Futuristic Infrastructure Projects that will make Ontario a better place to live, work and afford a home. 

Ontario is home to about fifteen million people who enjoy one of the highest standards of living around the globe because of the sacrifice made by the torch-bearers of yesterday. The infrastructures they built now provide a gateway for prosperity. With the same enthusiasm, passion and foresight, plans are being made for tomorrow. The Ontario Real Estate Association in partnership with KPMG Global Infrastructure Advisory released a report highlighting ten infrastructure projects that will boost businesses, create more jobs and sustain affordable housing. It’s a big province, with one thousand and seventy-six square kilometres of potential to harness. 

 At the top of the list is the Pearson Area Transit Hub. The hub will combine various transit lines to the airport, proving a central platform for passenger commutes such as Kitchener GO, UP Express, Eglinton cross town LRT, 407 Transit Way, Mississauga Rapid Transit and Finch West LRT. It is estimated that the project will continue into 2030. The cost for such a mega project is in the embryonic stage. With this venture, it is possible to add between fifty to seventy thousand jobs to the Airport Economic Zone. Planners have gaged that traffic congestion will be reduced by forty-three thousand vehicles daily in that vicinity. This will boost productivity by an estimated three million hours annually from traffic jams alone. It is believed that by 2037, Pearson Airport will be able to take care of over eighty-five million passengers yearly.

Next in line is a new bypass for the GTA freight rail. The GTA railway tracks were built in the late 1800s. The main purpose then was to transport goods. In 1960, the use expanded, catering for both freight and commuters. With online shopping and population growth, the need to transport goods have increased. Long freight trains limit the number of passenger trains that can share the same tracks. This creates a logistical nightmare, especially in areas where there are bottlenecks. One of the major bottlenecks is between Mississauga and Brampton where there is a need to separate freight and passenger trains to different railway tracks. This project is known as “the missing link” and calls for the construction of new freight tracks along the 407 between Brampton and Mississauga. Once completed, it will expedite the process, resulting in a quicker and more dependable railway for both passengers and freight.

Extending the Yonge subway eight kilometres to Richmond Hill could bring about three hundred thousand jobs and six hundred thousand residences by 2041. On completion, it will link Union subway to Richmond Hill Centre. The Richmond Hill Centre will become a hub for other transit systems. Upon completion with four stops, this will rustle the North-South corridor into a major economic body, unlocking lands that can be used to create entire communities with over twenty-three thousand residential units. This project is in the drafting stage with designers and engineers. It is expected to be completed between 2029 to 2030. The project will cost between five to six billion dollars and caters for forty-nine thousand people within a ten-minute walk of a station. 

Also planned is an eastern GTA Transit Hub visionary. It is a thirty-six kilometre Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project from Durham to Scarborough. The estimated cost to construct is between three to four billion dollars. Once completed, it will link University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, downtown Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa. An ideal location for the hub is the lands zoned for a potential Pickering airport. Once completed, the project will be able to take care of two hundred and ten thousand new residents and add about sixty-six thousand new jobs. The GTA population is swelling and the BRT project is essential to keep up for the ever-growing demands of quick reliable systems that can move a large number of people. This project will make commute time more enjoyable, unclog highways and reduce emissions.

The Ontario line subway, formerly known as the down town relief line, is much needed. It is a sixteen kilometre subway that will run from Ontario place to Corktown and continue north through Turncliffe park, connecting the Eglinton LRT near the Science Centre. The Ontario subway will relieve pressure from the current subway and is essential for the expansion to Richmond Hill. It is estimated that three hundred and ninety thousand travellers will use the line daily. Once completed, it will bring an economic boost of between ten to eleven billion dollars annually. 

The Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle is heavily populated. However, navigating between the triangle is difficult and is a stumbling block to spur economic growth. High frequency rails will solve this problem by building new tracks from Toronto to Coteau, Quebec. This project will unlock lands near the new tracks that can be used to build more affordable homes. Once completed, it will reduce traveling time to Toronto by an hour. 

The Niagara region needs a new highway along with a new bridge to the United States. The Peace Bridge between Fort Erie and Buffalo is operating at full capacity, creating backup along the QEW. It is predicted that commuting will swell by fifty percent and employment will surge by thirty percent in Niagara in about twenty-five years. This seventh infrastructure is a new one hundred kilometre highway, called the Mid-Peninsula Highway, between Hamilton and St. Catharines that will divert traffic going west. This will boost housing and other development along the escarpment. It will link the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Wellan Canal, connecting various modes of transportation. The new highway along with the new bridge will ease traffic flow along the Peace Bridge. The cost is about eleven and a half billion dollars. 

The ring of fire is about five thousand square kilometres and is one of Canada’s largest known sources of untapped minerals. These minerals are essential for our modern society, catering from electronics in smart phones to stainless steel. It is located about five hundred kilometres north east of Thunder Bay.   The estimated cost is about three billion dollars to build about five hundred kilometres of road. The economic benefit is immense and will create about fifty-five hundred jobs. The new roads will link various communities together and unlock land for residential and commercial use.

High speed internet access is essential throughout Ontario. However, in many remote areas it is unreliable and impedes growth. It is estimated that over seven hundred thousand people in Ontario do not have access to reliable internet. Telecommunication service providers are not encouraged to invest in areas with low population. Non-Profit organizations such as the South Western Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) and Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) initiatives are working along with the province. In addition, Queens Park, in a recent budget, pledged four billion dollars over six years to build high speed internet in remote areas. With high-speed internet access, more people can work from home. Essential services such as health care and education can be centralized. 

The tenth infrastructure to invest in is Clean Energy. Ontario is falling behind in reducing green house gas emissions in areas such as transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and heating. Charging stations for light vehicle electrification across major highways is an important step in the right direction. Research in renewable energy such as biogas and hydrogen are considered. This is a promising industry for Ontario where we can manufacture products that are environmentally friendly.    

These mega projects are within reach if the Federal and Provincial Government work arm-in-arm with private sectors. The payback is big and it's time to get started. Smart investors are beginning to look for buying opportunities close to where some of these proposed infrastructures can be built. This way, they are ahead of the competition.