Canada: H-407, first e-toll road

Imagine a sixth of the U.S. population in single metropolis: 40 million people, like the New York/northern NJ, and Los Angeles metro areas combined. Well Canada has an sixth of its population in the Toronto metro area: about 5m. That makes it something like the fifth largest metro area in North America after NY/nNJ, LA, Mexico City and Chicago. Toronto is spread lengthwise along Lake Ontario but until now has had only a single major linear or east-west arterial, Highway 401, which adding main through lanes to integral collectors is 12 lanes wide over much of its traverse of the metro area and 16 lanes in parts. It carries an average 350,000 vehicles/day over its length, up to a million a day on sections. It has the dubious distinction of being claimed as the busiest freeway in the world, though there are a bunch of LA freeways not far behind. In any case H-401 is a vast highway and grossly overloaded as this large city’s Main Street, and a through route to boot. Stop-and-go conditions prevail much of the day and the costs of H-401 congestion to the Ontario economy have been quoted as $2 billion a year.

A major toll road Highway 407 is being built parallel to H-401 along the northern fringe of the Toronto area. It is Ontario’s first toll road, but could popularize the concept. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has been trying to build H-407 as a ‘free’ road for years and beginning 1986 began desultory construction of some culverts and bridging, but completion was not scheduled until 2006 at the ealiest. With the provincial government ideologically more open to user-pay principles and to private enterprise the job of design, build and operation was put out tender. Two major consortia bid, and in mid-1994 the work went to Canadian Highways International Corporation, a partnership of four major Canadian engineering and construction firms. Work began May 1994.

The project is on track to open the first section, 22 miles, by the end of 1996: from H-410 in Brampton to H-404 in Markham. That section is 6 lanes. The constrution action then swings onto each end with extensions west to H-403 in Oakville and east to H-48 in Markham — 6 and 4 lanes. The add-ons are due for completion by the end of 1998 and will take the length of the whole facility to 43 miles. Total cost is due to be $870m ($C1.2b), which the Ontario government says is about 30 percent below the cost it could have done the job for an at least 20 years earlier. The highway has 29 interchanges, six of them 3 and 4 level direct connection expressway-to-expressway designs, 13 water crossing, 8 rail crosings and 15 roads over or under, for a total of 120 bridges. 17 million cubic meters of earth are to be moved. The pavement is 11 inches of concrete on top of a special porous mix for drainage. There is high mast lighting over the whole length of the facility.

Equipment for fully electronic tolling at highway speed is being supplied by Hughes, Mark IV and Bell Canada. Toll rates will vary with distance and time of day. A technological first will be an automatic photography-based license plate recognition system hooked up to databases of the provincial (and neighboring U.S. state) motor vehicle administrations, so that vehicles without toll transponders will be billed by mail (at a premium over the e-toll to encourage tranponder use.) The Ontario government has plans to extend the highway westward 15 miles to the port city of Hamilton as well as eastward another 50 miles past Oshawa and Durham to meet H-35 and H-115. The easterly extension faces major environmentalist opposition since it passes through wetlands and wildlife habitat, but the popularity of the rapid provision of the present stage may overcome that.

Officials are predicting initial traffic flows of 55,000 veh/day on the first section opening later this year, which sounds conservative. Provision is being made for eventual widening to 10 lanes. (Sources: Hughes Canada, Toronto 416/971-3335, Canadian Highways International Corporation 905 858 8026, Ministry of Transportation, Ontario, 416/235-4102.)•