Starting Monday, a stretch of Highway 3 between St. Thomas and Aylmer goes under construction for a repave the province has had planned for months. Ontario’s 511 traffic service has the project posted as a lane restriction in both directions, not a full closure.
The work covers Highway 3 from just north of Edward Street to just west of Holland Avenue, about 13 kilometres. That stretch starts on Centennial Avenue, which is Highway 3 south of the St. Thomas Expressway, and runs east on Talbot Line into Aylmer. The Expressway itself, which feeds into Centennial Avenue, though also under construction, is not part of this particular project.
A routine repave
This is not a surprise or an emergency fix. The Ministry of Transportation’s Southern Highways Program listed this resurfacing as far back as its January 2026 edition, planned for 2027-2028 at an estimated cost under $10 million, with design underway and no contractor named yet at that point. The work is now going ahead this month, earlier than that document indicated. It is a separate, much smaller project than the twinning and expansion work already underway on Highway 3’s St. Thomas end, tied to the PowerCo battery plant, which LocVox covered when it broke ground in July.
What to expect on your commute
Ontario’s 511 traffic service posts a 10-minute traffic delay for the work zone. That is the province’s advisory figure, so leave yourself some extra time if you are driving through, especially at peak hours.
The contractor’s notice says to expect lane reductions and temporary lane closures throughout the roughly 45 working days of the project, with traffic control following the province’s standard for work zones (Ontario Traffic Manual Book 7). Neither 511 nor the contractor’s notice says where crews will be working on any given day, so expect the work zone to move along the 13-kilometre corridor as the weeks go on.
The contractor is Green Infrastructure Partners Inc., working under a Ministry of Transportation contract. Its own notice says the work runs from August 17 through the end of September, and puts the job at about 45 working days. Ontario’s 511 service lists the project as active into mid-October, so give the schedule some room either way.
Three projects, one corridor
If you are driving between St. Thomas and Aylmer next week, this resurfacing is only part of the picture. Three separate pieces of construction are active on or near the same corridor at once.
The new repave above needs no detour, just some extra patience through the lane restriction. Separately, Highway 3’s twinning project still has the highway’s eastbound lanes fully closed on the St. Thomas end, between First Avenue and Centennial Avenue, and that closure is set to lift August 31. And Burwell Road, on the north side of the city, closes August 17 to 23 between South Edgeware Road and Edward Street for Ministry utility work tied to the Expressway project, according to the city’s own notice. Local traffic can still use that stretch of Burwell, but the bridge crossing just south of Harwill Road is fully closed, with no through or emergency traffic. A signed detour runs via Edward Street, First Avenue, South Edgeware Road and Burwell Road. Businesses along Burwell stay reachable, just not by driving straight through.
Looking further ahead
A separate, bigger question is also on the table for this corridor’s long-term future. The Ministry of Transportation and its consultant, Stantec, are studying whether Highway 3 between St. Thomas and Aylmer will be over capacity by 2051, and looking at options including a new Highway 3 corridor connecting to the St. Thomas Expressway extension, known as Technology Trail. Elgin County has posted the details for the first public information session on that study: August 26, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the East Elgin Community Complex in Aylmer. That study is a separate, longer-term project from Monday’s resurfacing, and LocVox will have more on it as the plans take shape.
For now, the message from the province is simple. The road stays open, plan for a short delay, and expect construction somewhere along the 13 kilometres between St. Thomas and Aylmer starting Monday morning.
Sources: Ontario 511 traffic data, City of St. Thomas: Burwell Road closure notice, Elgin County: Notice of Public Information Centre, Highway 3 Planning Study
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
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