The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and Infrastructure in Ontario, Canada, has selected the 407 East Development Group as preferred bidder to design, build, finance and maintain the first phase of the new Highway 407 East project.

The group is comprised of Cintra Infraestructuras and SNC-Lavalin.

Expected to be completed by 2015, phase one will extend Highway 407 East from Brock Road in Pickering to Harmony Road in Oshawa, connecting Highway 407 to Highway 401 with a new link, the West Durham Link.

Works in the phase include a ten kilometre West Durham Link comprising of a new four-lane north-south highway connecting Highway 407 East to Highway 401, a freeway-to-freeway interchange at the link and Highway 401.

It also includes interchanges at Highway 7, Taunton Road and Dundas Street, a new six-lane highway from Brock Road to the new West Durham Link, plus a new four-lane highway from West Durham Link to Harmony Road area.

Under the project, interchanges will be built at Brock Road, Lake Ridge Road, Baldwin Street (Highway 7/12), Thickson Road, Simcoe Street and Harmony Road. Highway 407 East includes a 65km tolled highway, to be built in two phases, and after completion the highway will be owned and controlled by Ontario’s government.

As part of Ontario’s alternative financing and procurement model, the Canadian province will regulate and collect revenues from tolls, while the consortium will be responsible for designing, building, financing and maintaining the project.

Under the model, the risks associated with designing, constructing and financing will be transferred to the contractor to ensure the delivery of the project on time and budget. Infrastructure Ontario is expected to announce the contract cost after financial close.

Infrastructure Ontario and MTO will begin negotiating contract details with the consortium and expect to finalise a contract in spring 2012.