The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) provides a decision-making process to make sure that all relevant engineering and environmental factors are considered in the planning and design of transportation facilities (Class Environmental Assessment (EA) for Provincial Transportation Facilities, 2000). The present study is a Detail Design and Class Environmental Assessment Study undertaken as a Group ‘C’ project.

Group ‘C’ projects include improvements to service, maintenance, and operations for existing provincial transportation facilities that do not involve major footprint impacts, or significant increases to traffic and/or truck layover capacity. Group ‘C’ projects are considered approved under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act, subject to compliance with the Class EA and the application of mitigation measures where necessary. An Environmental Screening Document (ESD) fulfills the documentation requirements of the Class EA process for a Group ‘C’ project. The ESD will be filed with the MTO for their records at the end of the Detail Design study. There is no formal review period for the ESD.

The ESD will be prepared to document the following:

• The detailed description of the recommended plan
• A full description of the consultation program
• Identification of all project approvals, licenses and permits that have been or must be obtained
• Environmental impacts, mitigation, and protection measures that will be implemented
• Commitments to future work

Detailed information regarding the MTO Class EA and Ontario EA Act is available under Documentation