Premier Ford announces new highway linking 400 & 404 through Bradford

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a new highway linking the 400 and the 404 through the Bradford area will not be tolled. 

Ford said Monday the new 16.2 kilometre highway will relieve congestion. He said local constituents have been asking for it for “decades.”

“We need this link, we’ve asked for it for over 30 years,” said Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer. “We need to divert traffic away from our rural farmers, or they will get so frustrated they will just leave.”

Ford says his government will not provide any details on how much it will cost or how long it will take to construct. 

The highway would connect Highway 404 south of Holborn Road, running west with interchanges planned at Leslie street, Bathurst Street and County Road 4 (Yonge Street). 

“Past governments, our opponents, they side with ideological activists who oppose any and all highways over hard-working families,” Ford said.

The premier’s government announced its intention to build the highway in last week’s Fall Economic Statement. 

Officials said funding to complete design work on both routes will come from a $1.6 billion annual fund devoted to overall highway maintenance. 

The Ontario Liberals opposed the project between 2003 and 2018. The current Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca has said he would cancel the highway projects should he win the 2022 election. 

When asked how new highway construction will almost certainly increase greenhouse gas emissions, Ford said, “it doesn’t help [the climate] when things are bumper to bumper, we need to get traffic moving.”

The plan for the roadway anticipates preliminary design work will be complete sometime in “early 2023”. There are no details on how long construction could take.