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Ontario Highway 413

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The GTA West Corridor is a designated transportation corridor in the western Greater Toronto Area that is subject to ongoing planning and analysis by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.

The proposed highway would serve as an outer orbital beltway around the built-up areas of Brampton and Vaughan that would permit traffic travelling between Southwestern Ontario and Ontario's cottage country or Northern Ontario to bypass much of the Greater Toronto Area. However, the highway has attracted criticism for its environmental impacts, including concerns about its footprint on designated farmland in the Greenbelt and allegations it will encourage urban sprawl and induce road traffic.[1][2]

No funding has been identified to construct the highway and the earliest possible start of construction is in the 2020s.[3] In December 2015, the Ministry of Transport suspended the environmental assessment process because Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca was waiting for a report from the advisory panel.[4] However, on November 15, 2018, the new Progressive Conservative Ontario government announced it would be resuming the suspended Environmental Assessment for the GTA West Corridor.[5]

Proposed Route

Current proposals for the route place its starting point at the interchange of Highway 401 and Highway 407 ETR at Steeles Avenue and Ninth Line at the Halton–Peel boundary. The freeway would orbit the western and northern fringes of Brampton, providing access to Highway 410. Beyond Brampton it would travel eastwards to connect with Highway 400, passing south of Bolton and north of Kleinburg. The freeway would feature an interchange with Highway 427 upon completion of the northward extension of that route.

History

2005 to 2018

The GTA West Corridor was identified in the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in 2005. At that time, further study was deemed necessary to refine the corridor and define what kind of transportation facilities, if any, should be constructed.[citation needed]

Early concepts of the GTA West Corridor involved a longer route running east-west between Guelph and Highway 400 that did not intersect Highways 401 or 407. A potential freeway in such a corridor, when combined with the planned expanded Highway 7, would result in a lengthy parallel route to the north of Highway 401 from Waterloo Region to Highway 400. However, analysis showed limited demand for such a route, and the environmental consequences of a new crossing of the Niagara Escarpment were considerable. By 2011, these concepts were discarded and planning focused on an orbital concept that would intersect with Highway 401 in Milton or Halton Hills to the east of the existing crossing of the Niagara Escarpment.[citation needed]

A preliminary study area map released in March 2011 proposed a bypass that would run around the southeastern edges of Halton Hills, lying approximately five to eight kilometres north of Highway 401, running primarily parallel before terminating in Milton. A revised preliminary study area in June 2012 since eliminated this proposal, instead proposing a widening of Highway 401 west of Highway 407 through Milton.[6][7]

With the corridor refined into a defined route planning area, Stage 1 of the GTA West Corridor Environmental Assessment was completed in November 2012.[8] Stage 2 began in February 2014 with the objective to developing a preliminary design for a highway within that route planning area.[9]

On December 16, 2015, the Minister of Transportation, Steven Del Duca announced that he was suspending the environmental assessment process and that the project would be reviewed with an update promised in 2016.[10]

On February 9, 2018, the Ontario government cancelled building the highway for the GTA West Corridor because the expert advisory panel's recommendation stated that a proposed highway in the GTA West corridor is not the best way to address changing transportation needs.[11]

2018 to present

After the election of a new government in June, 2018, the Progressive Conservatives convened an expert panel to make recommendations on plans for highways in the Toronto region. The panel recommended that the provincial government negotiate with the private operators of the 407 ETR to encourage the routing of more truck traffic onto that route, alleviating congestion on the 401, and negating the need for the GTAW. [12] Instead, On November 15, the government announced it would be resuming the suspended Environmental Assessment for the GTA West Corridor, "in order to speed up travel and alleviate traffic congestion".[13] In September and October 2019, a series of Public Information Centres were held in which the preferred route and interchange locations were announced.[14]

On August 7, 2020, the province confirmed the preferred route of the highway. This included changes to the location of one interchange.[15]

The proposed interchanges (with original location mentioned) are at the following locations:

  • The Highway 401/407 interchange
  • Winston Churchill Boulevard south of Embleton Road
  • Bovaird Drive west of Mississauga Road
  • Mayfield Road west of Mississauga Road
  • Highway 10 (Hurontario Street) north of Old School Road
  • An extension of (realigned) Highway 410 north of Old School Road
  • Bramalea Road north of Old School Road
  • Airport Road north of Old School Road/Healey Road
  • The Gore Road south of Healey Road
  • Humber Station Road north of Mayfield Road (originally proposed interchange with Coleraine Drive north of Mayfield Road)
  • An extension of Highway 427 northeast of Highway 50 and Nashville Road
  • Highway 27 north of Kirby Road
  • Weston Road north of Kirby Road (partial interchange)
  • Highway 400 north of Kirby Road

Halton–Peel Freeway

The Halton–Peel Freeway (or "Halton Hills Expressway") is a related highway proposal. From 2007 to 2010, in parallel to the stage 1 GTA West study being undertaken by the province, the municipalities of Halton Region and Peel Region completed their own study, the Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation Study (HPBATS). HPBATS recommended a north-south freeway east of Georgetown and west of Brampton that would connect in the north with a potential east-west GTA West highway.[16][17] At the time, it was not clear if a potential GTA West highway would arc around the northwestern edge of Brampton and run along this corridor, and the Halton-Peel Freeway was put forward as a potential complementary project. Two years later the provincial study recommended that a portion of its new GTA West highway should follow a broadly similar corridor as the Halton–Peel Freeway. The GTA West website notes that "the ministry has taken over the responsibility of this study, and some of the potential GTA West route alternatives reflect the essence of the HPBATS recommended road network."[3]

References

  1. ^ Proposed highway to pave parts of Greenbelt proving controversial
  2. ^ GTA West highway: Forward thinking or retro mistake?
  3. ^ a b GTA West FAQs
  4. ^ https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/7271111-fate-of-future-400-series-highway-through-vaughan-still-up-in-air/
  5. ^ https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/fallstatement/2018/chapter-1c.html#section-5
  6. ^ http://www.gta-west.com/pdf/2-2011/6720-GTAW%20Preliminary%20Route%20Planning%20Study%20Area.pdf
  7. ^ http://www.gta-west.com/pdf/11-15-12/Preliminary%20Route%20Planning%20Study%20Area%20Nov%202012.pdf
  8. ^ GTA West Stage 1 Archive
  9. ^ GTA West Stage 2 Schedule
  10. ^ "Ontario to Review Greater Toronto Area West Corridor Project". Government of Ontario. December 16, 2015.
  11. ^ https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2018/02/ontario-not-moving-forward-with-highway-for-gta-west-corridor.html
  12. ^ https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/12/19/doug-ford-plans-to-start-building-a-new-superhighway-near-the-401-next-year-why-arent-we-moving-traffic-to-the-vastly-underused-407-instead.html
  13. ^ https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/fallstatement/2018/chapter-1c.html#section-5
  14. ^ "Perferred Interchange Locations" (PDF). gta-west.com. September 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  15. ^ "Preferred Route Announcement: GTA West" (PDF). AECOM. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  16. ^ Halton-Peel Boundary Area Transportation Study
  17. ^ Report calls for new freeway and Norval bypass
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