Ontario Highway 407

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Highway 407
Express Toll Route
Route information
Maintained by 407 ETR Concession Company Limited, a Cintra company
Length: 107.2 km[1] (66.6 mi)
History: Proposed 19591986,[2]
Opened June 7, 1997[3]
Major junctions
West end:  Highway 403 / Queen Elizabeth Way  Burlington
   Highway 403  Mississauga
 Highway 401  Milton
 Highway 410  Brampton
 Highway 427
 Highway 400  Vaughan
 Highway 404  Markham
East end:  Highway 7  Pickering
Highway system
Highway 406 Highway 409

Highway 407 (pronounced "four-oh-seven"), officially known as the 407 Express Toll Route (ETR), is a privately operated 400-series highway and tollway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Despite being included as part of the 400-series network, Highway 407 is not part of the provincial highway network.[4] It begins at the junction of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Highway 403 in Burlington, and travels 107.2 km (66.6 mi) northeast and east to its present terminus at Highway 7 and Brock Road (Durham Regional Road 1) in Pickering. Plans are underway to extend the highway further east through Durham Region to Highway 35/115 near Orono as a provincially maintained highway.

Leased to a private consortium in 1999, Highway 407 was formerly planned as a 400-series freeway to bypass the Toronto segment of Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America.[5]

Major freeway junctions with Highway 407 are located at (from west to east) the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), Highways 403, 401, 410, 427, 400, and 404. Other major street junctions include Bronte Road (Halton Regional Road 25, formerly Highway 25), Hurontario Street (formerly Highway 10), Highway 27, Yonge Street (formerly Highway 11) and Markham Road (formerly Highway 48). In all, there are 40 different junctions on Highway 407 connecting the toll road with the main transportation network in the Greater Toronto Area.

Highway 407 is the first electronically operated toll highway opened in the world; there are no toll booths along the length of the highway. Transponders or licence plates are read at entrance and exit points and distances calculated electronically. Drivers are mailed their bill several days later. The tolls on the highway have generated considerable controversy since the highway opened, as well as a lawsuit brought on by the province.

The 407 is operated privately under a 99-year lease agreement with the provincial government. The lease was sold to a consortium of Canadian, Spanish and Australian interests operating under the name 407 International Inc. for approximately $3.1 billion in 1999. The company is owned by Cintras Infraestructuras S.A., a subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A, and partially owned by subsidiaries of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Montreal-based engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.[6]

Unique characteristics

Along with transponders, The 407 also uses cameras to toll vehicles.

The 407 uses a system of cameras and transponders to toll vehicles automatically. There are no toll booths, hence the name "Express Toll Route" (ETR). It is one of the earliest examples of a highway that exclusively uses open road tolling. Highway 407 is designed as a normal freeway with interchanges connecting directly to surface streets, without the need for toll booth intermediaries (typically via a trumpet interchange) which could otherwise take up significant land. A radio antenna detects when a vehicle with a transponder has entered and exited the highway, calculating the toll rate. For vehicles without a transponder, an automatic number plate recognition system is used. Monthly statements are mailed to users.

Description

Highway 407 ETR begins at the Highway 403 / Queen Elizabeth Way junction in Burlington.

The original section of Highway 407, between Highway 410 and Highway 404, was the first highway in almost thirty years since Highway 427 to be surfaced with concrete instead of asphalt, which despite involving a costlier initial investment, lasts significantly longer and has better reflective capabilities (although motorists have a noisier ride). Unlike most American concrete highways where the concrete is a continuous surface on both roadway and bridge surfaces, all 407 bridge decks are covered with an Ontario styled asphalt wearing surface to protect a waterproofing layer placed on top of the underlying concrete deck. Also, some sections of the 407 are paved with asphalt instead of concrete since these sections opened much later (QEW (west terminus) to Highway 403; Markham Road to Highway 7 (east terminus)). It also has a high-pressure sodium high-mast lighting system installed throughout the length of the freeway; only 4 lamps are needed instead of the usual 8-12 since the concrete pavement reflects light better than asphalt. The 407 (along with other recent suburban and rural Ontario freeways) has been designed with aesthetics in mind, with landscaped embankments and storm drainage ponds at interchanges.

