TORONTO, (Jan. 20, 2005) — The Ontario Trucking Association is advising truckers traveling in the Ingersoll, Ont. area that there will be delays and possible blockages of Hwy. 401 tomorrow due to a planned protest by Ontario farmers.

The Western Region OPP says that the Rural Revolution Protest group is planning to start at 8:00am Friday morning at the Putnam Road interchange (Interchange #208).
A marked detour route, monitored by uniformed OPP officers will be in place to assist the motoring public during this time period.

Initially only the eastbound lanes of Hwy. 401 will be affected. As they proceed eastbound towards the Culloden Road interchange (#216) westbound Hwy. 401 will continue to flow through the area.

The protest will continue towards Culloden Road and stop at the “off ramp” to re-group. They will then exit the 401, travel along Culloden Road and then re-enter onto the 401 westbound. During this time period both east and westbound 401 will be closed for a short time.

Once the eastbound lanes have been cleared of protest vehicles those lanes will be re-opened when safe to do so. The protesters will continue along the closed westbound lanes, back to Putnam Road and exit. At this time westbound 401 will re-open when safe to do so.

At 8:00am eastbound traffic will be re-routed: North at Elgin Road (old Highway #73, interchange # 203) up to County Road # 2 (old Highway #2); East along County Road 2 to County Road #6; South on County Road #6 , back to Highway 401 at interchange # 222.

When the westbound lanes are closed, the reverse route will be used with traffic being diverted off Hwy. 401 at County Road #6.

Motorists traveling the secondary roads within the Ingersoll, Putnam and Beachville areas should also be aware of possible delays due to increased volume of protester vehicles traveling to their staging sites, the OPP says.