Ontario Highway 412

Highway 412
West Durham Link
Highway 412      Freeways      King's Highways      Former highways      Highway 407E      Regional roads
Route information
Length:	10 km[1] (10 mi)
History:	Proposed 1990s Opened June 20, 2016[2]
Major junctions
South end:	Highway 401 in Whitby
	Regional Road 4  Highway 7
North end:	Highway 407 in Whitby
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways List 400-series Former ← Highway 410 Highway 416 →

King's Highway 412, or simply Highway 412, is a tolled controlled-access highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route is approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) long, connecting Highway 401 with the eastern extension of Highway 407. The route lies entirely within Whitby in the Regional Municipality of Durham, travelling within one kilometre of the border between Whitby and Ajax and Pickering (Lake Ridge Road).

During planning, the route was known as the West Durham Link. Its designation as Highway 412, the first new 400-series designation in several decades, was confirmed along with Highway 418 on February 6, 2015.^[3] Although initially planned to open in October 2015, the opening was delayed until June 20, 2016. Highway 412 opened alongside the extension of Highway 407 (Highway 407E) from Brock Road in Pickering to Harmony Road in Oshawa. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) thus decided to compensate for delays by waiving all tolls until February 1, 2017.^[2]

Route description

Highway 7 passing westerly beneath the still under construction Highway 412 overpass, in June 2015

Highway 412 is a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) four-lane tollway extending from Highway 401 to Highway 407E, just north of Highway 7. The entire length of the route lies between Lakeridge Road and Coronation Road, within Whitby. At the southern end, the route begins at a three-level stack interchange with a realigned Highway 401, from which it proceeds north. It crosses Dundas Street (former Highway 2), where a partial interchange provides access to the north and from the south.^[1]

North of Dundas Street, the route swerves westward onto the alignment of Halls Road and crosses Rossland Road; a future interchange is planned at this location. It continues north to an interchange with Taunton Road before diverging east from the Halls Road alignment to travel parallel between it and Coronation Road. The route crosses Highway 7 (Winchester Road), where a partial interchange provides southbound access and a northbound exit; a commuter carpool parking lot lay on the northwest corner. Immediately north of Highway 7, the route ends at a three-level stack interchange with Highway 407E, which is also a toll route thus no ETC cameras are present there.^[1]

History

The West Durham Link, as it was then known, was first presented to Whitby Council on February 10, 1992. It quickly drew the ire of local residents fearful of noise levels and the environmental effects on Lynde Creek.^[4] However, the recession of the mid-1990s resulted in Highway 407 being truncated in Markham temporarily. Slightly revised plans for the links appeared on the June 2007 Technically Recommended Route Report for the extension of Highway 407 to Highway 35/115, which was submitted as part of the environmental assessment (EA) for the extension, but had been announced earlier that year on March 7 by the Government of Canada, as part of an investment in Greater Toronto Area infrastructure.^[5]

The EA report was released on August 17, 2009, including detailed plans for the configuration of the interchanges along the new highway. The route would run parallel to and east of Lake Ridge Road, partially overlapping the current route of Halls Road and partially along a new alignment one lot to the east. Both Halls Road and Coronation Road will be re-aligned to accommodate the new highway. It would be six lanes throughout its length, with a concrete Ontario Tall Wall as a median.^[1] Highway 412 will cut into Lynde Creek, a small waterway that flows out to Lake Ontario.

Construction was underway by late 2013. On February 6, 2015, it was announced by the MTO that the West Durham Link would be designated Highway 412.^[3] Whitby Town Council had recommended to the province the route be named after Jim Flaherty.^[6]

Although initially expected to be completed on December 18, 2015, delays resulted in the opening being postponed until June 2016. The highway was opened, alongside Highway 407E between Brock Road in Pickering and Harmony Road in Oshawa, on June 20, 2016.^[7][2]

To compensate for opening delays, tolls were waived until the end of January 2017. ^[8]

Tolling

As of February 1, 2017, the following tolls applies for motorists utilizing Highway 412:^[9]

• Same toll rates of Highway 407E are applied here.
• All end times displayed are rounded up to the nearest minute for simplicity purposes (i.e. 6am is actually 5:59:59am)
• The toll rate that applies to a specific trip is determined by the time at which a vehicle enters the highway and the cumulative distance traveled on both Highways 412 and 407E.
• Users of both 407 ETR and Highways 407E/412/418 will only receive one bill invoice, with trips on each highway specified.^[10]
• 407 ETR Transponders are compatible with Highways 407E, 412, and later 418.^[10]
• Heavy goods vehicles and lorries are assessed a minimum toll regardless of the length of their trip.
• Light vehicles without transponders may be assessed an additional Video Toll.
• Vehicles weighing over 5,000 kilograms are divided into two categories: Heavy Single Units and Heavy Multiple Units. Heavy Multiple Unit Vehicles will be charged two or three time the passenger rate, depending on the size of the vehicle.^[11]
• All Heavy Unit vehicles are legally required to have transponders in order to use the highways; offenders may be penalized under the Highway Traffic Act.

Exit list

The following are the exits listed in the 407 East Environmental Assessment Report. Official lengths are not yet available. The entire route lies within Whitby in the Regional Municipality of Durham.^[1] 

Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Whitby	0	0.0	Highway 401
	1	0.62	Dundas Street West	Northbound entrance and southbound exit; formerly Highway 2
	3	1.9	Rossland Road West	Planned interchange[12]
	5	3.1	Regional Road 4 (Taunton Road)
	9	5.6	Highway 7 (Winchester Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	10	6.2	Highway 407 - Markham
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Unopened

References

External links

• Official website
• 407 East Extension Environmental Assessment
• Video of Highway 412 southbound