GTAW Highway – letter to Town of Caledon

February 14, 2021

TO:   Mayor and Councillors, Town of Caledon

RE: GTA West Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass

Dear Mayor and Councillors,

The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (Ontario) Inc. (FUN) represents many residents’ associations in Ontario’s urban areas.  Resident associations in turn are engaged with their municipal governments in land use planning and development, and advocacy regarding policy and priority setting re service provision, and revenues. FUN believes that sustainable urban regions are characterized by environmental balance, fiscal viability, infrastructure investment, and social renewal.  

The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods has serious concerns with the proposal to proceed with the two Highways. They represent the start of what is in essence a whole new 400 series highway system north of Toronto. 

Our concerns can be summarized as follows:

  1. The highways, if built, would encourage and facilitate an unprecedented level of urban sprawl in the GTA, which would destroy important green spaces and prime farmland.
  2. They will incur a significant cost to taxpayers which will be borne by the Provincial Government alone (the Federal Government has indicated it will NOT cost-share).
  3. People who live along the highway route (your residents) will suffer health impacts.
  4. Commuters will see little to no benefit from these highways.  And in any case the pandemic has drastically changed our commuting patterns.

This is to request that you and your Council: 

  1. Reverse your support and endorsement for the GTA West Highway 413;
  2. Officially request the Federal Government to conduct an Environmental Assessment of the proposed highway;
  3. Request the Auditor General’s Office to conduct a cost/benefit analysis on the GTA West corridor and the Bradford Bypass; and
  4. Request the Ontario Government to take immediate steps to force the owners of Highway 407 to lower the highway toll rates for trucks so that trucks will no longer avoid Highway 407.

Respectfully submitted,

Geoff Kettel,
President

c.c. Sylvia Jones, MPP, Kyle Seeback, MP 

Photo By phot0geek – originally posted to Flickr as Harvesting Carrots, CC BY-SA 2.0