Ontario has enacted some fairly strong land use planning legislation for a lot of rural lands surrounding the GTA. A considerable amount of agricultural land, as well as land that is part of the Oak Ridges Moraine has been protected from development. The legislation sets development targets that 40% of new development in an urban centre should be generated from intensification in existing city centres rather than new greenfield development. Understandably considering the scope of the legislation, it has received mixed reviews from different segments of the population.
Back to Highways, a lot of construction is underway or has recently been completed over the past few years:
Completed in 2013, the complex freeway section on Hwy 401 was extended for four kilometres through Mississauga:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_401_images/Hwy401_HurontarioCons_images.htmAn additional contract to extend the collector lanes westerly through the Mavis Road interchange is expected to be called this winter, with completion in 2020.
In 2014, a twelve kilometre extension of Hwy 404 was completed from Newmarket towards Keswick. This alleviated traffic congestion along Woodbine Avenue, and has served the growing South Lake Simcoe portion of York Region.
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_404-406_images/Hwy404_RavenshoeExtn_images.htmCurrently underway, there is the 407 Extension, which will extend the 407 east to Harmony Road in Oshawa and see the construction of Highway 412, a new north-south link between the 401 and 407 through western Durham Region. The government has stated that this work should be completed by the end of this year, but such a timeline doesn't seem realistic to me given the amount of work that remains.
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_407-409_images/407E/Hwy407_ConstructionImages.htmTwinning of the south end of the 406 through Welland should be completed in a few weeks. I haven't been down that way in a while, but I can't see how this work wouldn't be finished on time:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_404-406_images/Hwy406_cons.htm#2012Also, underway are projects to widen Highway 427 between the 409 and 407 to eight lanes (6 GPL + 2 HOV) as well as construction to widen the 410 to ten lanes between Highway 410 and Queen Street in Brampton (8 GPL + 2 HOV).
Work to extend the 427 to Major Mackenzie Drive should start within the next year or so, as the project has a tentative completion date of 2019. An additional contract should be called to to widen the 427 through the 407 interchange.
Work to construct HOV lanes on the 400 between Hwy 9 and Major Mackenzie is likely going to be completed by the early 2020s, and the government has committed extending the current HOV lanes on the 404 as far north as Stouffville Road by 2019
West of Toronto, work to widen the 401 through Cambridge started earlier this year, and is expected to be completed by 2019. Additionally, construction on a new four lane highway linking Kitchener/Waterloo to Guelph should be underway within the next year. Some preparatory advanced work is currently ongoing.
This is in addition to the work that is ongoing to widen the K/W Expressway to six lanes through the western portion of the city:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_7_images/Contracts/Conestoga_Construction.htm#Jul15Further, there are a number of transit improvements ongoing in the region as well. Several years ago, all day, 30 minute service was introduced on the Lakeshore GO lines within the region, with construction on additional improvements underway. A 6.4km extension of the Spadina Subway line is currently underway. The project is several years behind schedule, and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. A new east-west light-rail transit line is being constructed within the Eglinton Avenue corridor as well. This line will feature an 8km tunnel, as well as at-grade on road sections.
http://www.thecrosstown.ca/ A new rail link between the Airport and Union Station was completed this year as well.
https://www.upexpress.com/ Finally, several new BRT's are being built as well, most notably across the Hwy 7 corridor in southern York Region, and along the Highway 403 corridor through Mississauga.
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Topic: Ontario's Highways (Read 403632 times)