Most Ontarians support Bradford Bypass, new poll reveals

A new poll confirms that the majority of Ontarians are in favour of investing in new road infrastructure, including the Bradford Bypass.

"This project has been around for many years," said Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor James Leduc, who has been a strong advocate for the Bradford Bypass. "We're quite thrilled the provincial government has come through with the project and moving it forward."

That stance has been echoed by the respondents of Thursday's survey commissioned by the the Ontario Road Builders Association and the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO).

"I think it underscores this understanding by Ontarians that in order for our province to be successful, we need to be building more," said Nadia Todorova, the RCCAO's executive director. "We need to have world-class infrastructure."

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The poll revealed that 2-1 support the Bradford Bypass, 2-1 believe that the government should build more road infrastructure where they live, and 2-1 believe the government needs to build more road infrastructure across the province.

"[The Bradford Bypass] is going to really have that key linkage between [Highways 400 and 404]," stated Todorova.

Leduc believes local businesses will benefit from less traffic congestion in the town's centre.

"We will definitely drive local people downtown," he added. "Because a lot of local people would just not go there because it was too congested."

However, the Bradford Bypass still has opposers who claim that the project's potential environmental impact has not been sufficiently considered.

"Until those things are discussed and the truth is brought forward, I don't think we should be looking at these polls with any kind of validity," stated Margaret Prophet, the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition executive director.

Further, an Oracle Poll Research survey in November 2022 asked participants about the idea of a Bypass highway that increases pollution and endangers wildlife, which yielded 61 per cent opposition.

Nonetheless, Thursday's survey results are still believed to be an important step toward moving the billion-dollar Bradford Bypass project forward, which the province hopes to complete within the next decade.