Ontario Tackling Gridlock to Save Drivers Time

The Government of Ontario is proposing new legislation that, if passed, would make life easier for drivers, getting them out of gridlock and where they need to go.

Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP)

Building highways faster: The proposed legislation would create a new Building Highways Faster Act that would speed construction of Highway 413, Bradford Bypass, Garden City Skyway bridge and other priority highway projects designated by the province. The new Act would accelerate access to property and property acquisitions and introduce new penalties for obstructing access for field investigations or damaging equipment. The legislation would also allow regulation-making authority to facilitate around-the-clock, 24/7 construction on priority highway projects.

To further streamline the building process, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act would create an accelerated environmental assessment process for Highway 413 and the extensions of Highways 410 and 427 through the new Highway 413 Act, allowing the province to proceed with these critical projects while maintaining Ontario’s stringent oversight of environmental protections. To help get shovels in the ground on Highway 413 even sooner, the proposed legislation would exempt certain early works that are near or adjacent to existing infrastructure and would have minimal environmental impact from this process.

MTO

Freeze fees for driver testing: The proposed legislation would enshrine the current freeze on knowledge and road test fees so that any future increases would require a legislative amendment. The freeze on fee increases, which was scheduled to rise roughly 4.5 per cent a year, will help save Ontarians $72 million this decade.

New provincial approval process for the installation of new bike lanes: The bill would require municipalities to receive approval from the province before installing new bike lanes that would result in the removal of lanes for traffic. Municipalities would be required to demonstrate that the proposed bike lanes won’t have a negative impact on vehicle traffic.

Supporting smaller municipalities with pothole prevention: To help make Ontario roads safer and prevent accidents and damages that can occur from potholes, the government is consulting with municipalities to develop a pothole prevention and repair fund to open in the 2025 construction season. The program would support smaller municipalities with road maintenance and set standards to help improve road conditions and promote high-quality roadwork across the province.

Making the Tow Zone Pilot permanent: The pilot currently includes four sections of 400-series highways in the Greater Toronto Area where only authorized towing companies may remove vehicles, helping ensure faster and safer towing services and customer protection on some of the busiest highways in North America.

Raising speed limits on provincial highways: The province is moving forward with plans to make life more convenient for drivers by increasing the speed limit to 110 km/h, where it is safe to do so, on all 400-series highways. This builds on the safe and successful increase of speed limits on more than one-third of provincial 400-series highways to date.

Evaluating approaches to construction: MTO will study less common construction methods – such as the use of prefabricated materials and rapid bridge replacements – to accelerate building of roads, bridges and highways across the province.

Ministry of Infrastructure (MOI)

Bringing high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved communities: The proposed legislation would help deliver high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved communities across the province by providing the Minister of Infrastructure with the ability to use an expedited expropriations process for establishing easements that internet service providers require to install and build new broadband infrastructure. This tool would be used as a last resort and there would be appropriate compensation at market value for those instances where easements are expropriated.

Continuing to build Transit-Oriented Communities (TOCs): A new regulation under the Ministry of Infrastructure Act, 2011, will allow TOC-related agreements to be registered on land titles. The regulation came into effect on October 11, 2024, and will help ensure building partners are required to fulfil the terms of TOC-related agreements, such as the delivery of affordable housing, even if the land is transferred to a new building partner. This change aims to provide more certainty when building vibrant, mixed-use communities.

Expanding access to infrastructure loans: MOI will explore options for expanding the list of public sector organizations and types of projects that are eligible for financing through the Infrastructure Ontario Loan Program, which improves the quality of life in communities across the province by providing affordable, long-term financing to support infrastructure development.