Doug Ford had previously rejected the idea that the province buy the 407 back, including just over the past weekend.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government is not ruling out an attempt to buy back the privately-controlled Highway 407 toll road, a purchase meant to battle traffic in the Greater Toronto Area that could cost close to $29-billion.
Mr. Ford made the comments Wednesday in the face of questions about his proposal to build up to 60 kilometres of tunnels for roads and transit underneath the busy stretch of Highway 401 that runs through Toronto. Tunnel engineers have told The Globe and Mail that it could cost a minimum of between $60-billion to $120-billion at its full length. Traffic engineers have warned it would soon clog with drivers and not solve congestion.
Speaking to reporters, the Progressive Conservative Premier would also not rule out subsidizing tolls on the free-flowing 407 for trucks, in order to move that traffic off the congested Highway 401 – an idea all three opposition parties in Ontario have long advocated.
Mr. Ford had previously rejected both courses of action on the 407, including just over the past weekend in a talk radio interview, when he said the government had considered and rejected a buyback. But his latest comments suggest a change in position.
“All options are on the table. Maybe both options,” he said, referring to the 407 buyback and the 401 tunnel proposal. “Let’s see.”
The Premier launched his 401 tunnel idea in response to growing concern about Toronto’s snarled traffic. He warned that all of the province’s 400-series highways were projected to be at or beyond capacity within a decade and that delays from congestion already cost the Ontario economy $11-billion a year. The government has said its projections show travel times on the 401 doubling by 2051.
On Wednesday, Mr. Ford also repeated his criticism of the 1999 decision by the PC government of Mike Harris to lease the tolled Highway 407 to a private consortium for 99 years for $3.1-billion. The highway’s first phase cost about $1.5-billion to build.
Doug Ford’s proposed tunnel under Highway 401 is transparently political
The now 108-kilometre privatized stretch, which runs east-west north of Toronto, still has 74 years left on its lease and has since skyrocketed in value. (A portion northeast of Toronto, also tolled, is not part of the lease and is owned by Ontario.)
Known as the 407 ETR (for Express Toll Route), its current owners are the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which holds a 50.01-per-cent stake; Cintra Infraestructuras, a subsidiary of Spain-based Ferrovial, which owns 43.23 per cent; and AtkinsRéalis, the former SNC-Lavalin, which owns 6.76 per cent but said in June it intends to sell its portion off.
Financial analysts have pegged the AtkinsRéalis stake at between $1.7-billion and $1.87-billion, suggesting the entire highway could be worth at least $25-billion. Recent financial disclosures from Ferrovial suggest a total value closer to $29-billion. The 407 also had $10.6-billion in debt as of June 30, which a buyer would presumably assume.
Mr. Ford has pledged not to charge tolls for his proposed 401 tunnel, or for any other new highway.
Pressed on the estimated costs of his 401-tunnel plan, the Premier said the decision will depend on the results of a feasibility study, as will the scope of the project: “They’ll come back and say, okay, if you do 20 kilometres, it’s X. If you do 30, it’s X. And 40, 50, 60 – I don’t know if we’re going 50 or 60.”
But he also said he stood by his comments last week, when he vowed to build a tunnel even though no feasibility study had been done: “I’m not walking back anything. We’re getting it done. Sooner than later, we’re getting it done.”
Mr. Ford said he had brought his tunnel idea to “some of the largest unions in the country,” naming the Labourers’ International Union of North America, a large construction union that has vocally supported the Premier.
Mr. Ford said he had asked LiUNA and a large construction company he did not name about the idea of building elevated lanes above the 401, similar to Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway. He said both told him it would require a total shutdown of traffic and that maintenance would be a “nightmare.” He said they said it would be “probably equal or less expensive” to tunnel, working around the clock in all weather conditions.
Also Wednesday, Mr. Ford also said he had directed his Minister of Transportation to raise speed limits on all of the province’s 400-series highways to 110 kilometres an hour from 100 kilometres an hour, in places where officials deem it safe. The province had already increased speed limits on many stretches, starting with a pilot project in 2019.
Even as he has proposed these massive new infrastructure projects, his government has been struggling to open the Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit line in Toronto, a project now four years overdue. The Premier acknowledged on Wednesday that the troubled line, beset by delays and legal wrangling, might not open until next year.
Before the 2022 election, Mr. Ford had floated the idea of a lengthy LRT that would run within the 407 corridor, from Oshawa east of Toronto to Burlington to the west.
With files from David Milstead and Nicolas Van Praet