Hatch Mott MacDonald to be lead design firm for highway project in Ontario

MILLBURN, N.J. — Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) will be the lead design firm for the Windsor–Essex Parkway in Ontario, Canada. HMM is part of the Windsor Essex Mobility Group (WEMG), which was selected by Infrastructure Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation from a short list of three consortia for the parkway. The parkway, once completed, will be the most significant single highway investment in Ontario’s history.

Job creation from construction of the parkway will be significant; it is estimated that 12,000 direct and indirect project-related jobs will be generated — the majority of which will be in the Windsor-Essex region.

The Windsor-Essex Parkway is an 11-kilometer (6.8-mile), six-lane extension of Hwy 401 through the county of Essex and city of Windsor with three new interchanges, 11 cut-and-cover tunnels, 15 over-/underpass structures, and a full suite of supporting structures and services. The project includes design, construction, financing, and maintenance with a planned concession term of 30 years. The design-build-finance-maintain consortium is made up of Acciona, ACS/Dragados, and Fluor, with HMM as prime consultant and designer. The four-year design and construction period is expected to start in early 2011.