Shovels will hit the ground in 2025 as Ontario begins construction of the much-debated Highway 413, Premier Doug Ford has announced.
The province is currently evaluating the ground’s soil composition and bedrock depth and is hoping to host a “market sounding event” in May with experts to “discuss ways to move construction forward quickly and efficiently,” the province said in a press release.
The province said it hopes to begin land acquisitions in the fall with construction starting next year.
“Highway 413 will help meet the needs of our growing province as a prosperity corridor that will create thousands of good-paying union jobs during the construction phase and make life easier and more convenient for millions of drivers in the GTA and across Ontario,” Premier Doug Ford said in a press release. “We’re getting it done.”
Highway 413 will extend from Highway 400 in the east to the Highway 401/407 express toll route interchange area in the west and will boast four to six lanes, connecting the regions of York, Peel, and Halton.
The project will include a four-kilometre extension to Highway 410 and a three-kilometre extension to Highway 427 for a total of 59 kilometres for the corridor as well as 11 interchanges at municipal roads. A number of electric charging stations, service centres, carpool lots, and truck inspection stations may also be included in the design.
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The project will also include a transitway that would be a separate corridor running alongside the highway. It would be used exclusively by public transit such as buses or light rail transit.
The cost of the project has yet to be announced. The provincial budget allocated $28 billion to highways over a 10-year period.
Project Concerns
The highway project had been at a standstill for years with no construction date in sight due federally issued impact assessments. The Impact Assessment Act process meant Ontario did not have permission to start construction unless the federal government was satisfied with the provincial plan to deal with protecting at-risk species.
The Federal Court ordered the Highway 413 project’s designation under the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) to be set aside after an agreement was forged between the Ford and Trudeau governments on April 15. As part of the agreement, both levels of government will establish a joint working group to curtail environmental impacts in areas of federal jurisdiction.
Not everyone is on board with the proposed project, however. Some environmental groups have said it would encourage urban sprawl into the protected Greenbelt, pave over some of Southern Ontario’s best farmland, and potentially harm at-risk frog and fish species.
While federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said the agreement will maintain the protection of at-risk species, environmentalists have expressed concern about the loss of approximately 400 acres of Greenbelt land while farmers have said the project threatens prime farmland.
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