The Ontario Ministry of Transport has clarified that there are no immediate plans to remove the toll on the provincial section of Highway 407 in Durham.
Highway 407 East is the only provincially-tolled 400-series highway in Ontario. Further east of Pickering it is owned and tolled by the province.
“To keep costs down for drivers, the government has introduced legislation to ban any new tolls on new and existing provincial highways and has already removed tolls on Highways 412 and 418 in April 2022. However, the ministry is not considering removing tolls for use of Highway 407 at this time,” said a ministry statement in response to a Durham resident’s wrtten request to Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria.
“The rapid construction of Highways 407 was achieved based on the understanding that the highway would be tolled rather than paid for under the traditional provincial highway construction program. To support residents, the provincial government invested over $100 million between 2015 and 2019 for municipal improvements as part of design and construction of the tolled highway,” the response said.
It pointed out that toll rates for Highway 407 remain significantly lower (on average around 43 per cent lower during peak hours) than those for 407 ETR [the provately-owned section]. The private owners of the 407 ETR are raising the toll from January 1 (see below).
The ministry said 407 East’s rapid construction has been helping alleviate congestion on Highway 401 and the overall provincial highway network.
A response is awaited from the ministry over the question that with current tolling rates, what is the estimated date of financing being paid off for Highway 407 East.
From a historical perspective, when the Burlington Skyway Bridge was paid off, the associated tolls ended, pointed out Jim McEwen, originator of the toll removal request.
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