Another serious crash on Highway 401 through Ayr, Drumbo

A week after a fatal crash on Highway 401 near Ayr, another major crash and lengthy closure happened in the same stretch of roadway.

Early Wednesday morning, all eastbound lanes on Highway 401 between Oxford Road 29 and Cedar Creek Road were shut down due to a three-vehicle crash the night before.

Tuesday night around 7:30 p.m., Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said they were called to a crash involving a transport truck, an SUV and a pick-up truck.

Around 9 p.m., OPP were still working to get stranded drivers off the highway through emergency turnarounds, and kept all eastbound lanes closed Wednesday morning until about 5:45 a.m.

The extent of injuries from the collision is still unknown on Wednesday morning.

The just over 10-hour closure comes as a reminder to motorists to be prepared when heading out in harsh weather conditions, officials said.

“We’re asking people if you need to head out, make sure you have a full tank of gas, make sure you pack an emergency preparedness kit because you just never know if you’ll get stuck on the highway because of a crash or you’re involved in an incident yourself,” said Sergeant Ed Sanchuk with West Region OPP.

“Warm clothing, making sure you have medication, water, food, matches, a candle, and a charged cellphone … if you can stay home, please do so.”

Sanchuk adds OPP responded to multiple collisions throughout Tuesday night, and are asking everyone to adjust to the weather conditions.

Although a weather alert for freezing rain ended Wednesday morning, a yellow warning for snowfall was still in effect.

Environment Canada is calling for heavy snow to continue to to fall throughout the day, with upwards of 20 cm possible by Wednesday afternoon.