Because of its wide median, it has the capacity to be expanded from six to ten lanes (maximum of eight lanes between Highway 401 in Mississauga and Highway 403 in Hamilton) without having to reconstruct existing bridges and interchanges.

Braided ramps were used to avoid weaving when there were closely spaced interchanges. The high-capacity junction with Highway 400 is the only 4-level stack in Ontario. Another four-level interchange with Highway 427 also has the capacity to be expanded to a stack if traffic levels warrant.

On Highway 407 most of the original overhead sign gantries between Highway 401 and McCowan Road are of the Aluminum Tapered Leg (ATL) variety (commonly referred by the MTO as a "Type 1" structure), installed in the early-mid-1990s which marks it the last time that these were used on Ontario freeways. Newer sign gantries added to extensions and upgrades of Highway 407 as well as other Ontario freeways are of the triangular truss type.[7][8][9] Many overpasses were constructed with concrete/steel I-beams, though there are quite a few box girder bridges as well.

A typical section of Highway 407 north of Toronto. Note the concrete driving surface.

Safety concerns

When the freeway was opened in 1997, many critics complained that it had skimped on safety features to save money. Many of Highway 407's shortcomings were documented in an independent study which included input from the Ontario Provincial Police.

The four-way interchanges with Highway 410 and Highway 404 were intended to be four-level Stack interchanges but they were reduced to three-level stack/cloverleaf junctions, with low-capacity loop ramps serving freeway-to-freeway traffic. Only the interchange with Highway 400 was built as a four-level stack, while the junction with Highway 427 is expected to be converted to a stack when Highway 427 is extended north and traffic levels warrant the upgrade. Experts were also concerned about the decreased loop ramp radii and a lack of protective guardrail at sharp curves. The lack of a concrete median barrier separating the carriageways has also been a worry, considering the high traffic volumes typical of a suburban freeway and because the lighting masts are installed in the median instead of the shoulder. It was argued that the large grass median separating the carriageways was sufficient to prevent cross-over collisions, since Highway 410 has similar features. Most of these concerns were dismissed on the grounds that it would require an extensive reconstruction of the existing freeway.

Left-hand exiting can potentially cause problems for drivers, such as weaving across traffic to avoid exiting and being billed for accidentally driving on the highway.

Inadequate signage leading to 407 has been criticized for being misleading, with motorists incurring bills for accidentally driving onto the 407. Further controversy has centered on the westward extension from Mississauga to Burlington; despite the majority of traffic not using that section of Highway 407, the interchanges at the ends are nonetheless designed with that segment as the mainline through traffic. In the original design, this section was intended to be used for an extension of Highway 403. Because most current Ontario freeways are designed with right-hand exits (while through traffic stays on the left), left-hand exits to the 407 have caused a great deal of confusion with cases of drivers unintentionally driving onto 407 from eastbound 403.

History

"A King's Highway marker for Highway 407."

Although construction of Highway 407 did not begin until 1987, planning for the bypass of Highway 401 north of Toronto began in the late-1950s. Concepts for the new "dual highway" first appeared in the 1959 plan for Metropolitan Toronto.[2] Land adjacent to a hydro corridor was acquired for the future freeway in the 1960s, but sat vacant as the Ontario government opted instead to widen Highway 401 to a twelve-lane collector-express system. The Highway 401 expansion project was considered a success and construction of Highway 407 was shelved for almost thirty years.[2]

The first section was completed in 1987 as a temporary routing for Highway 403 in Mississauga and Oakville (after a change in plans, this segment would be permanently part of Highway 403). The next phase to begin construction was a short connector between Highway 427 and Highway 400, and the upgrading of Highway 7 through Richmond Hill to a six-lane grade-separated expressway, which although originally planned to become incorporated into the 407 routing, today runs parallel to the highway. In addition, cross-street overpasses and ramps for the interchange connections to Highway 427 and Highway 400, and modifications to accommodate the highway at the Highway 403/QEW interchange, were constructed by the Ministry of Transportation in the early 1990s.

