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Ontario Awards First Highway 413 Contracts as Ford Says Work Starts Within Days

Documents warned a developer-requested route shift would force a new environmental assessment and roughly a two-year delay.

A view of the traffic on Highway 407, southern Ontario's toll highway, looking west from Kennedy Road in Brampton, Ont., Thursday, 12, 2009. The highway is 108 kilometres in length and runs from Burlington in the west to Ajax in the east.

Overview

  • The province issued initial work to Fermar Paving for an embankment at the Highway 401–407 interchange and to Pave-Al to resurface Highway 10 in Caledon.
  • Premier Doug Ford said construction will begin within days, while officials declined to provide an overall project cost or a completion date.
  • Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the rollout is part of a 10-year, $30‑billion capital plan and that the project will be delivered through many smaller contracts.
  • Ford confirmed he explored moving the alignment about 600 metres in Caledon to accommodate a developer, with internal briefings warning the change would require a new assessment and add about two years; the Premier’s Office later said the shift was no longer being pursued.
  • Environmental groups and opposition leaders criticized the highway over farmland loss, species risk, sprawl and transparency, and Ford rejected removing truck tolls on Highway 407 as an alternative; he has argued the project will support thousands of jobs and boost GDP.