Highway 407 Extension

haljackey · #1 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 5:45 AM**

The Highway 407 extension was finalized yesterday. It will extend the tollway to Highway 35/115 by 2020. However, this section will be tolled by the province, not a private company like the rest of the toll road.

Here's the map. Phase 1 is to be done by 2015, phase 2 by 2020.

The entire extension was planned to be fully complete by 2013, but the Ontario government had to push this project back due to financial problems/deficits. After the 2008 recession, it was announced that the highway would only be built to Simcoe Street by 2017, the rest at a later date. This wasn't good enough for the local governments and residents and they pushed the provincial government to get it done sooner. Eventually, this compromise was reached.

vid · #2 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 10:19 AM**

It's about time. This new highway will allow Durham tomorrow to look like Halton today!

eternallyme · #3 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 6:20 PM**

If this was handed to 407ETR, would it be possible to get it done sooner? I do agree that tolls are way too high, but I hand it to them that they constantly improve their existing section of the 407 and it is always in immaculate shape.

waterloowarrior · #4 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 5:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by eternallyme

If this was handed to 407ETR, would it be possible to get it done sooner? I do agree that tolls are way too high, but I hand it to them that they constantly improve their existing section of the 407 and it is always in immaculate shape.

They are one of the three groups of companies shortlisted for the project

Doady · #5 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 7:59 PM**

Absolute waste of money. Stop building highway to encourage sprawl on prime agricultural land, especially in a municpality that has been actively trying to destroy the greenbelt plan. Highway 400 to Sudbury, 411 to North Bay, 417 to Sault Ste-Marie - those are the only highways they should be building now.

Wharn · #6 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 10:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doady

Highway 400 to Sudbury, 411 to North Bay, 417 to Sault Ste-Marie - those are the only highways they should be building now.

They should be built but they won't be, because this will buy way more votes for that filthy piece of scum we refer to as Dalton McGuinty, premier of Ontario.

On that note, the 400, 411 and 417 are not the only highways that ought to be built. Highway 26 desperately needs that expressway bypass around Collingwood. It's not like it would require a huge investment, I mean the damn right-of-way has been graded since 2004:

But by 2009 some grass and trees were growing on it:

Talk about a do-nothing idiot Government, spending billions on shit like the Green Energy Act and leaving existing infrastructure investment to rot. And what about the 424 from Cambridge to Brantford? Is that to meet the same fate as the world's first grass-paved expressway?

Doady · #7 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 3:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wharn

Talk about a do-nothing idiot Government, spending billions on shit like the Green Energy Act and leaving existing infrastructure investment to rot. And what about the 424 from Cambridge to Brantford? Is that to meet the same fate as the world's first grass-paved expressway?

McGuinty is more middle-path, spreading the money between highways and transit. He's not like the PCs before him (and with Hudak in the future) where all the funding goes to highways almost exclusively. So the highway construction is slower.

The problem is not the lack of funding for highways but where exactly the money is going. And 407 extension not good use of limited funding.

Perhaps this can be seen as vote-buying, but McGuinty hardly has a reputation for buying votes, considering the recent HST controversy and all, among other things. It's Hudak who is arguably more populist, considering his opposition to the HST.

vid · #8 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 12:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doady

McGuinty hardly has a reputation for buying votes

The gas plant in Oakville where he almost lost a seat. The highway upgrades between Thunder Bay and Nipigon where he almost lost a seat. The moratorium on off-shore wind farms. Not buying votes? If you looked closer you could probably find all sorts of projects McGuinty has announced recently that contradict earlier policies and suggest he might be buying votes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wharn

Oh I also forgot to mention, where's London's ring road? No need to buy votes here or just not enough to justify the expense? I guess the same goes for Sudbury and the Southwest bypass, or Thunder Bay's Harbour Expressway.

Harbour Expressway is a city-controlled street. The Thunder Bay Expressway was supposed to be the ring road. (Only half a ring since we're on the lake.) It was going to be turned into a freeway under Bob Rae but Harris cancelled it.

Doady · #9 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 7:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

The gas plant in Oakville where he almost lost a seat. The highway upgrades between Thunder Bay and Nipigon where he almost lost a seat. The moratorium on off-shore wind farms. Not buying votes? If you looked closer you could probably find all sorts of projects McGuinty has announced recently that contradict earlier policies and suggest he might be buying votes.

