Ontario’s transportation minister says he plans to introduce legislation that would speed up property acquisitions for highways such as the planned Highway 413 and accelerate that project’s environmental assessment.

Prabmeet Sarkaria says the proposed changes are part of the first government bill that will be tabled when the legislature resumes Monday from its summer break.

It is the same legislation that would force municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes, if they will remove a lane for vehicle traffic, as Sarkaria announced earlier this week.

Sarkaria says today that the new bill would get highways built faster, designating Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass and the Garden City Skyway bridge as priority projects to speed up their construction.

He says the bill would also streamline utility relocations, accelerate access to property and property acquisitions, introduce new penalties for obstructing access for field investigations or damaging equipment and facilitate construction 24 hours a day.

Sarkaria says the government is also proposing to accelerate the environmental assessment process for Highway 413.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.