Ontario announces toll road pilot project
by The Canadian Press
The amount of the toll for a 16-kilometre stretch of GTA freeway will be announced next spring; the pilot project could last up to four years
TORONTO—Ontario drivers who don’t have a passenger will be able to pay a toll to use a high-occupancy vehicle lane on the Queen Elizabeth Way that is meant for people who carpool.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca says the so-called High Occupancy Toll, or HOT lane, will be created between Trafalgar Road and the Guelph Line on the QEW as a pilot project starting next summer.
The amount of the toll for the 16.5-kilometre stretch of the QEW will be announced next spring, and the pilot project could last up to four years.
Del Duca says an HOV and HOT lane will be created on the extension of Highway 427 from Highway 409 north when it opens in 2021.
The Progressive Conservatives oppose adding tolls to highways that taxpayers have already paid for, while the New Democrats say only the wealthy can afford to pay extra to ride alone in carpool lanes, calling them Lexus lanes.
The toll lanes were originally proposed as a way to raise money for infrastructure in the 2013 budget.
