When was hwy 407 built

In the almost two decades since the highway was privatized, none of the promises of the original bill have been realized. Instead, those who live and travel in Ontario, especially near or in the Greater Toronto Area GTA , have suffered immeasurable exhaustion, chaos, death and mayhem on their roads as an essential piece of highway infrastructure transitioned into an instrument for private profits.

The people were abandoned by a government which took on its new role as toll collector and enforcer for the renamed ETR. A highway system already on the brink was pushed over the edge in an area with the worst traffic conditions in North America. Toronto is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario and was the southern terminus of what used to be trails used by the First Nations. When the British set up a colony in the s, these trails served as the template for the central planning of Ontario roads.

This planning served the province for more than two centuries. By , ahead of every jurisdiction in North America, Ontario had the first divided intercity freeway: the Queen Elizabeth Way.

The was part of the series of highways designed in The route was chosen as the bypass of Toronto, travelling in a semi-elliptical pattern north of the city. Construction of the was delayed several decades, while the was widened as an alternative.

However, the stresses on the were becoming obvious by the s and construction on the began in It was announced that the would be a toll route for 35 years to pay for cost of building.

This was not unprecedented, as this method of payment had been used occasionally since colonial times to pay for roads and bridges.

Highway finally opened in The highway collected tolls electronically through transponders or photographs of license plates. The highway was finished in , from Burlington on the west side, to Brock Road in Pickering on the east side. The fate of the was to change in , when the Progressive Conservatives were elected to the Ontario Legislature.

Even so, they struggled with balancing the budget and let the provincial debt grow. When they left office in , they left the province with a 5. The firing of nurses, the welfare cuts, dismantling and service privatizations had begun, but the government had yet to balance the budget because of their tax cuts.

They began searching for money to fill the hole. The became the target for privatization only a year after it was opened. But the government ignored the cost of buying the land, which began in the s. But this transaction had implications far greater than the money involved. In Oct. These documents remain open for further revision, modification, replacement or cancellation by Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Transportation at any time and in no event shall either Infrastructure Ontario or the Ministry of Transportation be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on the content of these documents.

See it on the Map. The Highway East Phase 2 is a toll road and owned by the Ontario government. The highway then opened in a series of stages, until in it had reached its full extent of km.

To accommodate future traffic needs, ETR has the capability of expanding from six to ten lanes. When first opened the majority of the sections of the ETR had six lanes. Over the years the number of lanes has increased, with many sections widened to accommodate more traffic. Investment in widening the highway is continuing. The ETR toll technology has become a model for electronic toll highways of the future.

On older toll highways, motorists wait at a toll booth or plaza to pay a collector or a machine. The electronic sensors located on each overhead gantry log the ETR entry and exit point. On exit, a green light on the transponder and four short beeps indicate the toll transaction has been successfully completed.

If the traveller is not from the area or simply chooses not to lease a transponder trips are logged by using a state-of-the-art, number plate recognition system.

When the vehicle enters the highway, it passes under two overhead gantries and locator antennae determine if the vehicle is equipped with a transponder.

The VDAC uses laser scanners to check that vehicles carrying transponders are correctly classified as either passenger or commercial vehicles. It does this by measuring the height, width and depth of each approaching vehicle to build a profile, which it compares with the class data stored on the transponder. The same process occurs when the vehicle exits the highway.

The entry and exit data are sent via fibre optic cable to the Operations Centre, where the data is matched and the transponder account holder is debited. In February the toll rate was increased by 1. The rate for heavier vehicles was unchanged. When a motorist without a transponder enters the highway and passes under the two tolling gantries, locator antennae alert the roadside computer that the vehicle does not have a transponder.

The VDAC system uses laser scanners to classify the vehicle and tell the toll collection system whether to charge for a passenger or commercial vehicle. At this point, the system triggers digital cameras, which take electronic images of the rear number plate of the vehicle from different angles. A light meter automatically varies lighting to ensure the best conditions for taking an image of the number plate.

The cameras have been tested to ensure accuracy, even in blizzards and rainstorms. The same process occurs when the vehicle leaves the highway. A computer at the Operations Centre matches the data and a transaction charge is assessed based on the time of day and distance travelled. The owner of the vehicle is identified through government records and is sent an invoice in the mail.

Cheating or refusal to pay invoices results in plate denial, meaning that a debtor can not renew their license plate or obtain a new license plate until all tolls and fees have been paid.

The information collected by the toll systems must be archived for future reference; this is accomplished by the use of SAND Technology analytical server.