Ontario transportation minister tours Highway 3

Ontario's Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca says he finally gets ita two-lane stretch of Highway 3 is a deadly stretch of road that needs his attention.

Del Duca took his long-awaited tour of Highway 3 on Sunday.

"I've seen it first-hand. I get it. I've heard it loud and clear. I'm asking for just a little bit more patience," Del Duca told Windsor Morning host Peter Duck on Monday. "It definitely had a very strong impact on me."

Del Duca said the curves, shoulders, truck traffic and "explosion of greenhouses" in Leamington, helped him better understand the community's safety concerns about Highway 3 between Essex and Leamingon.

Del Duca said despite taking a Sunday drive, he saw the problems driversregularly face on the road.

"When we spend a lot of time at Queen's Park we don't see as regularly as we should the problems people are facing," he said. "There was a fair bit of traffic on the highway [Sunday]."

"We certainly saw some examples of drivers that chose on the two-lane stretch to pass."

Del Ducaalso toured a four-lane stretch of the highway.

"Obviously, when you're on the four-lane stretch, there's obviously more room to move and a greater sense of comfort," he said.

He then said drivers "do things that aren't the most responsible things to do behind the wheel of a car" on the two-lane stretch.

Del Duca is in the region as part of meetings with the province's Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

He had been invited to tour the road by NDP MPP Taras Natyshak and other mayors concerned about road fatalities on the two-lane stretch of the roadway, between Essex and Leamington.

Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos tweeted along the way.

Six people have been killed in five fatal collisions on that stretch in the past two years.

The provincial government has talked about making the entire road four lanes wide for about a decade.

So far, it has only completed the portion between Essex and Windsor.

Del Duca toured the stretch with county mayors and MTO staff. He later met with them and members of the community, who told "very compelling stories" about the roadway.

He said everyone was "very direct about what they've seen here in this community."

"I got the message loud and clear," Del Duca said.

The minister will take all the information he gathered back to Queen's Park and have "an internal discussion" with staff, conduct additional analysis and come up with a game plan.

"I expect to be back to provide an update in the near future," he said.