‘It’s just going to ruin everything’: King, Vaughan groups team up to fight Hwy. 413

Stop the 413 is a coalition of citizens working to halt the GTA West Corridor

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 15, 2020
Laura Broadley

A coalition has formed to stop the construction of a proposed highway that would cross through King Township and Vaughan.

The coalition, dubbed Stop the 413, is made up of grassroots groups such as Sustainable Vaughan, Keep Vaughan Green and Concerned Citizens of King Township. It was formed to fight the building of Highway 413 officially known as the GTA West Corridor.

“We united to really share resources, logistics and knowledge about the proposed 413 highway,” said Sony Rai with Sustainable Vaughan.

One of the big hurdles with the highway is awareness of the project from people who would be affected, Rai said.

Highway 413 is set to be built from Highway 407, near Milton, to Highway 400 near Kleinburg. The project was cancelled in 2018 but was resurrected by Doug Ford’s government. The Government of Ontario announced a plan to fast-track the environmental assessment for the highway.

Rai said the issues with the highway are “layered” but one of the biggest concerns for the group is that it’s being proposed in more rural areas so it will leave those places vulnerable to urban sprawl.

“The detrimental effects of urban sprawl and car dependency are well known,” Rai said.

For people who may be in support of the proposed $6-billion highway, Rai said the benefits are negligible and urges anyone to considered the idea that it’s being considered as a toll road.

A spokesperson with the Ministry of Transportation said in an email that the decision about the highway being a toll road will be made at a later stage of the current study, or following subsequent studies.

There are better ways to spend that money, Rai said, such as improving access to public transportation.

For Louisa Santoro, the proposed highway means something personal. The highway would be built right behind her Kleinburg home.

“It’s just going to ruin everything, all the agriculture that’s here, the farmland, the rivers and the beautiful wildlife -- all that’s going to go away,” Santoro said.

Santoro moved north to get away from the busy city and believes Highway 413 would ruin that peaceful way of life in Kleinburg.

“We don’t need more pollution,” she said.

The cost estimates for the preferred route of the highway are being developed and will be available at the third round of public information meetings planned for 2021.

The ministry will also contact impacted homeowners once the environmental assessment is approved and provincial funding is secured. The environmental assessment is ongoing and therefore, a property acquisition timeline is unknown, the email said.

“Gridlock hurts our economy, quality of life, and environment. Our immediate focus continues to be on expanding public transit infrastructure, including delivering major enhancements to all three GO Stations at the Maple, Rutherford and King City, that will improve the environment and reduce the brutal traffic that plagues our community,” Stephen Lecce, MPP for King-Vaughan, said in a statement.

Lecce said the municipalities of King, Vaughan and York Region council and other local governments have called for the “proactive planning and delivery of a new GTA West Corridor.”

“This government believes in proactively building vital infrastructure for commuters today and into the future. We must bring an end to the status quo approach of building roads, highways and other infrastructure after development and intensification,” he said.