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dullturtle06 said:
Most people in Toronto don't want the 413. Its the premier's pet project that sucked up all the highway funding from all across the province including Morrison bypass and highway 7 in kitchener. Not a fan of bulldozing the greenbelt so Fords developers can turn important agricultural land into single family homes.
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As a 416 resident, I absolutely support the 413. However, there should not a development restriction allowing the highway to just relief the current limited highway route options, not spring up massive development. Knowing Ford, that's probably his plans. Oh well.

I also think he isn't keen in building highways in the KW/Guelph area cause he can't buy their votes.
 
Steve X said:
As a 416 resident, I absolutely support the 413. However, there should not a development restriction allowing the highway to just relief the current limited highway route options, not spring up massive development. Knowing Ford, that's probably his plans. Oh well.
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Spot on, if we build it with the mindset of endless expansion, it won't accomplish much. Keep development within the new "loop" the 413 creates. Still leaves a bit of room for Brampton to expand under its current plans, but not endless development across Caledon. The 413 should not become too much of a local highway. Maybe a hot take, but if that means reducing the number of exits, so be it. The biggest mistake with urban freeways is that they just became a high capacity arterial instead of a through route. Bad example from an urbanist standpoint but this is the type of thing the NJ turnpike does well.
Steve X said:
I also think he isn't keen in building highways in the KW/Guelph area cause he can't buy their votes.
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It's happening, very slowly. There's work happening at 85/7 to prepare for the future interchange there. The Morristown bypass really needs to be prioritized and sped up though- that area is a disaster in its current state. Highway 6 in general needs work, just upgrade the whole thing from Guelph to Caledonia already, its traffic count is more than enough to justify a freeway, and it is a glaring gap between two cities who may very well both get close to or hit 1 million in their metro areas in a few decades. While we're at it, protect a corridor for a GO train alongside.
 
innsertnamehere said:
My experience is that the number of 2+ person vehicles is far higher on weekends and therefor the HOVs are a lot busier.

Honestly HOVs seem to be empty in morning rush hours when it's basically only commuters on the road, but by the evening rush there are more recreational trips and those are far more likely to be 2+ people to the point where the HOVs are similar to the mainline lanes.

Evening rush tends to see a small improvement in flow over the general purpose lanes - no differnece on weekends - and a huge difference in the morning.

Generally I think HOVs are a waste of space and should be removed. Especially in places like the 403/QEW through Halton where MTO could fit a 10-lane cross section on the highway instead of the current 8-lane cross section needed to fit the wider HOV lanes.
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HOV lanes are a waste of time. What we need are tolls.
 
Some new nuggets on the MTO RAQS board:
  • Detail design of HWY 11/17 and HWY 61 freeway conversion from Balsam Street to Arthur Street in Thunder Bay, with a delivery date of November 2028.
  • Detail design of HWY 403 and QEW widening from Trafalgar Road to Erin Mills Parkway (QEW) and Winston Churchill Boulevard to QEW/403 (403), with a due date of January 2030. No detail on whether or not this includes the long-proposed reconfiguration of the QEW/403 interchange.
 
ericmacm said:
Some new nuggets on the MTO RAQS board:
  • Detail design of HWY 11/17 and HWY 61 freeway conversion from Balsam Street to Arthur Street in Thunder Bay, with a delivery date of November 2028.
  • Detail design of HWY 403 and QEW widening from Trafalgar Road to Erin Mills Parkway (QEW) and Winston Churchill Boulevard to QEW/403 (403), with a due date of January 2030. No detail on whether or not this includes the long-proposed reconfiguration of the QEW/403 interchange.
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great finds. Both are detailed design contracts too, which suggests they are moving towards construction.

Looks like the Ministry is finally moving towards fixing the 403 link through Oakville.

Given that the design contract includes eastward to Erin Mills Parkway, I suspect it includes the missing ramp connections (!!!). I admit this is a surprise, I figured whenever something happened here they would have skipped the ramp connections as they are the most complex and expensive portions of the project.
 
