Highway 413 Focused Analysis Area and Northwest GTA Transmission Corridor Narrowed Area of Interest Refinements.

Highway 413

The proposed Highway 413 will be a 52-kilometre (km) provincial highway extending from Highway 400 in the east (between Kirby Road and King-Vaughan Road) to the Highway 401/407 ETR interchange in the west connecting the regional municipalities of York, Peel, and Halton. The project includes a 4 km extension to Highway 410 and a 3 km extension to Highway 427 for a total of 59 km for the corridor. This highway is expected to help manage traffic within the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The Focused Analysis Area (FAA) is the zone surrounding the preferred route for the Highway 413. Properties within the FAA could be directly impacted by this transportation corridor.

The 2024 Draft Focused Analysis Area (FAA) for Highway 413 has been updated to include targeted refinements, incorporating key design updates and environmental considerations. These adjustments were informed by ongoing preliminary design work and environmental and field studies, allowing for a better understanding of impacts and alignment with local infrastructure. MTO will continue to review development applications in the Highway 413 study area but does not expect Highway 413 to have an impact on land applications made outside the FAA and within the study area.

The government is committed to balancing environmental protection with the need to support crucial infrastructure development that will benefit the economy. A description of all studies completed detailing environmental impacts, proposed mitigation measures and a record of consultation will be published in an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) and posted on the project website. MTO does not anticipate any environmental impacts resulting from changes to the FAA. An updated map showing changes to the FAA is included in the ‘Supporting Materials’ section of this posting.

Northwest GTA Transmission Corridor

Simultaneously to the design work the Ministry of Transportation has undertaken on the Highway 413 project which establishes the Focused Analysis Area (FAA), the Ministry of Energy and Electrification has advanced planning work on the Northwest GTA Transmission Corridor and is making refinements to the Narrowed Area of Interest (NAI). The FAA and NAI are almost identical. The land being protected by the Ministry of Energy and Electrification is the same land being protected by the Ministry of Transportation, except where each is protecting additional lands specific to its particular use.

Analysis on the Northwest GTA Transmission Corridor has now advanced to a state to allow the Ministry of Energy and Electrification to refine the NAI and identify lands that are not expected to be needed for the transmission corridor. At this stage, it is anticipated that these lands (see map in Supporting Material below) will not form part of a suitable transmission infrastructure corridor and therefore will not need to be preserved for future transmission infrastructure.

The Ministry of Energy and Electrification and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) continue to work to identify a suitable corridor for future transmission infrastructure. The outcome will be a recommendation on a corridor of land to be preserved in the long term for future transmission infrastructure and protected from development for other purposes. As the study continues, the lands within the refined NAI will continue to be protected from development under existing provincial planning policy.

Future design and planning work may result in further refinements to the FAA or NAI.

We invite public comments on these updated FAA and NAI drafts as part of a 30-day feedback period. Your input will be reviewed and integrated as appropriate before the finalized FAA and NAI are released in 2025. Public engagement is essential to our process, ensuring that community perspectives help shape the final outcome.