Canada: Windsor-Essex Parkway Project

$1.6-billion project to ease traffic between Canada and United States

The Windsor–Essex Parkway includes 20 kilometres of new recreational trails. Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to travel the length of the corridor without encountering a motor vehicle

Hatch Mott MacDonald is lead designer for the Windsor– Essex Parkway project.

The $1.6-billion project will ease the movement of goods and people to and from the Windsor–Detroit border crossing, and eliminate continuous stop-and-go traffic in residential areas. The current Windsor–Detroit crossings account for 28 percent of Canada’s trade with the United States.

The project will be delivered by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Ontario as a Public- Private Partnership, and includes design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation. It is expected that 12,000 project-related jobs will be created.

The Windsor–Essex Parkway project includes 11 tunnels, 15 overpass/underpass structures, new interchanges, improvements to 39 municipal roads, lane extensions, a roundabout, and a carpool parking lot.

Construction of the Parkway begins in mid-2011 and it is scheduled to be opened to traffic in 2014. All work will be executed while existing traffic movement is maintained.