The Province has approved plans to complete the widening of Highway 3 through the Town of Essex to Leamington. Completion of this work has been separated into two distinct segments:
• Segment 1: 0.8km west of Ellis Side Road to 2.2 km east of Essex Road 23
o To be delivered by MTO using a Design Build delivery model
o Construction anticipated to start in spring 2021
• Segment 2: 1.2km east of Essex Road 23 to 1.1 km east of Essex Road 34
o To be delivered by the Sponsors using a Design Build Finance delivery model
Refer to Figure 1 in Schedule 1 - Data Sheet for additional details. In the figure, the green lines represent Segment 1, and the orange lines represent Segment 2.
The Highway 3 Widening project (the “Project”) includes Segment 2, the widening of 15.6km of highway.
Highway 3 is a critical highway that provides regional and international connectivity. The need to widen Highway 3 between Windsor and Leamington was established and documented in the Highway 3 Transportation Environmental Study Report and Preliminary Design Report (January 2006). MTO is in the process of updating these documents and preparing a Design Build Ready report for the Project.
The upgrades to this section of the Highway 3 corridor are expected to increase highway capacity, increase mobility and enhance highway safety, improve intersection operations, improve highway access management within the corridor, and address stakeholder and public concerns/expectations.