The Ontario government's normal process for highway construction was not possible given the financial constraints of the recession of the early 1990s. The Rae government developed the 407 ETR highway by seeking out private sector partnerships and using leading-edge electronic road pricing technology. Two firms bid on the project, with the Canadian Highways International Corporation being selected as the operator of the highway. Financing for the highway would be paid by user tolls lasting 35 years, after which it would return to the provincial system as a toll-free 400-series highway.[10]

Highway 407 south of Highway 401; this section follows a north–south alignment to Highway 403

The highway opened in 1997,[11] and highway cost roughly CAD$1.6 billion.

Highway 407 was officially opened to traffic on June 7, 1997 from Highway 410 to Highway 404; tolls were not charged for a month to allow motorists to test-drive the freeway.[3] The next section extended the freeway 13 km (8.1 mi) to the west to meet Highway 401 near Winston Churchill Boulevard. It was opened on December 13, 1997.[12] Another extension brought this end south to meet Highway 403, and was opened in mid-1998.[citation needed]

In the east, an extension to Markham Road, at what was then the southern terminus of Highway 48, was completed in early 1998. However, at the protesting of local residents and officials (a scenario which is being revisited in Oshawa), the freeway was opened to traffic only as far as McCowan Road on February 18.[13] The short segment from McCowan Road to Markham Road remained closed for over a year, as locals feared the funneling of traffic onto Main Street, which Markham Road narrows into north of the freeway. Both Markham and McCowan were widened to four lanes between Highway 407 and Steeles Avenue at this time. This did not alleviate concerns, and the extension opened to continued protest on June 24, 1999.[14]

As part of a controversial plan to balance the budget, and just prior to the Harris government's re-election campaign, the highway was leased to a conglomerate of private companies in 1999 for $3.1 billion, who renamed the route 407 ETR. The company, known as 407 International Inc., is owned by a consortium of Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte (major shareholder) from Spain, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, and Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin. The deal included a 99-year lease agreement, unlimited control over the highway and its tolls and a restriction under which the government may not build any nearby freeways which might potentially compete with 407 ETR; however, the Government maintained the ability to build a light transit system along the 407 right-of-way.

When purchased, the highway ran from the junction of Highway 403 in Mississauga to Markham Road in Markham. Extensions westward to the Queen Elizabeth Way and eastward to Highway 7 and Brock Road in Pickering were constructed by the corporation, as mandated in the lease agreement. Both of these extensions were not part of the original Highway 407 plans; rather, these protected corridors were to be future, non-tolled 400-Series highways. The westward extension from Highway 403 in Mississauga to the Queen Elizabeth Way in Burlington was initially intended to be an extension of Highway 403. (Highway 407 was originally slated to assume the temporary routing for Highway 403 in Mississauga-Oakville and end at the QEW.)

On October 5, 2010, the Canadian Pension Plan announced that an agreement was reached with the owners of the roadway to purchase 10% stake for $894 million.[15] This implies a value of close to $9 billion for the highway in its current state.

The Ontario provincial government has quarrelled with 407 ETR over toll rates and customer service. On February 2, 2004, the government delivered notice to 407 ETR that they are considered to be in default of their contract because of 407 ETR's decision to raise toll rates without first obtaining the government's permission. The court's initial decision sided with 407 ETR: on July 10, 2004, an independent arbitrator affirmed that 407 ETR has the ability to raise toll rates without first consulting the government. The government filed an appeal of this decision but was overruled by an Ontario Superior Court decision released on January 6, 2005; however, a subsequent ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal on June 13, 2005 granted the government permission to appeal the decision.

The 407 ETR is contractually responsible for maintaining high traffic levels as justification for increasing tolls. The 407 ETR conducts its own traffic studies, and reports that traffic on the 407 ETR has grown steadily since it first opened, with over 360,000 trips taken on the average workday. Regardless, parallel roads that Highway 407 would have supplemented continue to grow congested. Despite the self-reported growth of traffic on 407 ETR, the Ontario government had to revisit costly widening projects of Highway 401 and the QEW.

Critics have complained that the rising toll rates have made Highway 407 more of a "luxury" rather than a bypass of existing congested roads as it was initially intended.

