407公路扩建新段省府营运 4年后通车 未确定需否双重缴费
(多伦多27日加新社电)安省交通厅长布拉德利(Jim Bradley)周二宣布，省府将会扩建407收费公路，扩建的新路段将由省府营运，收入支付兴建成本和用作维修，但未知司机是否需要双重缴费。
反对党迅速指出，这个建议会令407公路向东延长至35/115公路，它是安省中部选区的主干道，保守党党领庄德利(John Tory)，希望在这选区的补选中胜出。
布拉德利说，在宣布补选前作出上述宣布只是巧合，但庄德利说，他不相信。
布拉德利否认，这个宣布与争取选民支持有关。他说，延长407公路从皮克灵(Pickering)至卡拉灵顿(Clarington)，预计2013年通车的建议，长期以来都在筹划当中。
布拉德利说，由私营公司拥有一条公路，自由党政府向来都“感到不安”。
407 ETR公司目前拥有和营运108公里长的407公路，向司机征收路费。
省府将负责这个扩建路段的收费事宜，但省府仍未确定，使用407公路的司机，是否要缴费两次。
假如一个司机使用私营路段和省府拥有的扩建路段，他有可能需要缴费给省府和407 ETR公司。但布拉德利说，仍未拟定这些详情。他说：“我们预期扩建路段的收入，属于安省政府，不是407 ETR公司的。”
他说，省府的收入会用来支付兴建成本和道路维修费用，这样可令省府腾出资金，用在公交基建项目。
该扩建工程现正进行环境评估，今夏将会提交环境厅长批准。
布拉德利不肯说，工程耗费多少，也不肯说省府是否计划，未来所有收费公路都由省府拥有。
Highway 407 to be extended
Jan 27, 2009
Maria Babbage
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario will build and operate an extension of a privately run toll highway north of Toronto, but it’s not yet known whether drivers will face an additional charge to use it, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said today.
The Opposition was quick to point out that the proposal would extend Highway 407 east to Highway 35/115 – the main artery in a central Ontario riding that Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory hopes to win in an upcoming byelection.
Bradley said it was just a coincidence that the announcement was made before the byelection is called, but Tory said he’s not convinced.
“I’m delighted that Mr. McGuinty is finally talking about Highway 407 again, and I’m sure it’s only because there’s a byelection coming up,” he said in an interview from Minden, Ont.
“I only wish he would get on with speeding it up.”
Bradley denied the announcement had anything to do with shoring up Liberal support with voters in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.
The proposed extension of Highway 407 from Pickering to Clarington, which is expected to open in 2013, has long been in the works, he said.
The Liberal government has “never been comfortable” with a private company owning a road in the province, Bradley said.
“There is dissatisfaction, I think, amongst the public with a private company owning the highway and having no control over the tolling of the highway,” he added.
“I think the public is much more comfortable with the province of Ontario owning a highway with the funds coming to the province of Ontario, as opposed to the private corporation.”
407 ETR currently manages and operates an existing 108-kilometre stretch of the highway and collects tolls from drivers.
The government will regulate tolls on the yet-to-be constructed extension of the highway, but the province hasn’t figured out whether drivers who use the 407 will have to pay twice.
If a driver were to use both the privately-operated stretch of highway and the government-owned extension, there is a possibility that the driver may have to pay the province and 407 ETR.
But Bradley said those details haven’t yet been worked out.
“Our anticipation is that the money, of course, that would come from the extension is money that goes to the province of Ontario and not to the 407 corporation,” he said.
Toll revenues collected by the province would go toward construction costs and maintenance of the road, he said, which would free up government money for transit infrastructure projects.
An environmental assessment is underway and will be submitted to the environment minister for approval this summer.
Bradley couldn’t say how much the project will cost and wouldn’t say whether the province plans to keep all future toll roads in public hands.
“Some may see it as a precedent and some may not,” he said.
407 International Inc., the sole shareholder of 407 ETR, is owned by a consortium comprised of Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, Macquarie Infrastructure Group and SNC-Lavalin.
In 1999, the former Conservative government under then-premier Mike Harris signed a 99-year lease to the private consortium to operate the highway, which was designed to bleed traffic from a badly congested Highway 401.
However, tolls soared and both the company and province were inundated with complaints about poor customer service, incorrect billing, and heavy-handed collection tactics.
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