Municipal leaders reignite talks of 400, 404 link

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 3, 2015
By Simon Martin

Every commuter in northern York Region knows it’s a giant headache to try and get back and forth from Hwy. 400 to Hwy. 404.

Any serious talk about the so-called Bradford Bypass to alleviate that problem has sat on the shelf like stale cereal in recent years, as there seems to be little political will at the provincial level to get the ball rolling on the project.

Representatives from York Region, Simcoe County, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Newmarket met last week to see if they could lobby to get the province to put the project on its growth plan.

The challenge moving forward is to get the province to place the project on its radar.

For anybody thinking this highway has a chance of getting started in the next five years: don’t hold your breath.

“We realize that it is not going to happen overnight. It needs to be in the growth plan first, “ East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson said.

She cited the province adopting the Hwy. 404 extension into its growth plan in 2005 and the project not being completed until 2014 as an example of a timeline.

It remains to be seen if the province will be more responsive to this round of lobbying to put the project on the growth plan, but there are some logistical advantages to moving forward with the project.

“The preliminary work has been done already. It’s just a case of getting funding and the political will to get it going,” East Gwillimbury Councillor James Young 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 Hwy. 400 and Hwy. 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 group that met last week is interested in ditching the Bradford Bypass label for the project. According to East Gwillimbury town staff, it will be labeled the Hwy. 400 Hwy. 404 connecting link.

“We just want to make sure it is considered,” York Region chairperson Wayne Emmerson said.

“We need to get it back on the table. “

Emmerson said the province will table its growth plan next year.