Chatham-Kent is getting a helping hand from the County of Essex in pushing for barriers on Hwy. 401.
County council is backing its neighbouring municipality's effort to pressure the Ontario government to add concrete barriers between Windsor-Essex and London — the stretch of the highway sometimes referred to as "Carnage Alley" through Chatham-Kent.
County council unanimously backed a resolution at its meeting Wednesday night, just hours after a group of more than 20 protesters bussed to Queen's Park to advocate for the move.
These amazing people made a difference today at Queen's Park. Thank you thank you, thank you. ?? #BuildTheBarrier pic.twitter.com/yqRxKJJjBH
— AlyssonS (@Lakeside252) October 4, 2017
Tom Bain, Warden for the County of Essex, says the longstanding issue needs a resolution.
"The latest push is based on a lot of incidents — they just keep mounting, the number of incidents keep mounting," says Bain. "Recently, they haven't been quite as serious, but there have been a number of deaths because of it.".
Bain says there have been too many lives needlessly lost.
"Every life is so precious it doesn't have a price tag on it," says Bain. "I've heard from residents and even myself when I'm shipping — I won't use [Hwy.] 401 anymore; you get in situations where it's just too dangerous in there."
A petition advocating for the Hwy. 401 barriers has also reached more than 1,000 signatures and was to be presented at Queen's Park.
Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls has also gotten involved, making the barrier demand of Premier Kathleen Wynne in the legislature.