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King's Highway 407, commonly referred to as Highway 407 and colloquially as the "four-oh-seven", is a tolled 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Comprising a privately leased segment as well as a publicly owned segment, the route spans the entire Greater Toronto Area (GTA) around the city of Toronto, travelling through the suburbs of Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Whitby, and Oshawa before ending in Clarington, north of Orono. At 151.4 km long, this is the fourth longest freeway in Ontario's 400 series network, after Highways 417, 400, and 401. The segment between Burlington and Brougham in Pickering is leased to and operated by the 407 ETR Concession Company Limited and is officially known as the 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR). It begins at the junction of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Highway 403 in Burlington, and travels 108.0 km (67.1 mi) across the GTA to Brock Road in Pickering. East of Brock Road, the tollway continues east as Highway 407 (referred to as Highway 407 East during development to distinguish it from the 407 ETR), a toll route operated by the provincial government, for 43.4 km (27.0 mi) to Highway 35/115 in Clarington. The route interchanges with nine freeways: the QEW, Highway 403, Highway 401, Highway 410, Highway 427, Highway 400, Highway 404, Highway 412, and Highway 418. Highway 407 is an electronically operated toll highway; there are no toll booths along the length of the route. Distances are calculated automatically using transponders or automatic number-plate recognition, which are scanned at entrance and exit portals. Highway 407 was planned in the late 1950s as a freeway bypassing the Toronto segment of Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America. However, construction did not begin until 1987. During the early 1990s, the provincial government proposed tolling the highway to alleviate a revenue shortfall. The central sections of Highway 407 opened in 1997, and the remaining sections were built quickly over the following four years, with the final segment opening in mid-2001. Despite being included in the 400-series network, the Highway 407 ETR section is not considered part of the provincial highway network due to it now being privately operated. The segment is operated privately under a 99-year lease agreement with the provincial government, which was sold in 1999 for about C$3.1 billion to a consortium of Canadian and Spanish investors operating under the name 407 International Inc. The privatization of the Highway 407 ETR section has been the source of significant criticism, especially regarding the increases in tolls, plate denial, and false charges. In addition, the safety of segments constructed following the sale of the freeway has been called into question. Phase 1 of a provincially owned and tolled extension of the route, known solely as Highway 407 (and not as Highway 407 ETR), opened to traffic from Brock Road in Pickering to Harmony Road in Oshawa on June 20, 2016. Included as part of this extension was construction of a tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407 known as Highway 412. Phase 2 later extended the provincially owned portion of Highway 407 to Highway 35 / Highway 115 in Clarington. This construction was completed in two stages, with Phase 2A opening on January 2, 2018, as a 9.6 km (6.0 mi) extension to Taunton Road, and Phase 2B opening on December 9, 2019, as a 23.3 km (14.5 mi) extension to Highway 35 and Highway 115. Included as part of this extension was construction of another tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407 known as Highway 418. Unusually, the highway does not reach or pass through any of its three control cities: Hamilton, Toronto, or Peterborough. Hamilton is accessed by following either the QEW or Highway 403 beyond its western terminus in Burlington. Toronto proper is bypassed, but is used as a control city due to the similar sizes of the suburban municipalities the highway passes through in Halton and Durham Regions. In the east, Peterborough is reached by briefly following the Highway 35/Highway 115 concurrency north, and then continuing northeast on Highway 115 alone.
