Municipal expressway

View of the Gardiner Expressway, the first modern municipal expressway in Ontario.

A municipal expressway[1] in Ontario is a controlled-access highway maintained by an individual municipality rather than the provincial government. Municipal expressways are not a part of the Ontario Provincial Highway Network. Instead, they form parts of the different municipal road networks in Ontario.

History

The first expressway built under municipal jurisdiction was the Gardiner Expressway as a part of the expressway system proposed for Toronto by Metropolitan Toronto, followed by the Don Valley Parkway. The Gardiner did carry the provincial routing of Ontario Highway 2 until 1998, but was always locally owned and maintained.

Several highways were originally built and maintained by the province for decades before being downloaded to local authorities. The biggest transfers happening in 1997-1998, including the E. C. Row Expressway (then part of Ontario Highway 2), Ontario Highway 17 Queensway (which became Ottawa Road 174), Ontario Highway 2A, and the eastmost segment of the Queen Elizabeth Way.[2][3]

In November 2023, the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario reached an agreement to upload the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway, transferring responsibility for the maintenance of the highway to the provincial government. The deal freed up over CA$1.2 billion in the city's budget.[4] In March 2024, a similar deal was reached between the City of Ottawa and the Government of Ontario to upload Ottawa Road 174 to the provincial government as a part of a larger agreement.[5]

Uploading

Municipal expressways have been seen as a substantial financial burden for the municipalities that have to operate and maintain them.[6] As a result, several municipalities have expressed interested for the responsibility of the highways to be uploaded to the provincial government. In 2014, the ideal of uploading Hamilton's two municipal expressways, the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway and the Red Hill Valley Parkway. At the time, the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario said there was no precedent for such an upload.[7]

Following the deal made between the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario to upload the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway, several other municipalities also expressed interested in uploading their municipal expressways. The Hamilton's city council passed a motion to request that the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario take over the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway and the Red Hill Valley Parkway.[6] The mayor of Windsor also asked the province about uploading the E. C. Row Expressway.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Transportation Facilities and Municipal Expressways | ontario.ca". www.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  2. ^ Ibbitson, John (February 1, 1997). "Rough Roads Ahead Under Tories". The Ottawa Citizen. p. E10. Retrieved March 13, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Boswell, Randy (July 21, 1997). "On A (Back) Road to Ruin?". City. The Ottawa Citizen. p. B3. Retrieved March 13, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Carter, Adam (Nov 27, 2023). "Toronto uploads Gardiner, DVP to province, steps aside on Ontario Place redevelopment". CBC News.
  5. ^ "Ontario announces $543 million funding deal for city of Ottawa, including taking over Hwy. 174". Ottawa. 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  6. ^ a b Beattie, Beattie (Dec 16, 2023). "Hamilton will ask province to take over its highways, prompted by Toronto deal". CBC News.
  7. ^ "Watchdog: Clark's Red Hill plan 'a stretch'". CBC News. Oct 16, 2014.
  8. ^ "Windsor mayor hopes province will upload E.C. Row Expressway after Toronto deal". Windsor. 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2024-07-26.