In a visit to Caledon this week Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford promised to revisit the GTA West Highway quashed by the Liberals just a couple of months ago.

The highway, which was to go through parts of Northwest Brampton as well as Vaughan, Caledon and Halton Hills, underwent study and planning for almost a decade. It would have connected the 407/401 interchange, the 410, 427 and 400.

But at the recommendation of an advisory panel, the Wynne government decided they would shelve the project in its current iteration and focus on the Northwest GTA Corridor Identification Study instead.

Ford says should the PCs win the June election he’s prepared to kick-start the environmental process on the original GTA West Corridor plan once again.

“We’re all about building infrastructure in transportation,” Ford said. “Our goal is to build more roads and more infrastructure, getting people from point A to point B, because traffic in Toronto and the GTA is a nightmare.”

The advisory panel reviewing the project didn’t see the proposed highway providing the promised time savings, pointing out such savings could be fulfilled by highway expansion already underway on the 410 and 427. The panel also felt findings presented in the environmental assessment were unsubstantiated and vague.

Some say there’s a positive aspect to all this: while the Wynne government conducts the Northwest GTA Corridor Identification Study, an area roughly one-third of the size of the area covered by the former GTA West plans is under environmental protection.

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