BAR link gets Regional OK
To be called Regional Road 150
By Bill Rea

Completion of the Bolton Arterial Road (BAR) received a boost last Thursday as Peel Regional councillors, sitting in general committee, agreed to proceed with the northwest link.

The motion, which passed committee with minimal discussion, approved staff recommendations for the Region proceeding with detailed design, construction, contract administration and future maintenance of the link, slated to run from Duffys Lane east to connect with Highway 50 at some point north of Columbia Way. That connection is to be officially known as Regional Road 150.

The only discussion was prompted by Mississauga Councillor Maja Prentice, who wanted the matter referred to the Region's Arterial Roads Review Committee. That was no problem for Caledon Councillor Richard Whitehead, who moved the staff recommendations, adding he considered Prentice's wishes a friendly amendment to his motion.

The report stated the environmental assessment for BAR started in 1991, with the original scope being to build a bypass to relieve congestion in the Bolton core and along Highway 50. Traffic on the road has increase in recent years, and that has been added to by growth in Kleinburg and Alliston, among other places.

The western component of BAR is being done in two stages; the first being Coleraine Drive, from Mayfield Road to King Street, with the link to the north to come in the second stage.

Some councillors had expressed concern that the motion would run into snags when it came up for discussion, but that wasn't the case in the end.

"Councillors talked to councillors," Mayor Marolyn Morrison observed after the meeting, adding they all saw the benefits.

"If we didn't do that work now, the Region would have to reconstruct 50 through Bolton and up the other side," she said, adding that would have been costly too.

"I'm really proud of Regional council, that they saw the need and stepped up," she added.