407 Deal

So the province has decided to extend the 407 highway into Oshawa which is pretty cool since there are a lot of people that travel into Toronto from Oshawa everyday. That was part of the reason Oshawa was working so hard to expand Taunton Rd. because instead of taking the 401 to Pickering then getting off and traveling all the way up to the north end to jump on the 407 was pretty tedious.

Originally the province at the time wanted the 407 to connect with Highway 35 which would take you up to Peterborough but they of course like any government project went way over budget, stopped in Pickering and then promptly leased it to a private company for 99 years.

Now they want to extend it to Simcoe St. which would make it terminate in Columbus. Columbus being a tint township of about 500 people a few kilometers north of Durham College. The new Mayor of Oshawa, John Henry doesn't want it to stop at Simcoe St. for two reasons.

1. The province would have to buy up a bunch of land in Columbus and build huge on and off ramps and do a huge expansion of Simcoe, which Oshawa would pay for all the way down the Durham college.

The residence of Columbus hate that idea because it would ruin what is essentially a quaint, quiet township and have it over-run with development, traffic and noise. If anyone has been to Columbus you would agree it is pretty quaint and quiet. I realize that as time moves on towns get bigger and become cities or parts of bigger cities. But, I would tend to agree at this point that terminating the 407 in Columbus would surely destroy that town.

2. Terminating the 407 at Simcoe St. would force all the traffic to travel from Columbus all the way through the centre of the city down to the 401.

John Henry doesn't want that because to would literally turn downtown Oshawa or anywhere near it into a parking lot. He also doesn't want the constant truck traffic going through the town. Honestly I would have to agree again. Driving around Oshawa at around 5pm-6pm sucks Taunton Rd., Simcoe St. from Adelaide down to the 401, Bloor, Baseline and to a lesser degree Ritson Rd. are just jammed solid. Its just a nightmare trying to get around the city. I cant imagine what it would be like if people were driving through the city to switch highways.

The only two problems I have with the expansion which do not relate to Oshawa but are valid questions none the less is:

Why would the province pay to expand something that is owned by a private company? I would hope that company would pick up part of the tabs.

and

Would that new section also be a toll highway?

I think the answer to my second question would most likely be yes, which kind of sucks. But, then again if you are one of the people that use the 407 then its great news for sure.