Commuters could be driving on Hwy. 427 extension by 2019

Yorkregion.com
June 1, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Commuters could be rolling down the long-awaited Hwy. 427 extension before the end of 2019, provided the project doesn’t encounter any roadblocks.

That’s what representatives from the ministry of transportation (MTO) told city councillors at a committee meeting Monday morning.

“We are suggesting that the earliest possible construction date would be the fall of 2016. ... We think it would be about a three-year project and therefore our earliest, hopeful date of completion would be December 2019,” MTO representative Dean Kemper said. “These dates could be subject to a little bit of adjustment based on the time we actually get a consortium on board (to design, build, finance and maintain it) and the construction schedule they come up with.”

Word that the 6.6-kilometre extension from Hwy. 7 to Major Mackenzie Drive was finally going ahead came in May 2013, nearly a decade after municipalities began pressuring the province to expand the roadway.

The extension will be six lanes between Hwy. 7 and Rutherford Road, narrowing to four lanes between Rutherford and Major Mackenzie Drive.

It will include interchanges at Langstaff Road, Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive.

As part of the project, the section between Hwy. 7 and just south of Albion Road will be widened to eight lanes.

And a strip of land along the west side of the highway extension is being protected to allow for a future transitway with three stations.

In order for construction on the extension to begin, the province has to complete the acquisition of 88 parcels of land. But the bulk of it has already been expropriated, purchased or deemed simple administrative transfers or assumptions, Kemper noted.

One potential roadblock, however, is TransCanada’s proposed King’s North Connection, a natural gas pipeline project slated to run from Hwy. 407 to Major Mackenzie Drive.

"It came along at the last minute and has caused an awful lot of, I guess, consternation and work for the ministry and the municipalities,” Kemper said.

The ministry and TransCanada have basically worked out an agreement on the pipeline’s alignment and how deep it will be buried, he added. Now they’re awaiting a decision from the National Energy Board (NEB) about whether or not the pipeline project can proceed.

That decision doesn't have to come down until December, but may come earlier, Kemper said.

“In some senses, the ministry would prefer to have this pipeline built and in the ground before (the Hwy. 427) consortium comes on board to prevent conflicts and constructor issues,” he said. “We’re basically in waiting mode for the NEB to make a decision.”

Kemper also noted that a future roadway connecting Hwy. 427 to the proposed GTA West Corridor, a new 400-series highway running between Hwy. 400 and Hwy. 401 near Milton, is being planned as part of the latter project.

“The timing of that, how it’s going to look and when it’s going to occur, there’s been no decisions made on that and, I would suggest, it’s probably in the 10- to 15-year range,” he said.