King's Highway 407, commonly referred to as Highway 407 and colloquially as the "four-oh-seven", is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Comprising a tolled privately-leased western segment and a free publicly-operated eastern segment, the route spans the entire Greater Toronto Area (GTA) around the city of Toronto, travelling through the suburbs of Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Whitby, and Oshawa before ending in Clarington, north of Orono and Newcastle. At long, it is the fourth-longest expressway in Ontario's 400-series network, after Highways 417, 400, and 401. The tolled segment between Burlington and Brougham in Pickering is leased to and operated by the 407 ETR Concession Company Limited and is officially known as the 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR). It begins at the Freeman Interchange between the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Highway 403 in Burlington; the highway travels across the urban GTA to Brock Road in Pickering. East of Brock Road, the freeway continues east as Highway 407 (referred to as Highway 407 East during development to distinguish it from 407 ETR), a route operated by the provincial government and formerly tolled, for to Highway 35/115 in Clarington. The route interchanges with nine freeways in Ontario: the QEW, Highway 403, Highway 401, Highway 410, Highway 427, Highway 400, Highway 404, Highway 412, and Highway 418. 407 ETR is an electronically operated toll highway; there are no toll booths along the route. Distances are calculated automatically using transponders or automatic number-plate recognition, which are scanned at entrance and exit portals.
Highway 407 was planned in the late 1950s as a freeway bypassing Toronto's segment of Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America. However, construction did not begin until 1987. During the early 1990s, the provincial government proposed tolling the highway to alleviate a revenue shortfall. The central sections of Highway 407 opened in 1997, and the remaining sections were built quickly over the following four years, with the final segment opening in mid-2001. Despite being included in the 400-series network, the Highway 407 ETR section is not considered part of the provincial highway network as it is now privately operated. The segment is operated privately under a 99-year lease agreement signed with the Conservative provincial government, which was sold in 1999 for about C$3.1 billion to a consortium of Canadian and Spanish investors operating under the name 407 International Inc. The privatization of the Highway 407 ETR section has been the source of significant criticism, especially regarding increases in tolls, plate denial, and false charges. In addition, the safety of segments built after the sale of the freeway has been called into question.
Phase 1 of a provincially owned and tolled extension of the route, known solely as Highway 407 (not Highway 407 ETR), opened to traffic from Brock Road in Pickering to Harmony Road in Oshawa on June 20, 2016. Included as part of this extension was the construction of a tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407, known as Highway 412. Phase 2 later extended the provincially owned portion of Highway 407 to Highway 35 / Highway 115 in Clarington. This construction was completed in two stages, with Phase 2A opening on January 2, 2018, as a extension to Taunton Road, and Phase 2B opening on December 9, 2019, as a extension to Highway 35 and Highway 115. Included as part of this extension was the construction of another tolled north–south link between Highways 401 and 407, known as Highway 418.
Unusually, Highway 407 does not reach or pass through any of its three control cities: Hamilton, Toronto, or Peterborough. Hamilton is accessed by following either the QEW or Highway 403 beyond its western terminus in Burlington. Toronto proper is bypassed but is used as a control city due to the similar sizes of the suburban municipalities the highway passes through in York and Peel Regions, and control cities are not shown at street entrances in these regions, as is the case for freeways passing through Toronto. In the east, Peterborough is reached by briefly following the Highway 35/Highway 115 concurrency north and then continuing northeast on Highway 115 alone.
The speed limit is throughout most of its length, with the exception being on the easternly provincially owned portion, where the speed limit is . The route is patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and maintained by the 407 ETR for the privately owned portion and by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) for the easternly provincially owned portion.
Route description
Highway 407 is a controlled-access highway (freeway) that encircles the GTA, passing through Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, and Clarington, as well as travelling immediately north of Toronto. Although the general public felt that tolling made the highway a luxury rather than fulfilling its original purpose of relieving traffic on Highway 401, Highway 407 ETR had average daily trip counts of over 350,000 vehicles in June 2014. The 407 ETR is contractually responsible for maintaining high traffic levels as justification for increasing tolls, but conducts its own traffic studies. Despite increased usage, parallel roads that Highway 407 was intended to supplement continue to grow congested, forcing the MTO to revisit costly widening projects of Highway 401 and the QEW.
Highway 407 was designed with aesthetics and environmental concerns in mind, featuring landscaped embankments, 79 storm drainage ponds, and a curb and gutter system. Unlike most Ontario highways, it features concrete pavement as opposed to top-coated asphalt. Because of this, the high-mast lighting along the urban portions of the route features fewer luminaires than asphalt-surfaced freeways.
