Category Archives for "Highways and Bridges"

Comments on Environmental Impact Assessment Report for Highway 413

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News

The Ministry of Transportation has released a draft report entitled “Highway 413 Preliminary Design and Assessment of Environmental Impacts” for public comment. The document is large – 1700 pages. Transport Action Ontario has submitted comments in two areas:

• Species at Risk are in grave jeopardy. Impacts from highway will contravene federal objectives. This comment is based on two recent expert reports commissioned by Environmental Defence Canada – on the red side dace and the western chorus frog.
• Scope of report is too narrow. A re-evaluation of alternatives to the undertaking would show that transit is a better alternative than Highway 413. This comment is based on the recent joint report published by Transport Action Ontario and Environmental Defence Canada entitled “Transit over Traffic: Hard Truths for Addressing Gridlock in the GTHA”

Our full submission can be viewed below.

New Report: Transit over Traffic – Hard Truths for Addressing Gridlock in the GTHA

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News , Major Reports , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario and Environmental Defence Canada have jointly published a major report on addressing gridlock in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It makes the case that spending $80 billion on mega-highways like Highway 413 and the Highway 401 tunnel will make commutes worse, not better. Decades of experience across North America show that expanding urban highways (non-tolled) just induces more traffic. For the same $80 billion price tag, Ontario could build 400 km of new rapid transit.

The report makes the case that the best way to reduce gridlock is to reallocate highway funding to transit builds and also double transit service so people can “show up and go” without checking schedules. Cities where 30% of rush hour trips are by public transit have proven that this approach works to ease road congestion.

The report also uses Highway 413 as a case study – and demonstrates that putting $14 billion (the estimated capital cost of this highway) towards public transit investment instead of the highway would move more than double the number of commuters per hour.

The report recommends 5 bold actions:

• Redirect capital funding from mega-highways to transit
• Increase transit operating funding
• Reverse car-enabling subsidies
• Reduce tolls on Highway 407 for trucks as part of a region-wide road pricing scheme
• Stop urban sprawl

The report can be viewed here:

Presentation at Transportation Mobility Conference

By Transport Action Ontario | Community Transit , Highways and Bridges , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario board members recently presented at a Transportation Mobility Conference hosted by MPP Andrea Hazell, the Ontario Liberal Party transportation critic. We are always pleased to discuss transportation in a non-partisan manner to elected officials of any party.

The conference covered a broad range of topics, including community benefits, progress at the TTC, rural transportation and Canadian urban transit. Our presentation discussed transportation challenges and remedies in two Ontario regions – Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and southwestern Ontario. The GTHA portion discussed the cost of congestion, current Ontario actions and bold actions needed to reduce GTHA gridlock. The southwestern Ontario portion discussed transportation metrics and recent initiatives. The presentation was well received and is attached below.

Response to Ontario Minister of Transport Letter to Federal Government

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario , Urban Transit

On June 2, 2025, Ontario Minister of Transport Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria wrote to federal Minister of Transport and International Trade Chrystia Freeland outlining several areas where federal financial and regulatory assistance is needed to modernize Ontario’s transportation infrastructure. Specific items were identified for subways, highways, rail, marine, airports, electric vehicles and critical minerals.

While Transport Action Ontario supports a number of these items, we felt we needed to comment in several areas:

• The real costs of provincial highways is high
• Need more provincial focus on southwestern Ontario
• Need to improve existing rail asset utilization
• Rail abandonments need more scrutiny
• Regional equity and rail tourism need more focus
• Descoping and delays of GO Expansion project have serious consequences
• Highway 401 tunnel in GTHA is a bad idea
• Infrastructure for critical minerals should include freight rail

Our letter can be viewed below.

Annual Meetings – April 5, 2025

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) and Transport Action Canada (TAC) invite all members and supporters to join us for our annual public meeting on April 5, 2025, to be followed by the Annual General Meetings of both organizations. The meetings will be in hybrid format – in person in Kingston, Ontario and virtual using ZOOM, and will start at 1:00 pm.

The public meeting will feature key notes speakers Carl Fowler on cross-border passenger rail, Shawn Marshall on mapping Canada’s motorcoach network and a discussion of Kingston as a future regional hub for VIA Rail/Alto.

For further details and registration information for the public meeting, click here.

The public meeting will be followed by the Annual General Meetings for both organizations – between 3:00 pm and 3:45 pm for TAC and between 3:45 – 4:30 pm for TAO. Members in good standing have received separate invites for these sessions.