Looking around myself - the environmental assessment for the preliminary design of the QEW widening "from south of Burlington Skyway Bridge in the City of Hamilton to Hwy 406 in the City of St. Catharines" is out for tender:

RAQS Engineering Services - Abstract - 2024-Z-0025 - Qew Widening - South Of Burlington Skyway Bridge To Hwy 406 St. Catharines

www.raqsesp.merx.com www.raqsesp.merx.com

Ford promised this widening in the last election. The part from the RHVP to the 406 is actually very simple, only needing one structural widening and no bridge replacements. I'm curious to see the study extend to the skyway, I figured MTO wouldn't want to touch the highway west of the RHVP as it gets a lot more complicated west of there.

Delivery isn't due until 2030, and it'll need detailed design after that, so probably looking at about a decade before this can be done, minimum.



Unsurprisingly, the 400 appears to be ramping to construction for more widening, this time from Highway 9 to the Bradford Bypass:

RAQS Engineering Services - Abstract - 2025-Z-0080 - Tpm For Detail Design For Hwy 400 Widening Hwy 9 To Bradford Bypass

www.raqsesp.merx.com www.raqsesp.merx.com

Described as a 6 to 10-lane widening. I suspected this would be coming. Timing wise, delivery of detailed design is for 2028. Assuming construction thereafter, it is likely being timed to be completed around the same time as the Bypass itself (2032 or so).

I'm hoping we will see a contract go out for the 400 through Barrie soon as well.
 
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innsertnamehere said:
Given that the design contract includes eastward to Erin Mills Parkway, I suspect it includes the missing ramp connections (!!!). I admit this is a surprise, I figured whenever something happened here they would have skipped the ramp connections as they are the most complex and expensive portions of the project.
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Those missing QEW/403 ramps would be really useful (now I no longer use it regularly).

The 2013 Class EA certainly included that ramp. They are moving at lightening speed here ... 13 years to tender the design, and then they've got 4 years to do the design.

Construction start in 2040?

1777927480824.png
 
nfitz said:
Those missing QEW/403 ramps would be really useful (now I no longer use it regularly).

The 2013 Class EA certainly included that ramp. They are moving at lightening speed here ... 13 years to tender the design, and then they've got 4 years to do the design.

Construction start in 2040?

View attachment 734074
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Construction on MTO projects typically follows quite closely completion of detailed design contracts - i.e. the next construction season. If Detailed design is wrapped in January 2030, we can probably expect construction start in 2030 as well, with completion in 2034-2035-ish.

For the highway 6 interchange in Waterdown for example - the Design Construction Report (i.e. completion of detailed design contract) was issued December 2025 and construction is underway now.
 
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ericmacm said:
Some new nuggets on the MTO RAQS board:
  • Detail design of HWY 11/17 and HWY 61 freeway conversion from Balsam Street to Arthur Street in Thunder Bay, with a delivery date of November 2028.
  • Detail design of HWY 403 and QEW widening from Trafalgar Road to Erin Mills Parkway (QEW) and Winston Churchill Boulevard to QEW/403 (403), with a due date of January 2030. No detail on whether or not this includes the long-proposed reconfiguration of the QEW/403 interchange.
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So, to be clear, the section of 403 between the QEW and the 407 interchange is not included in this?
 
innsertnamehere said:
Yes it is.

The plan approved in 2013 extended the HOVs to Winston Churchill on the QEW, added the missing ramps on the 403/QEW interchange, and widened the 403 up to the 407 from 2/3 lanes to 3/4 lanes.
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Oh, thank god. This little stretch has existed for far too long with nothing being done to it. It's about time, the same goes for the eventual widening/adding median/adding lighting to the 410 section in Brampton from south of Clark Blvd to Bovaird Dr. E. It's long overdue.
 
innsertnamehere said:
Construction on MTO projects typically follows quite closely completion of detailed design contracts - i.e. the next construction season. If Detailed design is wrapped in January 2030, we can probably expect construction start in 2030 as well, with completion in 2034-2035-ish.
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When did detailed design for new Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener end?

I think it was about 1968.

(seriously though ... the current iteration)
 
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