Future

Planned routing, including two north-south connector freeways in Durham Region, as part of the eastern extension.

An environmental assessment (EA) to consider an extension of Highway 407 through Durham Region from its current Brock Road terminus in Pickering to Highway 35/115 in Clarington was undertaken. Also studied in the assessment are two north-south connecting highways between Highway 407 and Highway 401 to the south, one located in the general vicinity of western Whitby (West Durham Link) and the other near Courtice (East Durham Link).

A preferred route was announced in June 2007,[16] and the EA was complete in June 2009.

On March 6, 2007, as part of the FLOW initiative, the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario confirmed the extension of the 407 to Highway 35/115 in Clarington, including the connector highways, with an announced completion date of 2013.[17]

A bridge over the future freeway is under construction along Highway 7 west of Brooklin; this is the first project on the new extension.

On January 27, 2009, the provincial government announced that the extension would be a tolled highway but owned by the province and with tolls set by the province. The announcement also indicated that the province expected to issue a Request for Proposals later in the year.[18] The contract, which is valued at $1.6 billion, was eventually awarded to SNC-Lavalin and Cintra Infraestructuras SA.[19]

On June 9, 2010, the ministry approved the extension, but it would only be going as far east as Simcoe Street in Oshawa for the time being, as they want the extensions to be built in phases. However, there were complaints on how it would impact traffic if the 407 ETR ended there. After a motion that was rejected by the Ontario Legislature on having the 407 ETR going to Highway 35/115, the government issued a compromise on March 10, 2011, where the first phase would end as far east as Harmony Road in Oshawa by 2015 and then beginning the second phase where it would extend towards Highway 35/115 by 2020.[20] This timeline was confirmed by Premier Dalton McGuinty on May 24, 2012.[21] Further, the extension section in the Durham Region will be publicly owned with the tolls going to the Ontario treasury.

Tolling

Billing

A controversial point is the billing practice in which Highway 407 ETR customer service representatives and even collection agencies may continue to contact customers to pay bills, even in cases where the bill is incorrect or has not been incurred. Vehicles towing trailers can often be double billed or billed in the wrong weight category. Critics of the privatization of 407 complain that the operators use these tactics as a means of gouging money illegally from consumers in order to make up for losses incurred from non-paying drivers.

Drivers with transponders must be alert and listen for the exit tones from the transponder when leaving the 407, and be vigilant with making 407 customer service aware of transponder malfunction when it occurs. Otherwise, they can face "Video Toll" charges. Excepting motorcycles the "Video Toll" charge will be applied, per trip, to any vehicle that does not have a transponder. A monthly account fee is also charged to vehicles without a transponder in each month a trip is taken. Except for motorcycles, vehicles without a transponder are therefore charged the Video Toll charge + Account fee on their first trip each month.

For drivers without transponders, the automatic number plate recognition system is linked to several provincial and U.S. state motor vehicle registries. Only the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and the states of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Maine, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, and possibly several adjacent states and provinces provide 407 ETR access to their registry databases due to the privacy laws of these states.[citation needed] This has resulted in motorists from other jurisdictions being able to travel on 407 ETR without receiving a bill.

Plate denial

Following a judicial decision by the Ontario Divisional Court on November 7, 2005, the Ontario Registrar of Motor Vehicles was ordered to begin denying the validation or issue of Canadian and US license plates and vehicle permits for 407 ETR users who have failed to pay owed fees for at least 125 days. On November 7, 2005, Ontario's Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar said in a press release, "That is very serious... when it occurs through no fault of their own, but because the 407 ETR electronic system made a mistake."

On November 24, 2005, the MTO announced that it would appeal the decision but would begin to deny plates until the appeal was decided. On February 24, 2006, the Ontario Court of Appeals denied the government leave to appeal the November 7, 2005 decision. As a result, plate denial is once again in place.

Previously, in February 2000, the Ontario government would suspend driver licences for unpaid 407 ETR bills; however, this practice was quickly suspended by the Ontario government and the new owner of the highway after receiving many complaints from customers about erroneous billing. Between 2000 and 2005 the company said it improved its billing system to minimize the chance of plate denial errors.

