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Ontario Government to renew work on major highway project

February 14, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

Ontario’s government confirmed they will resume environmental assessments (EA) for the GTA West Transportation Corridor.

“The EA will identify and address transportation needs in the corridor through York, Peel and Halton Regions,” said Jeff Yurek, minister of transportation at the Ontario Road Builders Association (ORBA) 92nd Annual Convention.

The project, also known as Highway 413, will connect Vaughan to Guelph while running through Southern Caledon. It was previously paused then cancelled by the former Liberal regime.

The Ministry of Transportation was not able to deluge into specifics about the project.

“Building more transportation infrastructure would improve the transportation network, speed up travel, and help alleviate traffic congestion in the Greater 

Toronto Area, including Caledon,” said Bob Nicholas, senior media liaison officer for the Ministry of Transportation  

The Town of Caledon has been supportive of the project in the past. Mayor Allan Thompson said it was an advocacy priority for council for a number of years, and that they met with the Progressive Conservatives at the last Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference to discuss the importance of the new highway for the future of the community.

Ward 1 Regional Coun. Ian Sinclair, however voiced his opposition of the project on a Facebook page called, Town of Caledon Community Voice.

He said the scope of the project was to cover a 400 series highway, main natural gas lines, main electrical line and some form of transit, stating the consultants in charge were closely allied with the Ministry of Transportation which builds and runs provincial highways. He, however, said the EA, quickly focused on the 400 series highway itself, with the other three utilities falling from its view.

“There is a need for a 230kv (kilovolt) electrical transmission line connecting transformer facilities in Milton and Clareville to supply sufficient power for new urban growth in north Brampton and south Caledon,” Sinclair wrote on social media. “The towers for the line will be somewhere between 120-160 feet tall. The proposed route for the GTA West Transportation Corridor runs immediately south of the Brampton Flying Club. If built, the Brampton Flying Club would be out of business…no safe approach to their runways. The Brampton Flying Club is just outside of the study area of the EA and due to the sole focus on the 400 series highway, has been ignored.”

Further, he said Highway 10 is the only provincial route out of the GTA on the website side, and Caledon Village now has approximately 40,000 trips per day through it resulting in long ques to the north or south depending on the time of day.

“There is no space for expansion there,” Sinclair wrote on social media. “Extending 427 north to at least 89 would relive a great deal of traffic through Caledon’s lines which now carry Beeton and Alliston traffic on the east side and also provide an alternative route for heavy goods vehicles heading out of the GTA to north-west parts of Southern Ontario and points further.”



         

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