Quote:
Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere
The 407 borders a hydro corridor which makes it look worse than it is. Plus the area isn't fully developed there yet, unlike the other example.
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Not just a hydro corridor but land reserved for pipelines and a future transitway. The land on which the 407 was built was protected by Ontario's first provincial plan, the Parkway Belt West Plan. This essentially reserved huge swaths of land across the GTHA (from Hamilton to East Markham) specifically for infrastructure, and also included buffer park lands to separate urban areas. The latter proved to be somewhat of a failure and is slowly being converted and sold off for urban development. The rest proved very useful in providing adequate space for the 407 and one of the countries largest transmission corridors without having to resort to much expropriation / demolition of existing structures.
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page5667.aspx