The Highway 407 Act, Section 22, gives the owner of the 407 ETR the ability to deny license plate renewal of drivers who have refused to pay their toll for more than 125 days after the toll first incurred. Before the 407 can notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to deny plate renewal or refuse to issue a new plate for a driver, the Highway 407 Act specifies how this process would work.

According to the Highway 407 Act, Section 13(1), the 407 can only charge a driver under two conditions: the name of the person whom the plate portion of the vehicle is issued to, or the name of the person whom the transponder unit affixed in the vehicle is issued to. When a driver enters the 407, if he or she does not have a valid transponder in the vehicle, the 407 snaps a picture of the license plate and receives information about the person the plate is registered to, including the name and address, from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. The 407 would then mail a bill to the address that is on file at the Ministry of Transportation. Drivers will have 37 days from the billing date on the statement to pay their tolls.

As the 407 ETR does not automatically receive updates to the Ministry of Transportation's driver database, the 407 ETR may send bills to an address where the driver no longer resides, resulting in accumulating charges and penalties without the driver ever seeing a bill. To prevent this from happening, Ontario drivers who use the 407 ETR, especially those who do not have a transponder leased from the 407 ETR (customers who lease transponders have already given the 407 ETR their billing information and as such are less likely to be affected by this), are required to keep their contact information updated with 407 ETR. Originally, the instruction that the customer had to keep their contact information updated was only printed on the payment envelope sent with the statement. This information was later added to information printed on the statement itself.

Notice of Failure to Pay

If a driver has a 407 bill that is outstanding for more than 37 days, the 407 ETR will mail a “Notice of Failure to Pay” to the address they have on file for that driver. Unless the driver leases a transponder from the 407 ETR, all contact information about the driver is received from the Ministry of Transportation. At this point outstanding accounts will start accumulating interest (26.82% APR, compounded monthly). Additional administrative fees may also be charged on the account. If a driver receives a "Notice of Failure to Pay", he or she can either pay the outstanding toll or, within 30 days of receiving the "Notice of Failure to Pay", deliver the 407 ETR (preferably by registered mail) a Notice of Dispute listing one or more of the permitted grounds as set in the Highway 407 Act, Section 17(1). The Notice of Dispute is available for download from the 407 ETR's website.

A dispute may not be filed on the basis that the 407 ETR failed to notify a driver of charges. A dispute may only be filed under the following circumstances:

The interchange of Highway 407 and Hurontario Street
  • The toll was already paid in full;
  • The amount of the toll is incorrect;
  • The vehicle, plate, and/or transponder of the vehicle in question was stolen at the time the toll incurred;
  • The driver in question is not the person responsible for the toll under Section 13(1) of the Highway 407 Act.
  • The 407 ETR has a separate, internally managed dispute resolution process where a customer's dispute falls outside these categories.

Once a driver files a dispute, the 407 ETR will have 30 days to respond to the dispute. If the 407 ETR fails to respond for whatever reason, the disputed amount can’t be sent to plate denial. However, if the 407 ETR informs the driver that it does not agree with the dispute, the driver may appeal the 407 ETR’s decision to an independent arbitrator appointed by the Ontario government. The 407 ETR will have 15 days to file a written submission once informed by the arbitrator of the filed dispute.

During the arbitration process the plate denial process is not stopped. The 407 ETR, however, will not use collection agencies or file a claim for the disputed amount in court. As the plate denial process is not halted during the arbitration process, drivers are encouraged to pay the amount owing or make arrangements to pay as soon as possible. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the driver, the 407 ETR is required to pay the driver the amount ruled plus interest.

If the arbitrator rules in favour of the 407 ETR then the driver is responsible for the toll charges as well as any interest and other administrative or collection fees charged by the 407 ETR if he or she has not yet paid the amount owing. The arbitrator’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. It should be noted that even while the dispute is being processed by an arbitrator, once 90 days pass after the Notice of Failure to Pay was sent and the account remains unpaid, the 407 ETR will notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to deny plate renewal and issuance of new plates for the name of the person who the plate portion attached to the vehicle incurring the toll is issued to, or the name of the person who the transponder in the vehicle incurring the toll is registered to. By law, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles must comply and place that person on plate denial. At the same time, the 407 ETR must send that person a “Notice of Plate Denial” by registered mail or courier. Once the person pays the outstanding amount, the 407 ETR must notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles immediately to remove that person from plate denial.

