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The PC party says that, in this snap Feb. 27 election, it is voters’ only option to “deliver on projects to get drivers out of gridlock across Ontario.”

Marit Stiles’ New Democrats say they would end tolls on all of Highway 407 and widen highways including 11/17, 40, and 69. The NDP accuses the Ford government of making highway planning “politicized and lobbyist driven.”

Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals are, so far, focusing on transit promises they say Ford has failed to deliver — including all-day, two-way GO service to Kitchener-Waterloo, Milton and Niagara — to help alleviate gridlock.

Zachary Taylor, a University of Western Ontario political scientist, says several factors combine to make it politically popular to champion vehicle use even as governments, including Ford’s, say they are trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Greater Toronto-Hamilton area’s population boomed in recent decades but construction of new highways and transit systems largely stalled from the 1980s into the 2000s. That turned clear-sailing highway drives into bumper-to-bumper agony, especially on the maxed out 400-series highways.

When Ford came to power, Taylor said, he parked previous Liberal government policies aimed at protecting rural land, halting sprawl and intensifying existing development in a way that de-emphasized the car as a necessity.

“What we’ve seen with this Ford government is a renewed emphasis on car drivers as a political constituency. There’s just way more car driving voters than there are non-car-driving voters,” Taylor said, noting that after moving from º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto London, he quickly realized that public transit wasn’t enough for him to efficiently get around.

“I think also part of what Ford has brought with him, coming out of the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøcontext, is a real frustration shared by many Torontonians — that you just can’t get around the city in your car very efficiently.”

But can Ford deliver us from gridlock? Two transportation experts canvassed by the Star said highway building and widening will, at great expense, yield minor or no reduction in traffic congestions, and some projects might even make it worse.

Eric Miller, director of the University of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøTransportation Research Institute, said research clearly shows that adding vehicle lanes will incentive people to drive more and quickly fill up those lanes.

“Despite identifying roadway congestion in the GTA as a priority issue, the Ford government’s policies to date will do nothing to offer long-term relief,” Miller said. “If built, Highway 413 will make congestion worse, in that it will promote increased auto-dominated suburban sprawl, generating more traffic, not less, and do nothing to relieve congestion in the GTA core.

“We are never going to solve our congestion problem by just looking at road-based solutions. Public transit is the only long-term solution to get cars off the road and seriously reduce congestion on the roadways.”

Miller says the province could reduce highway gridlock by reinstating funding to municipalities to operate and maintain transit systems cut by then-premier Mike Harris in the 1990s, and to “aggressively” use artificial intelligence to help control vehicle movements on highways and city streets.

Said Easa, a civil engineering professor at º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøMetropolitan University, calls the Ford government’s highway expansion push, coupled with transit expansion programs including Ontario Line subway construction and GO Transit improvements, “overall a well-balanced plan.”

However, Easa added in an email, “the heavy emphasis on highway projects may provide only short-term relief from congestion and could harm the environment — particularly with projects like Highway 413. A stronger focus on public transit would yield long-term benefits by reducing reliance on cars and promoting sustainability.”

Here are what the experts say about the Ford government’s main highway projects:

Highway 413: The controversial 52-kilometre highway, fast-tracked late last year by legislation that includes exemption from environmental review, is set to stretch from Highway 400 between King Road and Kirby Road to the 401/407 ETR interchange near Mississauga, Milton and Halton Hills. 

Easa said Highway 413, mostly designed but not yet under construction, offers the best hope at gridlock relief compared to Ford’s other highway options. However, cutting through a swath of Greenbelt is the worst option in terms of minimizing environmental impacts, he said.

Miller said Highway 413 will only encourage sprawl and more driving, calling it “yet another play for developers and engineering companies to make a lot of money.” It may be politically popular in some areas, he said, but it won’t solve the GTA’s transportation problems.

Highway 407: The toll road, built by the provincial government as a Highway 401 alternative but leased to a private operator for 99 years, is under scrutiny because it has excess capacity — sometimes within eyeshot of gridlocked 401 drivers. 

Easa considers buying out the 407 lease — or just subsidizing truck use to free up space on the 401 — environmentally sound because the road is already built, although getting drivers onto transit would be better. For potential gridlock relief, he ranks it below Highway 413.

Miller believes talk of the 407’s congestion-fighting potential is overblown, adding he’s surprised the NDP is proposing making the road toll-free. “I saw a report that said buying out the lease would cost more than $30 billion and there are much more effective ways to spend that money, if the treasury even has it,” he said. “Think of the transit we could build.”

Tunnelling under the 401: Ford’s announcement last year that he wants to build 50 kilometres of roadway, and potentially transit, under existing highway was panned by opposition parties and some experts but hailed as bold and “visionary” by the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøRegion Board of Trade. The Progressive Conservatives say planning continues for the project, which does not yet have a price tag but would cost tens of billions of dollars.

“While the tunnelling project could alleviate congestion in downtown Toronto,” Easa said, “it may negatively impact the already visually unappealing infrastructure along the proposed segment, especially with the addition of the new exit and entrance ramps connecting the tunnel.” 

Miller said costs could reach $100 billion for gridlock benefits that make the idea “silly and ridiculous, almost not worth talking about.”

If provincial transportation agency Metrolinx is studying 401 tunnel feasibility, he said, “it’s a complete and utter waste of money.”