Toronto 407 - tales of safety, sex & software

Toronto 407's small bumps

All is going amazingly smoothly for the developers of Toronto's 407 toll road except for a little media feeding frenzy over claims by a couple of cops that the road is a deathtrap that dominated the local news for over a week, strenuous efforts by rivals to stir skepticism about whether the key tolling technology will work, allegations that key suppliers are unable to deliver equipment, blame games among the various contractors, paranoia over press inquiries, and complete indecision about when the road will open. And there's also been a so far unreported set of ructions among the programmers of the toll revenue management software involving sexual harassment charges which led to removal of two key managers in succession and then the firing of the team that included the complainers, producing delays of 6 months in completion of the software — a juicy little item of news so far missed by the local piranhas. But they have had lots of other 407 stuff to feed on, especially the police charges that the road is a "death trap."

As we go to press it is being left to the Ontario Minister for Transport Al Palladini when the highway will open. Our working hypothesis initially was that two Toronto cops spruiking the dangers of 407 to the local media were hirelings of Hughes in a devilishly clever play for more time to tweak the hightech stuff and to avoid a Denver Airport luggage-handling type fiasco, but this theory does not check out. We managed to talk to the top cop in the Toronto area, Commander Bill Currie, a charming, candid and intelligent man who says there are some genuine safety concerns about the 407 which probably deserve public discussion and independent adjudication, even though he is not personally convinced they are valid.

"407 unsafe": "Top Cop says 407 unsafe" was one headline (others were "Killer road..." "407 ways to die" etc) and Currie says: "I did not say that." What he says sensibly is that safety is a matter of judgment and of money, that no roadway or car that anyone can afford is perfectly and completely safe. His much publicized officers were sincerely concerned about the lack of median barriers on 407, he says, the lack of guard rails around the high mast lighting poles, ramp radii, and the adhesion of concrete pavement compared to Canada's normal bitumen. So they went to the media. Their job was safety and they'd been denied a hearing when they went through proper channels, so they were entitled to go public, says the chief. Currie says his personal impression is that 407 is about as safe as most other 400 series expressways in Canada, but that an argument can be made that a new highway, especially a toll road, should be built to be safer than existing roads. The government's review should be the arbiter, since police views are only one of many that need to be considered.

Highway developer Canadian Highways Int Corp (CHIC) told us 407 conforms to standards set by the Ontario highway authorities. It has no barrier in the median because it is 22.5m to 24m wide (to allow future expansion) and a barrier is only required by the state regs where there is less than 15m of median. Similarly with the guard rails for light poles and bridge abutments, and ramp curvatures. And the concrete has been 'textured' to give it tire grip.

"Corners Cut": Another "Toronto Star" charge was that the developer had "cut corners" on safety in reducing costs by $300m from the government's cost for the road, to which the developer responds that safety aspects of design were unchanged, $200m being saved by deferring interchanges, and $100m through economies of scale in standardizing and mass-producing bridge components, and building in one hit.

Ontario Transport Minister Palladini responded to the furore by saying he'd have an independent review of safety before the road is opened but details of that remain unknown. Police chief Currie told us he thinks the opening will not now occur until quite close to the contract completion date of March 31.

We'd heard well before the safety fuss that the 407 toll system wasn't likely to be ready until March. One official on the project told us recently that the contractors have four problems: (1) the transponder equipment that has been in test for some months still needs adjustment to handle both Hughes and Mark IV tags and achieve the required 99.9% accuracy contracted (2) the license plate recognition system is "improving steadily" but is still not at the required 90% accuracy contracted (3) deliveries of tags are behind (4) the toll revenue management software is incomplete. Others deny all but #4 which they blame on a difficult subcontractor. We were told other things by third parties that didn't check out, so none of this is written in stone. (See earlier reports TR#2 Apr 96 p7, TR#8 Oct 96 p8, Contact OTCC: 416 326 9050)