If a property changes hands it will still receive the bills for fees incurred by previous owners/tenants if they do not register an updated address with the Ministry of Transportation.

Payment Plan

When plate denial was finally reinstated by the courts in 2006, as part of an agreement reached with the Ontario government to drop its legal appeal against the 407 ETR's use of plate denial, the 407 ETR introduced a payment plan for drivers who owe significant amount of tolls and fees. The payment plan allows a person to pay the amount owing over time in payments as opposed to paying it all off at once. Qualification for the payment plan, as well as any terms attached to it, is at the sole discretion of the 407 ETR.

To become eligible, a driver must owe more than $1000 CAD in tolls and fees and have no other alternative vehicle. The driver must also prove that paying the entire toll at once will basically amount to financial suicide. If the 407 ETR decides that a driver qualifies for this plan, there are specific terms that have to be met. Interest charges will continue to accumulate, in some cases the driver must agree not to use the highway until the amount owing is significantly reduced or paid off entirely, and perhaps most interesting of all is giving the 407 ETR the right to register a lien against your vehicle. In addition, if you decide the accept the payment plan, the 407 ETR will charge a one-time $30 "Payment Plan Application Processing Fee" to your account. This fee too will be subjected to interest. It is added to the rest of the balance on the account.

You are not eligible to apply for the plan if you owe less than $1000 CAD, if there's sufficient public transportation in your vicinity, if it's possible for you to rent or find a replacement vehicle, or if you already made payment arrangements in the past and failed to honour them.

Drivers who think they qualify for the plan have to download an application from the 407 ETR's website. The final decision rests with the 407 ETR’s Ombudsman. Drivers who have been approved for the plan will be contacted by the 407 ETR.

Rates

All dollar amounts listed are Canadian dollars.

As of February 1, 2013, the base tolls for driving on the 407 are as follows:

Light duty Heavy duty Multi-Unit Heavy
Off-Peak - Entire Highway 19.35 cents/km 38.70 cents/km 58.05 cents/km
Midday Weekday - Entire Highway 22.70 cents/km 45.40 cents/km 68.10 cents/km
Midday Weekend/Holiday - Entire Highway 21.00 cents/km 42.00 cents/km 63.00 cents/km
Peak Period Rates - Light Zone 24.90 cents/km 49.80 cents/km 74.70 cents/km
- Regular Zone 26.20 cents/km 52.40 cents/km 78.60 cents/km
Peak Hours Rates - Light Zone 25.85 cents/km 51.70 cents/km 77.55 cents/km
- Regular Zone 27.20 cents/km 54.40 cents/km 81.60 cents/km
Other Tolls - Trip Toll 70 cents/trip $1.40/trip $2.10/trip
Video Toll (no transponder) $3.80/trip* $50.00/trip** $50.00/trip**
Monthly Account Fee (no transponder) $3.25
Monthly Transponder Lease $3.25
Annual Transponder Lease $21.50
Peak Hours Minimum Trip Toll Charge (up to) N/A $16.40/trip $30.20/trip
Off-Peak Hours Minimum Trip Toll Charge (up to) N/A $12.10/trip $22.30/trip
  • The toll rate that applies to a specific trip is determined by the time in which the vehicle enters the highway.
  • Midday Weekday Rates are in effect from 10am-3pm, Monday through Friday except for holidays.
  • Midday Weekend/Holiday Rates are in effect from 11am-7pm, Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
  • Peak Period Rates are in effect from 6am-7am, 9am-10am, 3pm-4pm and from 6pm-7pm, Monday through Friday except for holidays.
  • Peak Hours Rates are in effect from 7am-9am and from 4pm-6pm, Monday through Friday except for holidays.
  • Off Peak Rates are in effect from 7pm-6am Monday through Friday except holidays, and 7pm-11am Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
  • The Light Zone refers to the section of 407 ETR from Highway 410 to Highway 427.
  • The Regular Zone refers to all other sections of 407 ETR.
  • Heavy Duty vehicles are assessed a minimum toll regardless of the length of their trip.
  • *Light duty vehicles without transponders are assessed an additional Video Toll. Motorcycles are not charged a video toll because there is rarely a reasonable place to mount a transponder.
  • **Heavy duty vehicles are legally required to have transponders in order to use the highway and violators may be fined under the Highway Traffic Act.

