Council supports detour route
By Chris Simon

When the Highway 400 corridor between Bradford and Innisfil shuts down, there's little policy in place to detour traffic and notify the public.

So both municipalities are attempting to change that. Innisfil council has formally supported a petition from Bradford West Gwillimbury that will ask the provincial government, County of Simcoe, South Simcoe Police Service and public works and fire and emergency services to help implement a formal Master Communication Plan for the 400 corridor.

The plan would detail policies and procedures to allow for safe travel once the 400 is shut down. That plan would include the release of information to the media, and outline specific emergency detour routes motorists can use.

"I'm very excited to see this," said councilor Lynn Dollin. "It certainly does cause havoc in certain areas of our municipality when the 400 closes. It seems to be happening more often."

Dollin says the plan would be used often. During emergencies, several roadways are clogged with traffic, without specific instruction on how to safely get around the closed stretch of the 400.

"On numerous occasions, Highway 400 and major traffic routes within the geographical boundaries of Innisfil have been closed and the emergency rerouting of traffic is necessary," she said. "This rerouting of traffic causes tremendous strain on the existing transportation routes."

County roads 4, 89 and 27, and Sideroads 5 and 10 could all be used to better detour traffic, she said.

"Innisfil also needs to implement a communication plan and detour routes to allow more effective deployment of emergency and public services," said Dollin. "You can plan for long weekends, you can plan for holiday traffic, but you can't plan for an accident on the 400. Its simple little things like the timing of the light at 89 and 27. Something like that causes traffic that goes kilometers up the road."