Highway85 was renumbered as Highway86. It remained as such until the spring of 2003, when several highways in Ontario were renumbered to improve route number continuity and aid navigation. Among them was the renumbering of Highway86 back to Highway85, restoring the original numbering scheme of the parkway. The two lane segment of Highway 7/8 from Fischer-Hallman Road west to Baden was originally slated to be twinned to four lanes in the 1980s, but the project was put off for a decade. Early works tree clearing got underway in 1991 before being put on hold for archeological excavations. Construction began to widen the route as far west as Waterloo Regional Road12 (Queen Street), south of Petersburg, on July6, 1992, with a planned completion by August 1993. The lack of a median barrier between the opposing lanes of the parkway led to numerous crossover collisions; between May 1990 and July 1993, eight deaths were directly attributed to vehicles crossing the grass median and striking vehicles in the opposing lane head on. Following the death of Laurie Brain on April8, 1990, a coroners jury on October9, 1991, recommended several immediate improvements to the parkway, including the installation of a median barrier as well as lowering the speed limit from to . The speed limit was reduced to 90km/h on January11, 1994, while construction to install a barrier between Frederick Street and Lancaster Street began in July 1994. The work, which also included the construction of storm drainage, was completed by the summer of 1995. Construction of a barrier between Homer Watson Boulevard and Frederick Street began in July 1997, and was completed by November. In the early 1990s, the provincial government announced plans to widen the Conestoga Parkway and Freeport Diversion, as well as to improve the interchange between the two. The project was broken into several phases, and included rebuilding the Ottawa Street and Franklin Street overpasses. Construction began in August or September 1998 to widen the Conestoga Parkway from four to six lanes between Courtland Avenue and King Street, from four to eight lanes between King Street and Ottawa Street, and from four to six lanes between Ottawa Street and Frederick Street. This stage of the project was completed in July 2000. The expansion of Highway8 from four lanes to eight lanes between the Conestoga Parkway and Fergus Avenue was originally scheduled to begin in 2001, but was delayed as businesses