The 407 ETR claims that toll increases are necessary to keep the highway maintained and improve traffic flow by adding new lanes. Doing so is part of their lease agreement with the Ontario government. Despite the improvements, however, critics point out that toll increases have far outpaced the rate of inflation since the highway was leased to a private consortium.[citation needed] The cost of driving on the highway has effectively more than doubled from when the highway first opened in 1997. On their website, it is claimed that $70 million was budgeted for new construction in 2010.[citation needed]

For fourth quarter 2012 net income was $39.3 million, and profit increased 128 per cent compared with the same period in 2011. 4Q 2012 revenues were $187.2 million, with 29.2 million trips taken. Average revenue per trip was $6.40.[6]

Exit list

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 407, as noted by the 407 ETR.[1] 

DivisionLocationkm[1]MileExitDestinationsNotes
HaltonBurlington0.00.0 Highway 403 / Queen Elizabeth Way  Hamilton, Niagara Falls, BrantfordWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
5.53.45Regional Road 5 (Dundas Street)
9.45.89Appleby Line
Oakville13.58.413Regional Road 25 (Bronte Road)  Oakville, Milton
18.411.418Neyagawa Boulevard
21.513.421Regional Road 3 (Trafalgar Road)  Oakville, Halton Hills, Georgetown
24.014.924 Highway 403  Toronto, Hamilton
HaltonPeelMiltonMississauga
28.117.528Britannia Road
31.119.331Regional Road 7 (Derry Road)
33.020.534A Highway 401 east  TorontoEastbound exit and westbound entrance
HaltonHalton Hills
PeelBrampton, Mississauga34.521.434B Highway 401 west  LondonSigned as exit 34 westbound
39.024.239Regional Road 1 (Mississauga Road)
Brampton42.226.242Regional Road 18 (Mavis Road)
44.427.644Hurontario StreetFormerly  Highway 10
46.629.046 Highway 410
48.930.448Regional Road 4 (Dixie Road)
50.431.350Bramalea RoadWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
53.533.253Regional Road 7 (Airport Road)
54.934.154Goreway DriveWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
YorkVaughan58.236.258 Highway 427  Toronto, Pearson International Airport
59.436.959 Regional Road 27  Toronto, BarrieFormer  Highway 27
63.539.563 Regional Road 57 (Pine Valley Drive)changeable message sign eastbound prior to overpass
65.640.865 Regional Road 56 (Weston Road)Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
66.441.366 Highway 400  Toronto, BarrieNo access to Highway 7 or Steeles via Highway 400
67.642.067 Regional Road 55 (Jane Street)
69 Regional Road 6 (Keele Street)
73 Regional Road 53 (Dufferin Street)
75 Regional Road 38 (Bathurst Street)
77 Regional Road 1 (Yonge Street)Former  Highway 11
Richmond Hill, Markham
79 Regional Road 34 (Bayview Avenue)
Markham81 Regional Road 12 (Leslie Street)Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
82 Highway 404  Toronto, NewmarketNo access to Highway 7 via Highway 404
84 Regional Road 8 (Woodbine Avenue)
86 Regional Road 65 (Warden Avenue)New changeable message sign installed
88 Regional Road 3 (Kennedy Road)
90 Regional Road 67 (McCowan Road)
92 Regional Road 68 (Markham Road)  Whitchurch-StouffvilleFormer  Highway 48
94 Regional Road 69 (9th Line)New ramps being added 2009 - Westbound ramp from northbound Ninth Line
96 Regional Road 48 (Donald Cousens Parkway)
98 Regional Road 30 (York-Durham Line)
DurhamPickering
100North RoadFuture interchange on existing freeway
102Pickering Airport ConnectorFuture interchange on existing freeway
103Pickering Sideline 24Future interchange on existing freeway
106 Regional Road 1 (Brock Road)At-grade intersection; end of freeway
108 Highway 7Eastern terminus; at-grade intersection
Ajax111 Regional Road 31 (Westney Road)To be owned by the province
112Salem Road
115 Regional Road 23 (Lake Ridge Road)Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; to be owned by the province
Whitby
116West Durham Link (proposed freeway)To be owned by the province
118Cochrane StreetEastbound entrance and westbound exit; to be owned by the province
120 Highway 12 (Baldwin Street)To be owned by the province
122 Regional Road 26 (Thickson Road)
Oshawa126 Regional Road 2 (Simcoe Street)
129 Regional Road 33 (Harmony Road)
Clarington134 Regional Road 34 (Enfield Road)
136East Durham LinkTo be owned by the province; proposed connector freeway to Highway 401
138Durham Regional Road 57To be owned by the province
145Darlington-Clarke Townline
149Highway 35/115Proposed eastern terminus of Highway 407; to be owned by the province
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  •       Unopened

