After nearly a week, all farm vehicles and pedestrians have moved off of Highway 402, near Forest Road.
At its peak, over 20 tractors occupied the westbound lanes of the highway, in support of the Freedom Convoy demonstrations, and in opposition to COVID mandates.
Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott is relieved that the situation has come to a peaceful resolution.
"It's amazing," said Marriott. "It's a really big relief. It was getting really stressful dealing with this every day."
He said the volume of traffic on the highway doesn't look that heavy, but on backroads it was horrible and he fielded a lot of complaints about safety from residents.
"People that were mad were the ones that had kids on school buses on the EDR Route (emergency detour route) and that was probably one factor, but for us at the county, it's the cost to replace the (infrastructure) damage that was there from just a few days of detour."
Warden Marriott said Warwick Township Mayor Jackie Rombouts played a key role in convincing the protesters to leave the highway.
"She got involved in talking to the protesters as well," he said. "I'm not sure what had the most weight but I do know that she had a conversation with some of the protesters."
The OPP said it was "maintaining high visibility to ensure orderly movement of traffic to protect the public and keep the peace." Earlier in the day, police reported that no arrests had been made it relation to the demonstration.
-with files from Melanie Irwin
https://twitter.com/OPP_WR/status/1493369429865938950
