It’s the end of the road for Exit 22.
The off-ramp from Highway 1 eastbound at the bottom of the Cut connecting to Fern Street/Keith Road will be permanently closed on May 31, part of the overall $198-million Lower Lynn Improvement Project.
Closing the exit has been part of the plan since Day 1, said project manager Jay Porter.
“That’s where the new Mountain Highway eastbound onramp is being constructed right now,” he said. “You can’t have a merge and on-ramp at the same location.”
Drivers headed for Mount Seymour Parkway will have to get off on the new Mountain Highway off-ramp and then head east on Keith.
That may add a little drive time for people going to Seymour, but it will improve the corridor as a whole, taking 800 vehicles per hour off that stretch of highway during peak times, Porter said.
Lately, the ministry has been doing some nightly highway closures to install girders that will eventually be part of the new Fern Street overpass.
As the project progresses, eventually the ministry will remove the signalized intersection on Fern Street, which should shave some time off the east/west commute, Porter said.
By the end of 2020, that part of the project should be complete, opening up five lanes of east-west travel.
