Ontario Highway 412

File:Hwy7_at_Hwy412Toll_looking_west_Jun15.jpg passing westerly beneath the still under construction Highway 412 overpass, in June 2015]]

Highway 412 is an {{convert|8.9|km|adj=on}} four-lane highway extending from Highway 401 to Highway 407E, just north of Highway 7. The entire length of the route lies between Lakeridge Road and Coronation Road, within Whitby. At the southern end, the route begins at a semi-directional T interchange with Highway 401, from which it proceeds north. It crosses Dundas Street (former Highway 2), where a partial interchange provides access to the north and from the south.

North of Dundas Street, the route swerves westward onto the alignment of Halls Road and crosses Rossland Road; a future interchange is planned at this location. It continues north to an interchange with Taunton Road before diverging east from the Halls Road alignment to travel parallel between it and Coronation Road. The route crosses Highway 7 (Winchester Road), where a partial interchange provides southbound access and a northbound exit; a commuter carpool parking lot lay on the northwest corner. Immediately north of Highway 7, the route ends at a three-level semi-directional T interchange with Highway 407E, which is a toll route; ETC cameras are present along the onramps.

File:Highway 412 in Whitby at 0.5km looking North.jpg, looking North, in September 2016.]]

The West Durham Link, as it was then known, was first presented to Whitby Council on February 10, 1992. It quickly drew the ire of local residents fearful of noise levels and the environmental effects on Lynde Creek.{{cite news

| title = Residents Fighting 407 Link in Whitby

| first = Valerie

| last = Hill

| work = The Toronto Star

| date = March 5, 1992

| page = SD3}} However, the recession of the mid-1990s resulted in Highway 407 being truncated in Markham temporarily. Slightly revised plans for the links appeared on the June 2007 Technically Recommended Route Report for the extension of Highway 407 to Highway 35/115, which was submitted as part of the environmental assessment (EA) for the extension, but had been announced earlier that year on March 7 by the Government of Canada, as part of an investment in Greater Toronto Area infrastructure.{{cite web

| title = Canada's New Government Announces Investment to Cut Commute Times, Clear the Air and Drive the Economy in the Greater Toronto Area

| publisher = Office of the Prime Minister

| date = March 6, 2007

| url = http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=1557

| access-date = June 18, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100219060314/http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=1557

| archive-date = February 19, 2010}}

The EA report was released on August 17, 2009, including detailed plans for the configuration of the interchanges along the new highway. The route would run parallel to and east of Lake Ridge Road, partially overlapping the current route of Halls Road and partially along a new alignment one lot to the east. Both Halls Road and Coronation Road will be re-aligned to accommodate the new highway. It would be six lanes throughout its length, with a concrete Ontario Tall Wall as a median.{{cite report

|title = 407 East Environmental Assessment Report

|publisher = Government of Ontario

|date = August 17, 2009

|section = Exhibit 8.7

|url = http://www.highway407east.com/ea/documents/Chapter%208.pdf

|access-date = June 18, 2016

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160815225622/http://www.highway407east.com/ea/documents/Chapter%208.pdf

|archive-date = August 15, 2016

|url-status = usurped

}} Highway 412 will cut into Lynde Creek, a small waterway that flows out to Lake Ontario.

Construction on the new highway was underway by late 2013. As a prerequisite, the section of Highway 401 near the Lake Ridge Road overpass was shifted northward on a new alignment away from the parallel railway line to allow sufficient right-of-way for the interchange to the new highway. The existing Lake Ridge Road overpass was also replaced by a new longer structure that would span both the existing and new alignments of Highway 401 as well as the railway lines. Once the new alignment of Highway 401 was opened for both directions, the old Highway 401 right-of-way was used for the semi-directional onramp from Highway 401 eastbound to the new highway as well as an offramp to Lake Ridge Road.{{cite report

| author = Planning/Public Works Joint Report

| title = Highway 407 East Extension (Brock Road to Highway 35/115) Environmental Assessment, Technically Recommended Route - Preliminary Design

| publisher = Town of Whitby

| date = June 9, 2008

| page = 14

| url = https://whitby.civicweb.net/document/6067

| access-date = March 28, 2022}}

On February 6, 2015, it was announced by the MTO that the West Durham Link would be designated Highway 412. Whitby Town Council had recommended to the province the route be named after Jim Flaherty.{{cite news

| title = New Whitby highway could be named after Jim Flaherty

| first = Parvaneh

| last = Pessian

| publisher = DurhamRegion.com

| date = January 29, 2015

| url = http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/5290001-new-whitby-highway-could-be-named-after-jim-flaherty/

| access-date = January 30, 2015}}

Although initially expected to be completed on December 18, 2015, delays resulted in the opening being postponed until June 2016. The highway was opened, alongside Highway 407E between Brock Road in Pickering and Harmony Road in Oshawa, on June 20, 2016.{{cite news

| title = Opening of Hwy. 407 expansion through Oshawa delayed until 2016

| publisher = Oshawa This Week

| author = Kevin Gilligan

| url = http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/6159460-opening-of-hwy-407-expansion-through-oshawa-delayed-until-2016/

| access-date = December 8, 2015}}

To compensate for opening delays, tolls were waived until the end of January 2017.{{Cite web | url=https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2017/01/tolling-rates-on-highway-407.html | title=Tolling Rates on Highway 407 and Highway 412}}

