Another Highway 3 crash reopens discussion on twinning

Highway 3 has been reopened after a 90-minute closure due to a four-vehicle crash in the area of Cottam, saysEssex County OPP.

The collision happened between County Roads 27 and 29, with five people involved, at around 8:40 a.m.

Two people are receiving treatment for non-life threatening injuries and three others either suffered minor injuries or weren't hurt, according to the OPP.

Police say a truck was travelling eastbound on Highway 3 when it rear-ended another vehicle. That pushed the vehicle into the opposing lane, and the vehicle was then struck by a westboundvehicle travelling on Highway 3.

Anyone with information about the collision is asked to contact OPP at 1-888-310-1122, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Calls for highway improvement

The location of this specific crash is in a deadly stretch of Highway 3 that is notorious for collisions.

CBC News obtained EMS response call numbers that show there were 193 reports of collisions on this single-lane stretch of the highway from County Road 8 in Essex to Highway 77 in Leamingtonbetween 2013 and 2017.

There have been talks of both widening the highway and also twinning the highway over the years. While campaigning in Leamington, premier-designate Doug Ford said he will make sure that the twinning happens.

"We won't delay it for years and years and years. We're going to make sure we get shovels to the ground not a year down the road, but immediately," he said to a cheering crowd.

However, it's looking like an immediate start may be a stretch.

"I wish we could say we will start on it on the first of July, but that's not a realistic start date for sure," said Rick Nicholls, the progressive conservative MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington.

He said things can't begin until after the new ministers are sworn in and they have done a "forensic audit on the books to identify the current state of Ontario's true debt."

As anMPP, he said he'll make his recommendations to the incoming Minister of Transportation, do reviews and then determine when the project would begin.

Nicholls also couldn't provide an estimate as to how long it might take to complete, because they would also have to do a study to see the length of road that would be required.

"But it definitely will be done," he promised.

In the meantime, the New Democratic PartyMPP for Essex, Taras Natyshak, sent a letter to Ford reminding him of his promise and asking him to shift his priorities.

"You say your priority is ending environmental programs - but the people of my community are being hurt and are afraid to let their teens and young adult children drive," Natyshak wrote.

Back in 2015, the immediate widening of the highway from two to four lanes was voted down at Queen's Park.