Coco Paving has been awarded a contract for the widening of a section of Highway 401 near Tilbury.

The announcement was made on October 26 by Jeff Yurek, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London.

Construction of the project, which is expected to begin before the end of this year, will see a number of significant safety upgrades made to a busy stretch of southwestern Ontario road between Tilbury and Merlin Road in Chatham-Kent.

The contractor will widen the section of highway from four to six lanes, and add concrete median barriers and a new storm sewer system. The concrete barriers in particular will help to reduce the likelihood of cross-median collisions.

“By widening Highway 401 in Tilbury and installing concrete barriers, we are helping to keep our families safe on our roads while ensuring the safe movement of goods on our important trade corridor,” said Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney. “This is part of our government’s plan to build a better transportation network, encourage economic growth and connect communities in southwestern Ontario.”

The work, which is valued at $67.8 million, is part of the province’s larger project to widen and install concrete barriers on 125 kilometres of Highway 401 between Tilbury and London, creating more local construction jobs. The stretch of road sees an average of 23,300 vehicles every day.

“Everyone in our community knows how vital Highway 401 is to the success of Southwestern Ontario,” said Yurek. “Widening Highway 401 and installing concrete median barriers will make our roads safer and continue to keep people and goods moving in the region.”

A community group known as Build the Barrier, has been calling for concrete barriers to be installed along the route for years. The stretch, which is separated only by a cable barrier, has been dubbed “carnage alley” for the high number of series crashes that have occurred there in recent years.