Ontario has shortlisted three potential bidders in an effort to extend Highway 427 north of Toronto.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced on Thursday a request for proposals is being accepted to extend Highway 427 by 6.6 kilometres from Highway 7 to Major Mackenzie Drive.
The highway will also be widened for about 4 km south of Albion Road to Highway 7 with construction slated to begin in 2017 and open to traffic in 2020.
Del Duca said High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes will be included for a 15.5 km stretch with electronic tolling in both directions.
“Technology does move very quickly. Right now when you look at most of the tolling experiences that we have there are the traditional sort of gantries, the cameras, the transponders, it could very well be a variation of that,” said Del Duca.
“The Ministry of Transportation will continue to monitor and work with the private sector and other to make sure that whatever technology we deploy here on these HOT lanes will be on the cutting edge.”
The HOT lanes will run south of Highway 409 to north of Rutherford Road and be fully operational by 2021.
Later this summer, the province is conducting a HOT lanes pilot project on the existing High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) section of the QEW from Trafalgar Road in Oakville to Guelph Line in Burlington.
The Highway 427 expansion project is part of the province’s overall infrastructure spending of $160 billion over 12 years.
VIDEO: Province announces new toll lanes for Highway 427, QEW