407-East to be tollroad Ontario finance minister confirms

Ontario Finance minister Greg Sorbara has reaffirmed that the 407-East extension will be a tollroad. He was speaking to the Examiner newspaper in Peterborough in the east of Toronto, the area which would be served by the new road. Sorbara said that he was pushing strongly for the extension.

He was quoted: "That's an incredibly important link to remove the pressure that's on the 401, which is just embarrassing most days. The extension of the 407 is all a matter of process, it's not going to cost us anything because it will be funded by the tolls people pay to drive on it."

The 407-East will be an extension about 50km (30 miles) from the eastern end of the 407ETR to the H35/115 junction near Peterborough. It also consists of two spurs south to H401 called the 407-401 Durham East Link (12km) and the 407-401 Durham West Link (11km). The 73km (45mi) will take the whole tollroad network of 407 to 181km (112mi). (NUMBERS SUBJECT TO REVISION)

The 407-East will probably be built 2x3 lanes expandable into a median to 10 lanes but that hasn't been decided yet. The mainline of 407-East will have 16 interchanges and the spurs seven extra. Added to the 38 interchanges of 407ETR that will give the 407 tollroad network in the greater Toronto area 61 interchanges.

NAFTA Highway?

A Texas scale corridor reservation of 170m (558ft) is being laid out along 407 East including 110m (361ft) for roadway and 60m (197ft) for rail and transit. (NUTTER ALERT: Opponents of NAFTA highways, this is the tipoff that 407-East is being designed in cahoots with liberal Gov Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridors and One World Government.)

Tolling

Almost certainly the toll system of 407-East will be similar to 407ETR with all highway speed electronic tolling with transponders and cameras - no cash.

Environmental permitting is due to be completed next year. Both the Liberal government and conservatives have said it must open by 2013.

Politicians representing the area this week expressed themselves "shocked" at the announcement of toll financing, although the new highways being built in Canada are mostly toll financed.

The project has strong support in the area.

No decision on public tolling or concession

The finance minister said he was "pretty neutral on who owns and operates it" leaving open an investor concession, or public authority tolling. However virtually all toll projects in Canada are investor concessions.

History

The first section of 407ETR were built as a public toll project but soon after it opened it was put out to bid for a 99 year concession. The concessionaire more than doubled the lane-miles of the tollroad extending it to Hamilton in the west and to H7 in Pickering in the east. That final extension by the 407ETR Concession Company which opened in August 2001 was called East Partial Extension or Eastern extension. It took 407ETR to 108km (67mi) in length and 38 interchanges.

The highway has always been planned to go further to H35/115. There is already an expressway standard road from there through Peterborough, and from there H7 via H115 is the most direct route between Toronto and Ottawa.

H401, the existing major east-west expressway varies between 6 lanes and 12 lanes through the Durham area (the most easterly part of the Greater Toronto area) and it is planned to be expanded to 10 or 12 lanes throughout. Traffic on H401 is currently 175k/day at the west end of the area and 45k east of 35/115 on the east end. Heavy trucks range AADT between 18k and 13k.

The population of the Durham region is projected to grow about 80% from 530k in 2001 to 960k in 2031. The Greater Toronto area in total is forecast to grow from 5.81m to 8.62m in the same period. Employment is assumed to grow faster than population.

The Environmental Assessment concludes that widening of H401 to the maximum feasible 10 lanes through the region won't be sufficient and that another expressway facility is needed in the form of the the 407-East extension in order to mitigate congestion and spread traffic loads. Significant problems are arising from dumping traffic off the end of the 407ETR onto local surface arterials.

The area is also seriously lacking in north-south connectivity so the two N-S links are needed, the EA says. Catering to summer vacation loads and major events including accidents when H401 is overloaded also argue for the alternate east-west route.

(There's a close analogy here to the need to complete the Foothill South tollroad in southern Orange County California where at present the I-5 is the sole expressway south of the merge of the San Joachin Hills tollroad.)

The potential for diversion of traffic from the highways here to other modes like rail is put at less than 10%.

http://www.407eastea.com

TOLLROADSnews 2007-0831