- Highway 401 Widening from 6 to 12 lanes core/collector system from Highway 403/410 Interchange to East of the Credit River, City of Mississauga, Region of Peel.
- Highway 400 Widening from 6 to 10 lanes from north of 19th Sideroad to north of South Canal Bridges, Township of King, York Region.
- On-going MTO Environmental Mitigation/Compensation Efforts.
Highway 401 Widening from 6 to 12 lanes core/collector system from Highway 403/410 Interchange to East of the Credit River, City of Mississauga, Region of Peel.
Environmental Protection:
- MTO worked with the City of Mississauga, Credit Valley Conservation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to develop a restoration plan as part of the widening of Highway 401.
- This included a total restoration/compensation area of approximately 3 ha within the Ministry’s Right of Way (ROW) as well as on City of Mississauga lands. Nearly 3,000 trees and 7,000 shrubs were included in the restoration plan.
- Temporary perimeter fencing was also implemented to allow trees the opportunity to grow, while avoiding foraging by deer.
Species at Risk Avoidance/Protection
Before
Prior to construction, the existing six-lane highway crossed Fletcher’s Creek through a concrete bottom twin cell culvert, which did not include a wildlife passage.
After
A new clear span bridge structure was constructed over Fletcher’s Creek to provide wildlife passage as well as to allow for groundwater upwelling in the creek. Fletcher’s Creek is regulated habitat for Redside Dace, a minnow species protected under the Federal Species at Risk Act as well as the Provincial Endangered Species Act.
Retaining Wall
MTO constructed a retaining wall totaling 420 m in length, on the north side of Highway 401. The retaining wall was included in the design as a measure of avoiding the amount of vegetation removal within Jefferson Salamander regulated habitat, an amphibian species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Highway 400 Widening from 6 to 10 lanes from north of 19th Sideroad to north of South Canal Bridges, Township of King, York Region.
Environmental Protection:
- MTO obtained a Section 17(2)(c) Endangered Species Act Permit for Redside Dace.
- Overall benefit activities included channel remediation, riparian habitat and in-stream habitat enhancement for tributaries of the West Holland River (over 22,000 square metres of enhancement).
- Additional overall benefit activities included the design and construction of Stormwater Management Facilities with bottom draw outlet structure, cooling trench, and outlet channel to treat previously untreated road runoff. This also constituted as Overall Benefit to Redside Dace.
Enhancements and mitigation measures on several MTO projects to protect the travelling public and wildlife – including fencing, culverts and underpasses for small and large animals.
Nottawasaga Underpass (Highway 26)
Wildlife Fencing (Highway 404)
Barn Swallow Habitat Compensation
- Since January 2012, Barn Swallow is uplisted to ‘threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act.
- MTO adopts appropriate avoidance/mitigation measures as well as replace habitat under certain circumstances in accordance with the Act whenever construction of highways and related infrastructure displaces Barn Swallows from existing nesting sites.
- Nest cups are installed in structures called Kiosks, or within existing MTO infrastructure where Barn Swallow colonies reside, including salt domes.
- MTO also continues to explore/research features to enhance nesting at these Kiosks including cross beams, privacy walls, enhanced planting plans.
