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April
2001 Newsletter
407:
The Highway People Love to Hate
New
highways are not universally popular, even in cities like
Burlington, which have far more serious congestion problems
than Hamilton. Burlington residents were outraged last year
as builders of the 407 western extension cut trees back
much farther than had been agreed, between Brant St. and
Highway 5. Wholesale tree removal allowed builders to dump
"fill" next to the road, which was cheaper than
hauling it away.
In
February, an ad appeared in the Burlington Post that warned
people not to trespass on the Highway 407 construction site.
David Merrill of SLF Joint Venture (the private corporation
that is building and will profit from tolls on the 407 when
it opens) put his signature to the warning. One resident
of Upper Middle Road neighbourhood sent in this response
to the ad.
This
letter is reprinted with permission from the letter writer.
Resident
Disgusted By Hwy 407
Re:
Dave Merrill warns trespassers from the new hwy 407.
"The
real trespassers are his employers, SLF-JointVenture/SNC-Lavalin.
They have slashed a great sterile no-man's-land across this
city. Hundreds of trees have been felled and huge, ugly
berms thrown up to despoil the amenity and damage the property
values of unsuspecting residents.
Our
political leaders fail us by allowing vast sums to be spent
on such a wholesale environmental degradation. I am a resident
of the much injured Upper Middle Road area. Rather than
use this blot on our landscape, I'd sooner walk all the
way to Markham."
Noal
Cunningham, Burlington
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