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That has raised more questions about the controversial freeway cutting through farms, environmentally sensitive wetlands and the Greenbelt on a 52-kilometre route from Highway 401 in Mississauga to Highway 400 in Vaughan. 

And it points to broader concerns as the province eyes a series of major infrastructure projects, including the Bradford Bypass east from Highway 400 to Highway 404, mining and road development in northern Ontario’s the Ring of Fire, a potential new nuclear power plant near Port Hope and Ford’s proposed tunnel under Highway 401.

“If this starts to become the norm, the way we do things, it will have an impact on Ontario’s budgets and borrowing,” said Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of É«É«À².

“Investors don’t like uncertainty and infrastructure is a big cost. The projects are in the multi billions and not having any announcement of how much they’re costing, that’s a huge risk about transparency,” he added.

“There’s always a risk of cost escalations. They start piling on mega projects without publicly announcing their costs, that could start to give pause out in the markets.”

Critics contend the Progressive Conservative government’s strategy of not revealing expected costs or completion dates is an attempt to shield itself from potential blame at a time when it’s under fire over late and expensive projects like the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line and a renovation of the Macdonald Block civil service headquarters just east of Queen’s Park. 

“Doug Ford refuses to tell Ontarians how much Highway 413 will cost or how long it will take to build, and that lack of transparency is unacceptable,” said Liberal MPP Andrea Hazell (Scarborough-Guildwood). 

“Without clear cost estimates, timelines or proof the contracts were awarded fairly, the public cannot assess the value of this project.”   

Ford’s announcement Wednesday of the two 413-related contracts at a truck inspection station on Highway 10 in the countryside north of Brampton was more spin than substance, said New Democrat MPP Catherine Fife (Waterloo).  

With a backdrop that included a 413 sign and a map of its path through an area already covered by the tolled Highway 407, the premier reiterated “we will build Highway 413 and today we’re getting it done.”

While there was a paving machine nearby, there were no shovels in the ground for the actual highway itself. The contacts awarded are for the resurfacing of a portion of Highway 10 in preparation for a future bridge over the 413, and upgrades where the 401 and 407 will intersect with the new highway. 

Last year, they were teased as “early works” for Highway 413. 

“None of these theatrics help commuters who are stuck in traffic,” said Fife, whose party has called on Ford to improve public transit and make the 407 toll-free for trucks as better solutions for easing traffic congestion. 

“The problem with that, you put trucks on there, and when they all get off at the same exit, it’s going to be a lineup backed up from here to Timbuktu,” Ford said when asked about that idea. 

Standing with the premier, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria was eager to reassure drivers that Highway 413 is coming together even as he evaded questions from reporters on its price tag and time frame.  

“We have every intention of getting every resource possible to get it done as quickly as possible, as fast as possible, get as many shovels in the ground as we can across the 52-kilometre stretch of the highway,” he said.

“Over the next couple of years, you will see the contract has been broken up into many different pieces that enables more workers to get to work quicker, faster. It’s a way that we have decided to accelerate this project.”

Sarkaria’s office told the Star some federal environmental approvals are in place and preliminary design work for the 413 is slated for completion this fall, with detailed designs for interchanges, bridges and other components to follow, while the ministry approaches “willing sellers” along the route to purchase properties needed.

No date has been set for the inevitable next step of expropriating properties from holdout owners.   

The continuing design work and lack of clarity around property acquisitions suggests it could take a few more years before 413 construction begins in earnest, leaving more time for inflation to “balloon” costs for land, labour and materials like concrete, steel and asphalt, said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence.

His group opposes Highway 413, saying it will fuel urban sprawl of homes, businesses and industry into farms and wetlands and threaten species at risk such as the western chorus frog, red-headed woodpecker and Redside Dace minnow. 

“They (the Ford government) don’t really want to disclose that we’re talking $10 billion or $15 billion, at least, to build this thing,” Gray said.  

“It’s not really about transportation. It’s a subsidized pathway to enabling all that sprawl development that they’ve unleashed around the west and north side of Brampton and up into Caledon,” he said. 

Ford claims the 413 will save motorists up to 30 minutes of travel time, but critics note one study for the previous Liberal government that rejected the highway in 2018 put time savings at a minute or less. Highway 413 would take up 2,000 acres of farmland, cross 85 waterways and pave nearly 400 acres of Greenbelt land. 

After picking up the Highway 413 torch to appeal to suburban voters, the Ford government insisted it is needed because the population of the Greater Golden Horseshoe is expected to reach 14.8 million people by 2051 — slightly less than Ontario’s total population of 16 million now.