Burlington–Vaughan Highway 407 begins in Burlington within Halton Region (part of the GTA) at the Freeman Interchange between Highway 403 and the QEW, from which it branches off northward. The six-lane route passes under Brant Street (Halton Regional Road 18), Upper Middle Road, and Guelph Line (Halton Regional Road 1), before it interchanges with Dundas Street (Halton Regional Road 5, formerly Highway 5). It briefly enters green space as it curves gently to the northeast, ultimately avoiding the nearby Niagara Escarpment. The route is crossed by Walkers Line, east of which residential subdivisions line the south side and green space lines the north of the highway. At an interchange with Appleby Line (Halton Regional Road 20), the highway straightens and travels parallel to Dundas Street before passing over Bronte Creek and under the Canadian National Railway's (CN) Halton Subdivision.
East of Bronte Creek, Highway 407 enters an agricultural area, which is interspersed with woodlots. It enters Oakville at the Tremaine Road (Halton Regional Road 22) overpass, then gradually swerves to the north as it encounters an interchange with Bronte Road (Halton Regional Road 25, formerly Highway 25). The route crosses Sixteen Mile Creek just north of Glenarchy Conservation Area, then travels parallel to the creek for several kilometres. It swerves north after an interchange with Neyagawa Boulevard (Halton Regional Road 4), north of the Hamlet of Glenarchy. After diverging from the creek, it curves northeast, parallel to and north of Burnhamthorpe Road (Halton Regional Road 27) and the William Halton Parkway (Burnhamthorpe Road's bypass), where it crosses under Sixth Line and interchanges with Trafalgar Road (Halton Regional Road 3). Highway 407 then encounters Highway 403 (near Hydro One Trafalgar Transformer Station), where it curves sharply to the northwest, while Highway 403 curves from the southeast to the northeast; resulting in both highways meeting and deflecting at a 90-degree angle and not crossing each other.
Now travelling parallel to and immediately west of the Halton–Peel regional boundary and Milton–Mississauga city limits, the six-lane Highway 407 progresses northwest alongside Hydro One's power transmission corridor (hydro corridor), with residential areas to the east and farmland to the west. The route continues as such northwest to Highway 401, passing under Lower Base Line and Eglinton Avenue and interchanging with Britannia Road and Derry Road (Halton Regional Roads 6 and 7) before crossing the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CP) Galt Subdivision; it then crosses under transmission lines. At an interchange with Highway 401, the route makes a sharp curve to the northeast, while interconnecting ramps weave across both freeways over several kilometres. It enters Peel Region at the Winston Churchill Boulevard (Peel Regional Road 19) overpass, then follows another hydro corridor just north of the Brampton–Mississauga boundary.
Highway 407 swerves northeast again, encountering an interchange with Mississauga Road (Peel Regional Road 1) just prior to crossing the Credit River and the Orangeville Brampton Railway, after which it enters the urban GTA. After passing through interchanges with Mavis Road (Peel Regional Road 18) and Hurontario Street (formerly Highway 10), the highway encounters Highway 410 at another sprawling interchange located over Etobicoke Creek. Over the next , the highway nudges northward into Brampton, interchanging with Dixie Road (Peel Regional Road 4) and Bramalea Road, meeting another CN railway line, and crossing over the CN Halton Subdivision, before crossing under Steeles Avenue (Peel Regional Road 15). Highway 407 curves back to the northeast as it interchanges with Airport Road (Peel Regional Road 7) and passes beneath another CN line, before crossing under hydro lines and encountering the final interchange in Peel Region at Goreway Drive, as York Region is ahead. It crosses the West Humber River and under former Highway 50 in Claireville Conservation Area before curving east into Vaughan, in York Region.
Vaughan–Pickering
Immediately after crossing into Vaughan and York Region, Highway 407 encounters the first of three large interchanges with other 400-series highways. The Highway 427 interchange is a four-level partial stack located just north of Steeles Avenue (York Regional Road 95) and adjacent to the 407 ETR Concession Company offices. The interchange features weaved ramps which connect to former Highway 27 (York Regional Road 27), located just to the east. The route continues eastward, parallel to and north of Steeles Avenue and south of Highway 7 (York Regional Road 7). It dives through the Humber River Valley alongside a CN line and along the northern border of Thackeray Conservation Lands, passing beneath a CP line. After crossing under transmission lines of a hydro corridor (now remerged back into two hydro towers) and interchanging with Pine Valley Drive (York Regional Road 57), the route becomes sandwiched between the industrial lands of the Pine Valley Business Park and the Emery Creek Corporate Park, Greater Toronto's industrial places. A partial interchange with Weston Road (York Regional Road 56) lies just west of the large, four-level stack interchange with Highway 400 (Toronto–Barrie Highway), the only of its kind in Canada. An interchange with Jane Street (York Regional Road 55) is interwoven into the east side of the Highway 400 interchange, below which pass the tunnels of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway; the Highway 407 station (with its large commuter parking lot and GO Transit bus terminal serving the highway corridor) is located south of the highway.