This part of Highway 407 will soon be free for drivers in Ontario

Tolls will be removed from part of Highway 407, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday, making good on an election promise.

“In a few short weeks, once the legislation is passed, there will not be one single publicly owned tolled highway left in Ontario,” Ford said at a press conference.

“And that’s thanks to our government’s ban on new road tolls in the province.”

The Ford government previously removed tolls from Highways 412 and 418 in Durham Region.

The new measure of removing tolls from the provincially owned portion of Highway 407 is expected to save daily commuters $7,200 per year, the government said.

A Ministry of Transportation report in 2021 projected those tolls would generate the province around $72 million in revenue in 2024-25.

They’re set to be removed on June 1.

The province owns the eastern portion of Highway 407, from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115 in Clarington — that’s the section that will soon become free to use.

The 407 ETR is the privately owned portion of the highway, which makes up the majority of the roadway, stretching from Burlington to Brock Road.

The PC government sold it off in 1999 for $3.1 billion.

Ford has called that a “big mistake,” and has previously mused about buying it back.

— With files from The Canadian Press