History of the Bradford Bypass:
This proposed 400-Series Highway in the County of Simcoe and the Regional Municipality of York will ultimately link Highway 400 in Bradford to Highway 404 north of
Newmarket. The proposed freeway is officially known as the Bradford Bypass, but will be numbered as a 400-Series Highway once it is constructed. Since the
1970s, the Ministry of Transportation has investigated several possible highway corridors around the southern side of Lake Simcoe. Road connectivity in this area is
poor, with no east-west provincial highway corridors in the vicinity. To compound matters, municipal roads in the area are often discontinuous, which forces east-west
traffic to use long, meandering routes which are not really suitable for long distance through traffic. To address these transportation deficiencies, MTO commenced a
Route Planning Environmental Assessment (EA) Study in 1992 for a proposed east-west freeway link in the Bradford Area. After studying numerous potential routes for
the freeway during the 1990s, the Route Planning EA Study identified a technically preferred route in 1997. The Bradford Bypass received Route Planning EA Approval in
2002, and the proposed freeway corridor was subsequently designated as a Controlled-Access Highway (CAH) by an Order-in-Council, effective May 12, 2004. The
designated highway corridor for the proposed Bradford Bypass begins at Highway 400, about mid-way between 8th Line and 9th Line in Bradford-West Gwillimbury. From
there, the proposed route continues east to Highway 404, where it ends about half-way between Queensville Sideroad and Holborn Road.
In 2019, it was announced that MTO would advance the approved Bradford Bypass to the Preliminary Design stage. The vision was to build upon the previous Route
Planning EA Study completed in the 1990s by optimizing the proposed corridor to minimize environmental impacts and bring the plan for the highway up to current
environmental and engineering design standards. The Preliminary Design EA Study began in September 2020 and was completed with the posting of the Final Environmental
Impact Assessment Report on November 16, 2023. It is anticipated that the project will advance to the Detailed Design phase now that the Preliminary Design EA Study
is complete. An anticipated completion date for the highway has not yet been announced, as it is likely that the project will be carried out through construction
contracts spanning several years. An advance contract for the construction of a new grade separation over the proposed Bradford Bypass at County Road 4 (Former
Hwy 11) is already underway at the northern entrance to Bradford. The proposed Bradford Bypass is approximately 16.2 km in length.
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