It’s a project that has been talked about for decades – building a highway between Kitchener and Guelph.
Ontario’s transportation minister Glen Murray says construction on the new thoroughfare to replace Highway 7 will start in 2015.
“…design is done, land assembly is done, construction starts within twelve months,” says Murray.
Surveys have been completed and the stakes are in the ground on a road used by more than 20,000 vehicles annually.
But others like Conservative MPP Michael Harris question that one year timeline, based on government documents that surfaced on Tuesday.
“The documents that were leaked this week indicate that the government has a plan to push that back a year later until 2016,” he says.
Residents also have their doubts.
The plan for the new highway cuts right through Garth Nelson’s property. Yet he’s never been asked by the government to sell his land.
“They`ve told us that at some point the guy that will buy the land from us will come shortly and that was thirty years ago and ever since I’ve heard the same story,” says Nelson.
This week property owners received a letter detailing a “notice of filing and initial design” for the project.
Still, many in the area think it will be a long road ahead before they see the highway built.
