$1.2B deal awarded to build 407 extension

Contract for construction in Durham will begin this fall

Before the end of the year, motorists using Hwy. 407 will be sharing their tolls between a privately owned consortium and the province.

Transportation Minister Steve Del Duca announced Tuesday that work is to begin this fall on an eastern extension of the highway — from Brock Road through to Hwy. 35/115 — but added it will be publicly owned, unlike the existing 107 kilometres operated by 407 ETR. A proposed toll highway connecting Hwys. 407 and 401 will also be owned by the province. “The province will set the tolls, safety standards and collect tolls revenues to help fund new infrastructure and transit projects across the province,” he told a news conference, adding the tolls will be lower than those charged by the consortium of Canadian, Spanish and Australian interests.

Motorists could be driving on the first leg of the project, the 20.3 kilometre stretch from Brock Rd. to Harmony Rd., by the end of this year, a spokesperson for Del Duca said.

When motorists do finally start using the provincially owned stretch, they will only get one bill with one total, even if their trip is on the new and existing highway. However, the bill will be broken down into who charged what.

The province awarded the $1.2-billion contract to Blackbird Infrastructure Group, It includes the Spanish firm Cintra Infraestructuras, which is among the consortium that has a lock on the existing 407 for the next 83 years.

In 1999, the Harris Progressive Conservative government stunned motorists and taxpayers alike when it sold off the rights to the then public highway for 99 years to a Spanish-led consortium for $3.1 billion, not long before the provincial election.

The Liberals prior to the 2003 election promised to undo the deal but soon learned that it was an ironclad contract. Former Grit premier Dalton McGuinty did promise in 2011, prior to the Oct. 6 election, that his government would extend the toll road easterly within a decade.

The entire eastern extension project is expected to be completed by 2020. Construction is expected to begin in fall 2015 from Harmony Rd. to Tauton Rd./Hwy. 418 and is scheduled for completion in December 2017. The remainder will open three years later.

Durham Region chair Roger Anderson welcomed the job creation announcement. “I want to say thank you for making this vision a reality,” Anderson told Del Duca.