As I’ve posted, there will be public meetings on the 407 extension next week. A bit of detail has leaked out courtesy of the Town of Ajax, which included the following in a report on the progress of the 407 EA:
Through the preliminary design stage the Project Team has determined the location of the transitway corridor, maintenance yards, commercial vehicle inspections facilities and lay-bys. The transitway corridor would be situated on the south side of the 407 mainline from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115 in Clarington and on the west side of the two north-south freeway links. Transitway stations are proposed at the majority of the interchange locations. The Project Team has identified a site east of Lake Ridge Road in Pickering and a second site east of Simcoe Street in Oshawa for potential transitway maintenance yards.
It’s very interesting to read that the 407 East EA will identify locations of specific transitway stations. True, it’s reasonable that major cross streets would have stops along what would inevitably be a BRT line, at least in initial form. But it’s very peculiar that there is no mention of BRT along the two connector highways in any of the Metrolinx planning documents to date. They do show a BRT along the 407 corridor as well as streets like Highway 2, Simcoe, and Brock (in Pickering), but nothing along the connectors.
It just makes me wonder if the 407 people are talking to the Metrolinx people. There is certainly no problem with reserving right of way for a transitway, as this is an extremely forward-looking move that will serve Durham well. I just find it strange that they have progressed towards identifying station locations and maintenance yard locations. Surely this should be the responsibility of transit planners, not highway planners?
I’ll be sure to ask about this when I attend the open house next week.
Will this hwy. extension be a waste? By the time it completed will people be able to afford the high cost of gasoline plus the high road tolls that the 407 charges? Even alternate fuels are a high price.
You’re absolutely right. Transportation planning has to make assumptions about future demand growth, and these are typically based on economic models. But are any of the economic models based on gasoline becoming prohibitively expensive before we make a transition to alternate fuel/energy sources?
Durham is so short of highway capacity that the 407 extension is surviving in Metrolinx planning even though their intent is to minimize future road building. We can’t build our way out of congestion, as their studies clear show. Single person cars are such a low-density mode of travel that congestion cannot be avoided. But the 407 may be the exception, in that the extra capacity is badly needed, if for no other reason than to provide alternate routes eastward in case the 401 is jammed up with an accident.
Should it be built? I really don’t know at this point.
As for tolling, I suspect that operation of the extension will NOT be handed over to the 407 consortium, at least not without using it as a lever to extract some concessions. But it almost certainly will be tolled, simply because we’re very likely to have tolls on all highways by the time this opens.
I just thought your readers should know that there are transit planners on the team at MTO (& their consultant) that are doing the 407 Study.
The prime purpose of identifying the transitway attributes is to PROTECT property…….which was the original intent of the 407 EA.
The 407 is needed – both for cars (carpooling!), buses (BRT, bus-only lanes!) and the protection for a future transitway.
Colleen, thanks for the clarification. It’s good to know that they are seriously looking at the transitway attributes. Hopefully we’ll see the transitways included in the upcoming Metrolinx draft transportation plan.
Unfortunately, I now doubt I’ll be able to make it to a public meeting this week, due to work commitments. If anyone is able to attend and ask questions about the transitways, please leave comments here and I’ll be sure that they are included in a followup post on this subject.