Use of Highway 407ETR as a Truck Alternative to Proposed Highway 413 – Media Interviews

The GTA West transportation corridor, now officially known as Highway 413, continues to generate intense interest among local citizens, elected officials and media. Transport Action Ontario (TAO) is a core member of an alliance called “Stop the 413 Now” that actively opposes this project.

As described in our report “Is Building Highway 413 the Best Option” (see posting on this website August 20, 2020), people moving is more cost effectively achieved with rapid transit, which can move 4 times as many people per hour as the Highway, for the same capital cost.

For the important sector of goods movement by truck, there is increasing interest in the use of a truck toll discount on Highway 407. This was first analyzed by TAO in 2021 (see posting April 6, 2021), which showed that providing a full truck toll discount on the 407 is less than half as costly as building and operating the 413. And this solution can be implemented almost immediately, versus expressway construction which could take 10 years.

There has been considerable media interest in this solution. TAO President Peter Miasek was featured in two recent interviews:

• CBC Radio, March 26, 2022, with Mike Crawley, here
• Newstalk 1010 Radio, March 28, 2022, with John Moore, here