Transportation Infrastructure

Highway System | Air Transportation | Rail Cargo | Water Transportation

The Toronto region’s proximity to the United States is supported by several highly integrated modes of transport. Fast and efficient trucking, rail, ocean shipping, and air service focus on just-in-time delivery. Seamless intermodal services utilize the latest intelligent transportation systems. The GTA’s exceptional transportation infrastructure also includes seven major highways and two international railway lines connecting to the rest of the country and the U.S.

Pearson International Airport, the world’s 20th busiest international airport in terms of aircraft movements, along with GTA regional airports offer excellent executive commuter air services (Source: Airports Council International).

With New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia just a commuter flight away, few locations in North America have more convenient access to other major markets.

Highway System

Greater Toronto’s seven major expressways provide direct access to the U.S. interstate highway system in less than 1.5 hours in many cases. Travel time from Greater Toronto’s City of Burlington to the first U.S. crossing at Lewiston, N.Y can be less than 20 minutes in free-flowing traffic. From Clarington, the GTA’s most easterly community, U.S. border crossings are a short hour and a half away.

Greater Toronto Area maintains more than 10,000 lane-kilometers of arterial roads and 6,000 lane-kilometers of highways. Major expressways include the world’s first fully automated open access toll highway and the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (401), the busiest expressway in North America.

The GTA is also Canada’s largest trucking centre. In 2001, the region originated 6.1 million shipments, hauling over 20 million tons of cargo to market in the U.S. and Canada.

• Highway 401 is the backbone of the 400-Series network running across the entire length of Southern Ontario. It crosses the GTA from southwest to northeast, providing connections to the State of Michigan and the Province of Quebec.
• The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and the Gardiner Expressway run parallel to the lakeshore and provide direct access to the downtown core of Toronto from ports to the west.
• Highway 407 (407 ETR) extends from Burlington in the west to close proximity to Ajax in the east, forming a northerly by-pass across the GTA. It is Ontario's only toll highway.
• Highway 404 and the Don Valley Parkway provide north-south access to York Region and downtown Toronto.
• Highway 400 runs north from Highway 401 and is Toronto’s main access to Northern Ontario.
• Highway 427 serves the heavy-traveled area in the west end of Toronto between the QEW to Pearson International Airport, the Gardiner Expressway in the south and Highway 407 in the north.
• Highway 403 in Mississauga links the QEW to Highway 401 and connects with Highway 410 leading to Brampton.

Top of Page

Air Transportation

Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is Canada’s busiest airport and provides direct access to 110 global centres in 44 countries via regular non-stop flights. In 2009, Pearson International moved more than 30 million passengers and in 2006, more than 516,000 tons of cargo. The Airport is currently undergoing a $4.4 billion, three-part development program designed to increase passenger capacity to 52 million annually over the next two decades. (Greater Toronto Airports Authority, The Toronto Star)

In 2006, the airport was selected as the best global airport by the UK-based Institute of Transport Management

Selected Regular Non-Stop Weekly Flights

Note: Effective June 2005, Air Canada will offer Toronto-Beijing non-stop service
Source: Greater Toronto Airport Authority, week of February 21-28 2005.

Executive Air Service

Executive air service is available from the Toronto City Centre Airport (now Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport), just minutes from Bay Street, Canada’s business and financial centre. The Toronto City Centre Airport logs more than 137,000 aircraft movements yearly, including scheduled airlines and private commuter aircraft flying to near-by cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Porter Airlines operates out of the Toronto City Center Airport and offers flights to various Canadian and U.S cities, including Halifax, Moncton, Montréal, Mont Tremblant, Ottawa , Quebec City, St. John's, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Boston, Chicago and Newark.

Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport handles more than 145,000 flights annually, including executive aircraft accessing Greater Toronto’s northeast information technology district.

Oshawa Municipal Airport provides executive aircraft access and air cargo services to the Greater Toronto east industrial district, home to General Motors and other major companies.

Brampton Airport, Burlington Airpark and Pearson International Airport serve private executive aircraft accessing Greater Toronto’s west industrial districts, home to Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler Canada and Menasco aerospace.

Top of Page

Rail Cargo Access to U.S. Markets and Deep Water Ports

Two major rail carriers provide cost competitive freight rail access to U.S. markets and deep-water ports at Montreal, Vancouver and New Orleans.

Intermodal container, piggyback, auto compound, steel distribution and cargo flow facilities are advantageously located across the region.

Canadian National Railway assembles up to 80 trains with 4,000 freight cars daily at MacMillan Yard, just one of Greater Toronto’s eight major rail cargo transfer facilities and numerous marshalling yards.

Utilizing continuous platform technology, Canadian Pacific Railway carries conventional non-reinforced highway transport semi trailers without modification, the only intermodal rail service in the world that can handle any type of truck trailer.

Direct rail access to major U.S. and Canadian auto plants and markets helps the region’s eight auto assembly plants and myriad auto parts makers to sustain their position as the largest auto industry centre in North America after Detroit.

(Sources: Canadian National, Canadian Pacific)

Top of Page

Water Transportation

The Port of Toronto is the largest and most efficient electronically cleared container facility on the Great Lakes. It moves more than 2 million metric tons of cargo annually through the St. Lawrence Seaway System.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway is also accessible from the Greater Toronto east Port of Oshawa. This port provides access to the industrial heartland of North America for more 250,000 cargo vessels annually. The region served by the Seaway creates more than a third of the continent’s GDP and produces more than 40% of U.S. manufacturing output.

Great Lakes region steel shippers save as much as US$50 per ton by routing through Great Lakes ports rather than through east coast or gulf coast ports. The Seaway can accommodate 41% of the world's fleet of commercial vessels weighing more than 300 tons.

(Sources: Industry Canada, Toronto Port Authority, The St. Lawrence Seaway System)

Shipping Distances in Nautical Miles from Selected Ports to Selected Major World Ports

Source: Warren Communications Research on Nautical Charts, 2005.

Top of Page