All of those examples only came about because McGuinty made the tough decision implementing the HST. If McGuinty was really interesting in "buying votes", he would just cancel the HST. Even the 407 extension is not a very strong attempt at buying votes, considering that it will be tolled.

Ultimately, it is the NDP and PC who are buying voters, considering their opposition to the HST. The HST after all is an issue about money, or seemingly putting more money into the hands of voters in order to get their vote, and therefore where the "buying votes" analogy is more accurate.

Vertigo3000 · #10 Posted: **Nov 28, 2011, 10:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wharn

They should be built but they won't be, because this will buy way more votes for that filthy piece of scum we refer to as Dalton McGuinty, premier of Ontario.

On that note, the 400, 411 and 417 are not the only highways that ought to be built. Highway 26 desperately needs that expressway bypass around Collingwood. It's not like it would require a huge investment, I mean the damn right-of-way has been graded since 2004:

But by 2009 some grass and trees were growing on it:

Talk about a do-nothing idiot Government, spending billions on shit like the Green Energy Act and leaving existing infrastructure investment to rot. And what about the 424 from Cambridge to Brantford? Is that to meet the same fate as the world's first grass-paved expressway?

I live In Collingwood, that was a pain to look at for so long, it's finally paved and it looks like it should be opening in the Spring.

vid · #11 Posted: **Mar 11, 2011, 10:57 PM**

Dalton is probably only bringing them up now because Hudak said he wanted to extend the 407 a while ago. Hudak will probably point that out in the election.

Wharn · #12 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 3:24 AM**

Oh I also forgot to mention, where's London's ring road? No need to buy votes here or just not enough to justify the expense? I guess the same goes for Sudbury and the Southwest bypass, or Thunder Bay's Harbour Expressway.

eternallyme · #13 Posted: **Mar 12, 2011, 4:04 AM**

I know I will get slammed, but I would have sold that stretch to 407ETR at the same time. If so, it would have been long been built by now. A toll-free alternate exists (Highway 401) and it does not go through any REAL environmentally-sensitive lands.

flar · #14 Posted: **Mar 13, 2011, 3:49 AM**

This extends it too far, I would prefer they just connected the current end of the road to the 401.

haljackey · #15 Posted: **Mar 13, 2011, 4:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flar

This extends it too far, I would prefer they just connected the current end of the road to the 401.

Like diagonally or only to one of the connecting highways? I agree with this because it is a toll highway after all and serves as a bypass. The current design to the 35/115 makes it seem like a connector/commuter route, and you shouldn't pay for this service. I would assume most folks on the 35/115 would just continue on to the 401 to avoid the tolls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doady

Umm... as far as I know there is no highway construction ongoing in the GTA at the moment.

By this do you only mean the construction of new highways or extensions?

Because the 401 is getting a mega-widening in Mississauga from 6 to 14 lanes from Hurontario Street to Highway 410. Once this project is done, I would assume the widening will continue westward because nearly all the overpasses in western Mississauga were built with an extremely large bridge deck so a wider 401 can pass underneath.

vid · #16 Posted: **Mar 14, 2011, 10:11 AM**

Ring roads are used by more than people, you know. If the Thunder Bay Expressway didn't exist, my street would be full of transport trucks trying to get through the city.

MolsonExport · #17 Posted: **Mar 14, 2011, 1:13 PM**

---sitting out this one with my popcorn---

vid · #18 Posted: **Mar 14, 2011, 3:24 PM**

It takes longer to get across Thunder Bay by bus than it does to go from one end of the Bloor-Danforth line to the other.

Doady · #19 Posted: **Mar 14, 2011, 6:36 PM**

I'm not sure how anyone can support a highway ring around London, yet oppose this tolled 407 extension creating a ring around Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa, which have a higher combined population than London. Just sayin'.

vid · #20 Posted: **Mar 14, 2011, 6:42 PM**

Numbers of freeways in London: 0
Numbers of freeways in Durham: 1

Therefore, it would make sense to put one in London before you put one in Durham. London is an entire city, Durham is just part of one. The businesses that would otherwise have located there have other options in the GTA. In London's case, they leave the city.