Open the 407 Now: A Smarter Alternative to Highway 413

Written By Andre Willi

🚦 Open the 407 Now: A Smarter Alternative to Highway 413

Ontario is at a crossroads—literally. The Province is proposing Highway 413, a massive new 59 km expressway cutting through the Greenbelt, farmland, and conservation areas. But there’s a faster, cheaper, and greener solution already sitting in plain sight: Highway 407.

OPEN THE 407 NOW is a grassroots citizen advocacy group pushing for a practical fix—reduce truck tolls on Highway 407 and unlock its potential as a freight corridor. Instead of spending billions on a destructive new highway, let’s make better use of the infrastructure we already have.

📖 Background: Why Highway 413 Is the Wrong Road

With over one million new residents expected in the western GTA by 2051, there’s no question we need more transportation capacity. But Highway 413 comes with heavy costs:

  • 💰 $10 billion+ price tag for taxpayers

  • ⏳ Decades to build, meaning no relief anytime soon

  • 🌱 Environmental damage to farms, forests, wetlands, and endangered species habitats

  • 🚗 No real traffic fix—thanks to induced demand, new highways quickly fill up, erasing travel time savings

Transportation experts have been clear: building more highways isn’t the answer. Instead, expanding rapid transit networks moves more people, more efficiently, and at a fraction of the cost.

🚛 Benefits of Opening Up Highway 407 to Trucks

Highway 407 was designed in the 1990s with a vision: to act as a bypass for truck traffic on Highway 401. That vision has never been fully realized—mainly because tolls are too high for freight operators.

By reducing truck toll rates, we can:

  • Divert heavy truck traffic from Highway 401, easing congestion for everyone

  • Improve safety by separating freight and commuter traffic

  • Cut emissions by reducing idling and stop-and-go traffic on the 401

  • Save money—using existing infrastructure avoids the $10 billion+ cost of Highway 413

Even the Province’s own 2017 Advisory Panel recommended this approach. The reports are clear: a truck toll discount is a win-win for commuters, businesses, and taxpayers.

🚇 Transit to Move People, Not Just Cars

While trucks need efficient corridors, people need reliable transit. Investing in rapid transit expansion—subways, LRTs, and regional rail—delivers far more capacity than highways ever can.

  • A single GO train can replace thousands of cars

  • Transit expansion reduces greenhouse gas emissions

  • Affordable, accessible transit keeps cities moving without paving over farmland

The choice is simple: build smarter, not bigger.

🌍 The Road Ahead

Highway 413 is a costly detour. Opening Highway 407 to trucks is a timely, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible alternative.

Ontario doesn’t need another highway through the Greenbelt. It needs better transit for people and smarter freight solutions for businesses. That’s why we say: Open the 407 Now.

👉 Learn more about Highway 413 at our sister organization StopThe413Now.ca.

Andre Willi