On February 18, 2022, the Government of Ontario announced that Highway 412 would become toll-free from April 5, 2022, together with Ontario Highway 418.

File:Ontario 412 Toll.svg

From June 1, 2019 to April 5, 2022, the following tolls applied for motorists utilizing Highway 412,{{cite web

| title = Major highway projects: Toll Rates

| publisher = Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO)

| date = July 7, 2016

| url = http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/highway-bridges/major-highway-projects.shtml

| access-date = July 16, 2016}} which were permanently removed to become free-of-charge on the latter date.

• Same toll rates of Highway 407E were applied here.
• All end times displayed were rounded up to the nearest minute for simplicity purposes (i.e. 6{{nbsp}}am is actually 5:59:59{{nbsp}}am)
• The toll rate that applied to a specific trip was determined by the time at which a vehicle enters the highway and the cumulative distance traveled on both Highways 412 and 407E.
• Users of both 407 ETR and Highways 407E/412/418 only received one bill invoice, with trips on each highway specified.{{cite web

| title = Tolling

| publisher = Highway 407 East

| date = 2016

| url = http://highway407east.com/#tab-1

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110802120719/http://www.highway407east.com/#tab-1

| url-status = usurped

| archive-date = August 2, 2011

| access-date = July 16, 2016}}

• 407 ETR Transponders were compatible with Highways 407E, 412, and later 418.
• Heavy goods vehicles and lorries were assessed a minimum toll regardless of the length of their trip.
• Light vehicles without transponders were usually assessed an additional Video Toll.
• Vehicles weighing over 5,000 kilograms were divided into two categories: Heavy Single Units and Heavy Multiple Units. Heavy Multiple Unit Vehicles were charged two or three time the passenger rate, depending on the size of the vehicle.
• All Heavy Unit vehicles were legally required to have transponders in order to use the highways; offenders were penalized under the Highway Traffic Act.

{{ONinttop|exit|append=The following are the exits listed in the 407 East Environmental Assessment Report. Lengths are approximated with Google Maps.|division=Durham|location=Whitby}}

{{ONint|exit

| km = 0.0

| exit = —

| road = {{jcon|Hwy|401|city=Kingston|city2=Toronto}}

| notes = Highway 401 exit 408

}}

{{ONint|exit

| km = 0.7

| exit = 1

| type = incomplete

| road = {{jcon|DRH|2|Dundas street}}

| notes = Northbound entrance and southbound exit; formerly Highway 2

}}

{{ONint|unbuilt

| km = 2.3

| exit = 3

| road = Rossland Road West

| notes = Interchange proposed{{cite web

|title = Highway 407 East: Design, Phase 1

|publisher = 407 East Development Group

|url = http://highway407east.com/project-info/project-facts/design/#phase1

|access-date = June 18, 2016

|url-status = usurped

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160707173023/http://highway407east.com/project-info/project-facts/design/#phase1

|archive-date = July 7, 2016

}}

}}

{{ONint|exit

| km = 3.8

| exit = 5

| road = {{jcon|Durham|4|Taunton Road}}

| notes =

}}

{{ONint|exit

| km = 8.0

| exit = 9

| type = incomplete

| road = {{jcon|Hwy|7|totype=Durham|to=3|todir=east|Winchester Road}}

| notes = Northbound exit and southbound entrance

}}

{{ONint|exit

| type = toll

| km = 8.9

| exit = —

| road = {{jcon|Toll|407}} – Toronto, Peterborough

| notes = Highway 407 exit 112

}}

{{jctbtm|keys=incomplete,unbuilt,toll}}

{{reflist}}

{{Attached KML|display=title,inline}}

{{commons category}}

• {{official website|https://www.on407.ca/}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW_LZMp1Uac Video of Highway 412 southbound]

{{Ontario Controlled Access Highways}}

{{Ontario King's Highways}}

Category:Roads in the Regional Municipality of Durham

12

Category:Transport in Whitby, Ontario

Category:Public–private partnership projects in Canada

Category:Former toll roads in Canada

Category:Transport infrastructure completed in 2016