Ontario Highway 407

"Highway 407" redirects here. For the station, see Highway 407 station. For other highways with that number, see List of highways numbered 407.

407 ETR / Highway 407 marker 407 ETR / Highway 407 marker
407 ETR / Highway 407
Map
Highway 407 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by
Province of Ontario
407 ETR Concession Company Limited
Length151.4 km[1][2] (94.1 mi)
History
Major junctions
West end  Highway 403 / Queen Elizabeth Way in Burlington
Major intersections
East end  Highway 35 / Highway 115 in Clarington
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Highway system
← Highway 406→ Highway 409

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 and 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, it is the fourth-longest expressway 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 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 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.[9][10] 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.[4] Despite being included in the 400-series network, the Highway 407 ETR section is not considered part of the provincial highway network as it is now privately operated.[11] The segment is operated privately under a 99-year lease agreement signed with the Conservative 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.[12] The privatization of the Highway 407 ETR section has been the source of significant criticism,[13] especially regarding increases in tolls, plate denial, and false charges. In addition, the safety of segments built after 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 (not 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 the construction of a tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407, known as Highway 412.[6] 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,[7] 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 the construction of another tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407, known as Highway 418.[8]

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 York and Peel Regions, and control cities are not shown at street entrances in these regions, as is the case for freeways passing through Toronto. In the east, Peterborough is reached by briefly following the Highway 35/Highway 115 concurrency north and then continuing northeast on Highway 115 alone.

  1. ^ "Map / Toll Calculator". 407 ETR. December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "Design - Highway 407 Project". Highway407east.com. October 2012. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Sewell, John (2009). The Shape of the Suburbs: Understanding Toronto's Sprawl. University of Toronto Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-8020-9884-9. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  4. ^ a b Mitchell, Bob (June 6, 1997). "At Last – Opening Bell Tolls for the 407". News. The Toronto Star. pp. A1, A6.
  5. ^ Settlement of Claim of Richard Prendiville (PDF) (Report). Ontario Superior Court of Justice. December 12, 2001. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Hwy. 407 eastern extension opens between Pickering and Oshawa". Inside Toronto. June 21, 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Ontario Opens New Section of Highway in Durham Region". Ontario Newsroom. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Extension of Ontario Hwy. 407, new Hwy. 418 open east of Toronto". On-Site. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  9. ^ Allen, Paddy (July 11, 2011). "Carmageddon: the world's busiest roads". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Ltd. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Maier, Hanna (October 9, 2007). "Chapter 2". Long-Life Concrete Pavements in Europe and Canada (Report). Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved May 1, 2010. The key high-volume highways in Ontario are the 400-series highways in the southern part of the province. The most important of these is the 401, the busiest highway in North America, with average annual daily traffic (AADT) of more than 425,000 vehicles in 2004 and daily traffic sometimes exceeding 500,000 vehicles.
  11. ^ "Highway 407 Act, 1998, Sections 12(1) and 12(2)". Service Ontario e-Laws. July 24, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  12. ^ Canadian Press (February 15, 2013). "Highway 407 Profits Soar". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  13. ^ Regg Cohn, Martin (March 30, 2015). "PC blunder over Highway 407 looms over Liberals on Hydro: Cohn". Toronto Star. Retrieved December 6, 2017. The 407 deal is now considered a financial blunder on a par with Newfoundland's lease of Churchill Falls to Quebec, and China's surrender of Hong Kong to Britain, for equally ill-fated 99-year leases.