A recent announcement to increase the speed limit on Highway 402 has raised some concerns.
On Wednesday, the Ford Tories announced the highway's speed limit from Waterworks Road to 350 metres east of Colborne Road in Sarnia will increase to 110 kilometres per hour, as of July 31.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said the westbound stretch of the highway between Modeland Road and Colborne Road is different, given the high volume of truck traffic heading to the Blue Water Bridge.
"We had hoped the Gordie Howe International Bridge would be open for business, that's not happening. So that means we're going to have a long, hot summer here of more truck traffic and perhaps more car traffic," Bradley said. "I hope the province has really taken a good look at that part, from Colborne out to Modeland, where increasing the speed significantly, given the history of that stretch of highway, may not be a good thing to do."
However, Bradley admits many drivers don't abide by the current speed limit anyways.
"Anyone that drives the highway can understand that," he said. "I think the one concern would be that there have been a number of major traffic accidents in this particular stretch between Colborne and Modeland, and I hope that they (the province) have done their diligence on what the impact of this will be."
Bradley said in the past, there have been inconsistencies with speed limits between the Blue Water Bridge and Modeland Road, making it confusing for drivers.
"Trying to bring in some consistency is good, I just hope they've taken a really good look at the safety issues," Bradley said.
Currently, the speed limit on the westbound Highway 402 at Indian Road is 70 km/h approaching the international border crossing. The speed limit increase on Highway 402 follows a previous boost in 2022 from Waterworks Road to London, following a three-year pilot project.
With files from Natalia Vega.
