Thousands drive along Highway 401 in eastern Ontario on a daily basis, making for tense trips at the best of times. But lately, tense has turned to dangerous.

A construction zone on the 401 near Napanee has seen a number of collisions this spring, including transport truck fire on May 23rd which closed that portion of the highway, and another on May 30th which saw one person killed.

“It just reminds me that it’s an uncomfortable and nervous place to be,” the owner of Corcoran Excavating, Dan Corcoran, said as he looked out at a 401 construction zone near the Highway 15 exit in Kingston.

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Corcoran estimates his company hasn’t bid on projects along the 401 in about six or seven years due to safety concerns he noticed first-hand, but also because of concerns brought on by his staff.

His company has been fortunate that Kingston and the surrounding area has offered enough other work to bid on that it’s been able to survive, even thrive, without working on Canada’s busiest highway.

But Corcoran notes that in an industry where the lowest proposal wins the bid, sometimes important safety measures don’t have a place in the final budget.

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