Premier Doug Ford Directs $400 Million for Highway 413 Early Works and Bridge Interchanges

CALEDON, Ont. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria announced on Monday the award of $400 million in early works and structural bridge construction contracts to commence physical site preparations and interchange construction for the 52-kilometer Highway 413 transportation corridor across York, Peel, and Halton Regions.

The contracts, awarded through Infrastructure Ontario to major union building consortia, finance initial utility relocations, railway grade separations, and four major freeway-to-freeway interchanges connecting Highway 413 with Highway 400, Highway 410, Highway 427, and Highway 401.

Relieving Gridlock for 300,000 Daily Commuters Across the GTA Highway 401 through the Greater Toronto Area is the busiest highway in North America, carrying over 420,000 vehicles daily and costing the Ontario economy an estimated $11 billion annually in lost productivity and freight shipping delays.

"The Greater Golden Horseshoe is growing by hundreds of thousands of people every year, and we cannot afford to sit in gridlock on the 401," Premier Doug Ford said during an announcement in Calededon. "Highway 413 is an essential piece of our $28 billion highway expansion plan. This $400 million investment gets shovels in the ground to build the bridges and interchanges that will save commuters up to 30 minutes each way, keep goods moving, and support 3,500 good-paying union construction jobs."

Engineering Features and Environmental Mitigation The early works package includes:

• Highway 400 & Highway 427 Interchange Structures: Constructing multi-level flyover bridge ramps and reinforced concrete bridge abutments.
• Eco-Passage Wildlife Corridors: Constructing 16 dedicated subterranean and overpass wildlife crossings across sensitive river valleys.
• Smart Highway Telemetry: Pre-installing fiber-optic connected sensors and automated dynamic message signs for variable speed management.

Municipal mayors in Vaughan, Brampton, and Caledon and construction trade unions praised the accelerated construction schedule, pointing out that Highway 413 connects expanding logistics warehousing clusters directly to northern manufacturing markets.