Build Hwy. 407 through Durham and businesses will follow, say local officials
First phase of highway extension slated to open this spring

DurhamRegion.com
June 2, 2016
Keith Gilligan

When the Hwy. 407 east extension opens later this spring, it’ll bring with it enhanced opportunities for business, transportation and employment, say local officials.

The first phase of the extension, from Pickering through to Harmony Road in Oshawa, is due to open in late spring, said Kalvin Reid, a spokesman for the 407 East Development Group, adding an exact date isn’t available yet. It was originally to open in December 2015.

When Hwy. 407 and Hwy. 412, the link from the 407 to Hwy. 401 at the Ajax-Whitby border, are opened, Durham will benefit, says Kathy Weiss, director of economic development for Durham Region.

“The extension of the 407 will improve transportation infrastructure by helping to reduce traffic congestion through the GTA and Durham Region, resulting in efficient movement of goods and people through the area, specifically Durham,” she said in a statement.

“It will also provide stimulus for facilitating economic growth by providing a much-needed, high-capacity transportation system, and will add 800 acres of employment lands into the Durham Region inventory. Further, the 407 will provide direct major highway access to the proposed Pickering airport and surrounding employment lands, creating an aviation cluster in Durham Region.

“This is all in addition to the creation of thousands of construction and engineering jobs.”

Thousands of Durham residents and businesses will have an alternative route to Toronto and areas to the west, including Pearson International Airport. And people and businesses in Toronto and points west will have another way to get to Durham and points east.

Lisa Hausz, the manager of business development and marketing for Ajax, said transportation options are top considerations on where a company decides to locate.

“They’re always looking for land, labour and transportation,” she said.

Transportation options are not only for moving goods, but ensuring employees can get to work, she noted.

“They all work together,” Ms. Hausz added.

That’s important as traffic congestion in the GTA costs about $6 billion annual in lost productivity.

Economic development is “broader than transportation options. What we promote is access to all of them -- rail, road,” she said.

When a company approaches the Town, she said transportation options are outlined.

“We highlight the 407. We make sure they know where the ports are, the airports.”

Companies will build transportation options into their business case, “options for moving product. When they look at the 407, it’s one of the options,” she noted.

“We would like to see more truck traffic, but it’s not there yet with the pricing. It will become very viable in the future,” Ms. Hausz said.

The importance of the highway isn’t lost on local officials.

At a recent Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade meeting, Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan said, “The 407 could become a technology corridor linking like-minded businesses and institutions in York and Durham regions.

“This becomes even more significant when the first phase of the Hwy. 407 expansion is completed later this spring. This critical investment in our infrastructure will help drive economic development across Durham Region,” Mayor Ryan said.

“And with the 407 expansion, this intermodal hub would then have easy access to the Durham airport in Pickering, the 800 acres of employment lands in Seaton, the large commercial centres in Markham and Vaughan, and also Pearson Airport and its business parks,” he noted.

“Access to a regional reliever airport, a municipal aviation airport, rail, water, six lanes of Hwy. 401, and now Hwy. 407 could transform Oshawa and Durham Region into a transportation and logistics powerhouse,” Mayor Ryan said.

Environmental groups have opposed building the highway, fearing it will perpetuate urban sprawl.

Pat Valentine of Land Over Landings said the group’s concerns are primarily with the federal lands in Pickering.

“We don’t think having a highway there will be enough to make an airport happen. There are so many reasons an airport can’t happen. I don’t think there’s a connection. There’s no business case for an airport and there’s never been a business case for an airport,” Ms. Valentine said.

The highway would be a “boon for people on Brock Road. It will help with land south of the federal lands, with Seaton.”

She noted the land south of the 407 is serviced, but “there’s nothing north, except 44 years of neglected farmland. That’s where we’re concerned.”

Hwy. 407 in Durham has been on the books for decades and had been promised for years. When it finally made its way into Durham in the late 1990s, it ended at Brock Road in Pickering. And for years, that’s as far as it got. Extending it east of Brock out to Hwys. 35/115 has been a priority of local and regional politicians.

With work wrapping up on the first phase through Oshawa, construction on the second phase to 35/115 in Clarington is under way and the timeline for completion is 2020. The second phase includes a 407-401 link, Hwy. 418, near Holt Road.