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Roads: Highway 407 East (Durham Region)

M

Mike in TO

Guest
MTO is hosting public information session to consider route alternatives as part of the 407 East EA study to address Durham Region's future transportation needs.

The preferred alternative included a new east-west corridor from highway 407 to 35/115 and two north-south transportation corridors connecting the proposed east-west corridor with highway 401 in east and west Durham.

Meetings are scheduled:
Nov 29 - Whitby
Nov 30 - Ajax
Dec 5 - Bowmanville
Dec 6 - Oshawa
Dec 11 - Peterborough
 
Highway 407 East Environmental Assessment

New maps are available and the route is just about finalized.

TRR0515ppi.jpg


www.407eastea.com

The recommended route extends from the current end point at Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115 in Clarington. It also includes two north-south links connecting Highway 401 to the proposed extension of Highway 407, one in the west in Whitby and another in the east in Clarington There are 60 roads crossed by the proposed highway extension. Interchanges are proposed at 18 locations, grade separations at 23 and road closures at 19 locations, according to the environmental assessment project team.

Earlier this month, letters were sent to property owners who will be affected by the property requirements of the proposed route—including those affected by local road realignments, road crossing treatments and support facilities. The fifth and final round of public information centres are scheduled for the fall when the final preliminary design will be presented along with compensation measures.
 
As soon as I saw that map the first thing that popped into my head was 'What a great way to get high speed trains off of Lakeshore and onto their own line.' A dedicated HS line could basically follow the first (western most) 401/407 link and then follow a path that basically runs parallel to the 407, quickly moving trains in and out of the GTA limits. Since many HSR studies have mentioned the idea of running a HSR line north of the 401, this would work very well for that scenario.

It highlights why Ontario and Quebec need at the very least, and very soon, a planning authority that starts to take HSR into consideration when it comes to land use and transportation planning. This EA is a perfect example as a HSR right-of-way could be planned for, and land reserved for its use, and technical issues surrounding flyovers and grade separation dealt with now, while an existng EA is taking place to avoid the need to do the whole process all over again and potentially adding a lot of costs to the project.

As for the extension itself I am not a fan of it, and I don't think there will be much opposition to it, so might as well see if something positive can come of it.
 
Umm, how about rail lines instead? Makes too much sense I guess. Highways have no future.
 
Are the North-South 'links' going to be tolled?
 
Umm, how about rail lines instead? Makes too much sense I guess. Highways have no future.

Highways have no future? So we're all going to zip around in aerocars?

42

Highways don't cause sprawl, but they encourage sprawl and make it worse.

Upgrading the nearby CP Rail line won't totally eliminate the need for more road capacity in the area, but it might reduce the need to the point where this doesn't have to be a super-highway.

There is one good thing to come of the 407 though. David Harrison is reporting that transitway facilities are being planned into this extension from the start. This is a good sign - a flower on a field of pavement.
 
Three North-South freeways through Durham (don't forget the 115)? Sheesh.

I agree with the 407 extension to about that N-S freeway near Darlington/Courtice, swinging south to the 401, but I think that will more than suffice.
 
Umm, how about rail lines instead? Makes too much sense I guess. Highways have no future.

Highways have no future? So we're all going to zip around in aerocars?

Highways don't cause sprawl, but they encourage sprawl and make it worse.

Actually, there's not much difference between causing and encouraging, but that's not what I was trying to get at exactly.

Towered's statement sounds to me like he is sounding the death knell for the car. This is a very complex issue, but...

The new higher price of gas, and the fact of the greenbelt, are going to control sprawl to a degree: things are definitely changing. Mobility for both people and goods, however, is going to continue to be an issue as the population of southern Ontario continues to expand in the foreseeable future. Rail (and lets keep up the pressure to get a new HS link to Ottawa and Montreal, etc.) should handle a growing proportion of trips, but will never divert enough vehicles off of our roads for us to avoid needing increased capacity of the road system. We have so much invested in road infrastructure now that it will be cheaper to find new ways of propelling vehicles along asphalt ribbons than it will to create entirely new networks of other technologies that could replace them.

To bring all of this back to the 407 East EA, it makes some sense to complete the 407 to 35/115 to create a direct link from the northeast GTA to Peterborough. It will also add some needed redundancy into the road network for times when the 401 is totally snafued by some crazy jam.

42
 
I don't think there's any intention of the current government to toll either this 407 extension or the north-south collectors.
 

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