400-404 link would likely be toll road if built: York Region chair
So-called 'Bradford Bypass' will happen no earlier than 2024, 'hopefully' about 2030

Yorkregion.com
April 6, 2016
By Simon Martin

East Gwillimbury already has a Toll Road nestled within the community of Holland Landing.

But indications from council chambers Tuesday pointed to another toll road in the works; this one a highway you will have to pay to use.

East Gwillimbury and surrounding municipalities to the north and south are continuing to push for Hwy. 400/404 link, formerly known as the Bradford bypass.

York Region is taking the lead on the matter, lobbying the province to put the highway back on the growth plan. York Region chairperson Wayne Emmerson was at East Gwillimbury council chambers Tuesday and provided a brief update on the project after a number of councillors raised concerns about a lack of east-west traffic relief in region’s transportation master plan.

“The minister said he is working on putting in the growth plan,” Emmerson said. Once that happens, it will probably be built as a toll road, he added.

The timing of when the link would come to alleviate congestion on roads such as Green Lane remains murky. Councillor Joe Persechini said residents are skeptical when talk of the potential highway comes up because the town has been discussing it for decades. “We would like some target dates, so we can at least be honest with our citizens,” Persechini said.

To nail down firm timelines is a little premature, Emmerson said, as the project is not yet on the province’s radar, adding it would be no earlier than 2024 and, hopefully, around 2030.

What can’t be debated is the need for the road, Councillor James Young said. “Our biggest issue today is dealing with this bypass traffic problem,” Young said. “It’s good to hear that Doane Road is coming. We need to find other ways to solve that east-west disconnect.”

All you have to do to see the traffic problem that is only going to increase as East Gwillimbury grows is take a look at congestion on Green Lane, Mayor Virginia Hackson said.

While many north-south congestion issues were solved by the Hwy. 404 extension, it created others. Young said it’s only going to get worse if nothing is done. “We will have 86,000 people in 2031. I really want to drive that point home,” he said.

Emmerson seemed to be on the same page. “We know that it’s needed,” he said.

The province eliminated the Bradford bypass from its plans in 2008, despite the route being pegged a necessity by a Ministry of Transportation study that called for the route’s construction to be completed by 2021.

The province identified the need for a highway linking highways 400 and 404 through parts of East Gwillimbury and Bradford in the late 1970s and, over the past four decades, the area has been protected from development and subject to a number of environmental assessments.

The region is investing more than $100 million in transportation infrastructure in East Gwillimbury at the moment, Emmerson said as the town gets ready for rapid growth.