Toronto’s growth spurs highway work

The Ontario government is in the throes of developing several major highways in southern Ontario around Toronto.
Among the projects in the works are a proposed new highway in the west of Toronto, connecting north from Highway 7 to Highway 427. The Ministry of Transportation has hired URS Cole Sherman and McCormick Rankin to develop terms of reference for an environmental study of the route. The proposed highway is controversial because it passes through part of the ecologically sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine.
Another project to accommodate the “relentless growth of the Greater Toronto region” is an extension of Highway 410 north to Highway 10 through Caledon into Mono Township. Design work is already under way, with the work split into three phases between Giffels and URS Canada.
The environmental approvals have been given for an extension of Highway 404 north from Newmarket to the southern edge of Lake Simcoe. The Ministry is currently in the process of hiring consulting engineers. By 2006 plans are that Highway 404 will be extended east to Highway 12 near Beaverton along a so-called “Bradford Bypass,” to link with Highway 400, the main route north out of the big city.
Ontario Superbuild, the crown corporation responsible for funding the projects, reports that there are also plans to create an alternative route to the Queen Elizabeth Way through the middle of the Niagara Peninsula.