Early stage contract for the construction of Hwy 413 have been issued: Premier said 30 minutes will be shaved off travel times

By Pepper Parr

August 28^th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

He is going to do it his way.

Premier Doug Ford said at a media event on Wednesday that the province has awarded two contracts for getting the Highway 413 construction started.

Details were hard to find except for the statement that the  52-kilometre highway from Highway 401 in Mississauga to Highway 400 in Vaughan “will shorten travel times up to 30 minutes per trip.”

This is the first time we have heard “30 minutes”.  Ford is beginning to sound like President Trump – he puts something out and its true – because he said so.

Details on the contracts, on the cost and when the Hwy will be open to motorists – yet to be revealed.

“…in the next few days” was the best Ford could do at the press event.

Liberal MPP Andrea Hazell (Scarborough-Guildwood said the “lack of information on timelines and a price tag for the massive project is “unacceptable.”

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria evaded questions about the highway’s budget and time frame for completion.

“How we do these contracts is, we tender them,” Sarkaria said, defending the project that has riled environmentalists who are worried about the loss of farmland and risks to endangered species like the Redside Dace, a small fish.

“The cost of not building is far, far greater … Over the next couple of years, you will see the contract has been broken up into many different pieces that enables more workers to get to work quicker, faster,” added Sarkaria.  “It’s a way we have decided to accelerate this project and get shovels in the ground.”

The Liberal transportation critic, said “every major infrastructure project under this government has gone over budget, and Ontarians deserve answers before more public money is wasted.” Those projects include the Eglinton Crosstown transit line and the ongoing renovation of the Macdonald Block civil service headquarters.

“Transparency matters, and Ontarians deserve to know the full implications of Highway 413 before billions more are sunk into another Ford project that risks leaving commuters in the same gridlock and taxpayers footing an even bigger bill,” Hazell added.

Ford said the project is essential to boost the economy, reduce gridlock that costs billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, and will “help us stand up to President Trump” in the trade war with the United States.  How Ford managed to get President Trump into the picture is a stretch.

Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said: “Once again the premier is using tariff talk to justify wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a highway that won’t solve gridlock, while failing to provide any clear timeline or budget for this reckless and costly plan.” said

“This ill-advised project will only fuel more sprawl and pollution while destroying the wetlands that protect us from flooding and the farmland that feeds us.”

New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said the premier should consider removing tolls from Highway 407, but Ford said doing so on the provincially owned eastern leg of the highway has resulted in traffic jams at times.

The construction contracts are for the resurfacing of Highway 10 in preparation for a future bridge over Highway 413 and upgrades at the intersection of the Highway 401 and 407 interchanges, where Highway 413 will begin its route to the northeast.