Completing the 407 highway all the way to the 35/115 The Challenge For decades, both Oshawa and Durham Region stressed the need to complete the 407 highway all the way to the highway 35/115 junction. Currently the highway serves all the communities from Niagara Falls to Brock Road in Pickering. This left our communities and business at an economic disadvantage and forced our residents into constant gridlock on Highway 401 and all major east-west connector roads into Toronto. All the environmental assessments were undertaken and approved to allow for the beginning of construction. Public meetings were held in all municipalities across Durham outlining the routes and timetables. Lands were purchased to make the project move ahead. All in all it appeared that the problems of the past were behind us and it was full steam ahead. As all this was occurring, Durham Region and its member municipalities developed a long range Official Plan amendment which outlined how our towns and cities were going to grow for the next thirty years. Many of the planning decisions were based on the construction of the 407. Lands were set aside, roads were planned for expansion and transit corridors were set up. Local investors and business owners prepared their own business plans to take advantage of the new highway. Durham, and Oshawa, was ready to undergo a real economic explosion. So you can imagine our anger when the Province broke all its promises and announced that that they were only going to build the highway in two phases and over a longer time frame. The first phase of Pickering to Oshawa (Harmony Rd.) will be completed by 2017 and the second phase of Oshawa to Highway 35/115 by 2020. Oshawa is particularly hard hit by the change as the highway will end at Harmony Road, right in the middle of Oshawa, and dump all the traffic into our streets and neighbourhoods. Anyone who travels Harmony Road between Taunton and the 401 knows that this decision will have dire consequences for residential neighbourhoods along Harmony Road. On top of all the traffic being dumped on our community, we getting MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in new costs as well. Neither Oshawa nor Durham Region can afford to fund the traffic impacts of the 407 expansion. The Province of Ontario needs to step and take full financial responsibility for all the costs of this project, including those in Oshawa. The Solution Oshawa must continue to work with the Region of Durham and our neighbouring municipalities to press for the completion of 407 as quickly as possible. The current 2020 target dumps massive amounts of traffic on Oshawa streets for at least three years and maybe more. We must also involve our business, labour and community groups into making our views well known to the Provincial Government. I fail to understand why there always seems to bushels of money for Toronto and the rest of the GTA and nothing for Durham. We pay our taxes and it is time to see some of those taxes used to complete this project. We also need to make sure that the Province pays for the intersections and infrastructure that are needed to service a major highway. We cannot afford any more costs dumped on us by the Province. Next Steps We need to make sure that we elect experienced and strong voices for our City and Region. When it comes to bargaining with Provincial Ministers and senior staff, you need people who know the issues, know the solutions and know how to press for real results. Oshawa’s Choice We can let the Province dump costs and traffic on our City and costs on our taxpayers OR We can elect strong, experienced Council members who will stand up for Oshawa and Durham. On October 27th Vote to make sure we have experienced effected voices pressing for the completion of the 407 all the way to the 35/115. Vote to return Brian Nicholson to Oshawa and Durham Councils
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 16:22:01 +0000
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