‘Accelerated’ environmental assessments could fast-track Highway 413 and road projects in Ontario

Ontario’s push to build Highway 413 and other massive road projects could hit the fast lane under new legislation that would speed up the environmental assessment process and see construction crews work around the clock.

Transportation Minister and Brampton MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria made the announcement in Caledon on Thursday and said the proposed changes would streamline construction on “priority highway projects” like the 413, the Bradford Bypass and the Garden City Skyway bridge.

With Ontario expecting a population boom of some two million more residents by 2031, Sarkaria said speeding up construction on new projects is a priority.

“If we don’t accelerate an increase in capacity beyond our existing highway and rapid transit projects, all 400-series highways in the GTHA, including Highway 407, will be at or exceed capacity within the next decade,” he said.

Earlier this year, the province began looking at buying land for the proposed 52-kilometre Highway 413 that will run west from Highway 400 in Vaughan through Peel Region and southwest to Highway 401 in Milton, west of Toronto.

Early construction contracts are expected to be awarded next year, but the project has seen opposition from environmental groups. A report found the 413 would have a negative impact on some 29 species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act and 122 species of birds protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act.

The federal government marked the highway project for a federal review under the Impact Assessment Act, but that review was scrapped after the province took the federal government to court. The Supreme Court of Canada found parts of that act unconstitutional.

That leaves the province in charge of the environmental assessments on the 413 and other “priority” projects, and Sarkaria said he plans to introduce an “accelerated” process that will allow crews to begin early work “while maintaining Ontario’s stringent oversight of environmental protections.”

Acting Environment Minister Todd McCarthy said that the accelerated process would build on dozens of studies conducted on the 413 since 2007.

“We’re simply building upon that and completing the process,” he said, adding that he believes Ontario can be “an excellent stewards of the environment while also getting people moving on the 400 series of highways.”

A 2017 study said the new highway would save commuters an average of 30 seconds across all roads in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Sarkaria said it will “save families 30 minutes in each direction.”

“But ultimately, we know that we need to build for the future,” he said.

Other tweaks under the proposed Building Highways Faster Act would streamline utility relocations, access to property and property acquisitions, and introduce new penalties for obstructing access for field investigations or damaging equipment.

The new legislation would also allow for “around-the-clock, 24/7 construction on priority highway projects,” the province says.

The highway was first launched by the Liberals in 2007 and a long series of consultations and studies followed. Former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s government paused the environmental assessment in 2015 before killing the project in 2018.

Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government then resurrected the project in 2019, and, in 2021, the federal government had marked it for an impact assessment.

The cons say the highway’s construction is expected to create some 3,500 jobs but have not said how much it will cost.

Along with speeding up highway projects, Sarkaria plans to introduce new rules when the Ontario legislature returns later this month that would require any future bike lanes coming to Ontario towns and cities to first get provincial approval.

– With files from The Canadian Press