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Map / Toll Calculator". 407 ETR. February 1, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2011. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sewell, John (2009). The Shape of the Suburbs: Understanding Toronto's Sprawl. University of Toronto Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-8020-9884-9. Retrieved July 1, 2010. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Mitchell, Bob (June 6, 1997). News. "At Last Opening Bell Tolls for the 407". The Toronto Star. pp. A1, A6. 
  4. http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_98h28_e.htm#BK14 Highway 407 Act, 1998, Sections 12(1) and 12(2)
  5. Maier, Hanna (October 9, 2007). Long-Life Concrete Pavements in Europe and Canada (Report). Federal Highway Administration. http://international.fhwa.dot.gov/pubs/pl07027/llcp_07_02.cfm. Retrieved May 1, 2010. "The key high-volume highways in Ontario are the 400-series highways in the southern part of the province. The most important of these is the 401, the busiest highway in North America, with average annual daily traffic (AADT) of more than 425,000 vehicles in 2004, and daily traffic sometimes exceeding 500,000 vehicles."
  6. 6.0 6.1 Canadian Press (February 15, 2013). "Highway 407 profits soar". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 23, 2013. 
  7. Jim Trautman. "Did Ontario taxpayers get taken for a ride on Highway 407?". Eye Weekly. 
  8. Roadtalk Highway 407 November 2008
  9. Mitchell, Bob (December 13, 1997). News. "Highway 407 Extends to West". The Toronto Star. p. A5. "Highway 407's 13 kilometre western extension opens today from Highway 410 in Brampton to Highway 401 in Mississauga." 
  10. Mitchell, Bob; Keung, Nicholas (February 18, 1998). Greater Toronto. "Highway 407 Grows a Controversial 7 Kilometres". The Toronto Star. p. B1, B3. "Highway 407 grows again today with the opening of a controversial seven-kilometre stretch from Highway 404 to McCowan Road. As of 2:30 p.m., motorists will be able to travel Canada's first tollway from Highway 401 on the Mississauga/Milton border to McCowan Rd. in Markham." 
  11. Swainson, Gail (June 28, 1999). Greater Toronto. "Highway Bypass Put on Fast Track". The Toronto Star. p. B5. "The eastern section of Highway 407, running from McCowan Rd. to Markham Rd., opened Thursday to howls of protest from Markham residents." 
  12. CPP to Buy 10% of 407 Toll Road OCT2010
  13. Highway 407 East Technically Recommended Route
  14. Canada’s New Government announces investment to cut commute times, clear the air and drive the economy in the Greater Toronto Area, Web site of the Prime Minister of Canada, retrieved March 7, 2007
  15. Province to Own Highway 407 Extension, CNW, retrieved January 27, 2009
  16. McGuinty announces $1B extension of Highway 407
  17. Liberals to extend Highway 407
  18. Eastward extension of Highway 407 coming, tolls will be ‘reasonable’

External links

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