailed by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris shortly after the 1995 provincial election, with construction ending at kilometre 225 in Parry Sound.

The city of Sudbury continued to lobby for the highway's expansion, calling attention especially to an ongoing series of fatal car accidents at the intersection of Highway 637, where a sharp S-curve in Highway 69's route rendered the approaching intersection effectively invisible to northbound traffic. Assisted by Rick Bartolucci, the Liberal MPP for Sudbury, the CRASH 69 (Community Rallying Against Substandard Highway 69) committee of Sudbury residents campaigned throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s to have the project reinstated. The revived construction to Sudbury was announced in 2002 by Harris' successor (and former MPP for Parry Sound—Muskoka), Ernie Eves.

In 2004, construction began on the segment from Sudbury southwards to Estaire, and route planning studies were completed for the Estaire to Parry Sound branch. Although the timetable may be subject to change, the four-laned route is scheduled to be completed in its entirety by 2017. Portions of the route will be opened to traffic as construction is completed — the 20 kilometre section south of Sudbury from Crown Ridge to Estaire was opened for traffic on November 12, 2009, and the segment from Highway 559 to Parry Sound opened to traffic on October 26, 2010. The former alignment in Sudbury now has the street name Estaire Road, while the former route through Nobel now has the street name Nobel Drive.

Work has also now been completed on a realignment of the controversial S-curve at Highway 637. Construction began on the new four-lane route at this location in 2008. Two lanes opened to traffic on July 27, 2010, and the completed four-lane route with a full highway interchange at Highway 637 opened to traffic on August 8, 2012. The former S-curve alignment now has the name Murdock River Road, and is accessible only from Highway 637 as a local road.

Once the four-lane expansion project is complete, the highway will be fully renumbered as Highway 400. Northern sections will retain the 69 designation until the freeway is fully connected.

Concurrently with the final stages of construction on Highway 69, the Highway 17 freeway in Sudbury will be extended eastward to the Coniston neighbourhood along the city's Southwest and Southeast Bypasses. In preparation for this latter project, an interchange opened in 2008 at the intersection of Highway 17 and Sudbury's Long Lake Road.

As the Highway 69 route passes through significant tracts of wilderness and forest land, the route has also historically seen a rate of animal collisions well above the provincial norm. Several segments of the four-laned freeway route will include special grade-separated wildlife crossings, the first of which was completed in March 2012.

As of July 3, 2011, the federal government has delayed further work from being done on this highway while it completes a screening under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act; although environmental assessments were already completed on individual portions of the route, a Supreme Court of Canada decision, MiningWatch v. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, effectively forced the federal government to rescind these approvals and reassess the project as a whole. As of November 1, 2011, Transport Canada addressed a letter to the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce advising that the reassessment was nearly complete.

The provincial government tendered new contracts in March 2012 for the next phase of construction, from the southern limit of the current construction project near Highway 637 to just north of the French River.