THE PROBLEM:
Ontario is planning Highway 413, a redundant and unnecessary toll highway that would pave over farm, forests, wetlands and a portion of the Greenbelt and cost taxpayers billions.
Right now Highway 407 (another toll highway) is underused. Yet the province is proposing to build another east-west toll highway just 15 km away.
- Building a new highway gets more polluting cars on the road, and usually does nothing to relieve congestion over time. In fact, an expert panel study found the highway would only save drivers 30-60 seconds per trip.
- Building Highway 413 (also known as the GTA West) would cost Ontario taxpayers billions. And it would mean less money is available to invest in crucial public transit.
- Highway 413 would degrade the parts of the Credit River and Humber River watersheds that flow into Lake Ontario – a source of drinking water for millions of GTA residents.
- Highway 413 would be 50 km long and would pave over 2,000 acres of Class 1 and Class 2 farmland – among Ontario’s most productive farmland.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Ontario to cancel Highway 413
READ THE REPORT about why Highway 413 should be cancelled
Download a copy of the map below to explore and zoom into.
WHAT’S AT RISK:
THE SOLUTION:
Instead of wasting money on a destructive and unnecessary highway, Ontario should do the following to meet the region’s transportation needs for people and goods.
- Committed public transit investment including full GO Regional Express Rail on the Kitchener and Milton corridors, a new GO corridor to Bolton, and increased bus rapid transit or light rail transit in Brampton and Vaughan
- Examine the feasibility of truck priority on Highway 407
- Widening of existing roads (already underway)
- Continued monitoring and modelling as transportation technologies and transportation patterns evolve