Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Transportation Facilities and Municipal Expressways

Project summary

This class environmental assessment establishes a planning process for a variety of projects that are carried out for and by the Ministry of Transportation.

Proponent

Ministry of Transportation

Location

Ontario-wide

Type

Transportation

Reference number

09083

Contact

Gavin Battarino, Environmental Assessment Branch
Email: gavin.battarino@ontario.ca
Tel: 416-314-8001 
Toll-free: 1-800-461-6290

Project history

Class environmental assessment—major amendment (2024): approved
Expiry of public comment period: May 9, 2023
Amendment date: February 22, 2024

Class environmental assessment – major amendment (2023): approved
Date submitted: July 8, 2020
Expiry of public comment period: August 22, 2020
Decision date: December 15, 2023

Class environmental assessment – administrative amendment (2020)
Amendment date: July 8, 2020

Class environmental assessment – minor amendment (2000)
Amendment date: July 14, 2000

Class environmental assessment (1999): approved
Date submitted: December 19, 1997
Expiry of public comment period on ministry review: December 25, 1998
Decision date: October 6, 1999

Class environmental assessment—major amendment (2024)

Ontario is modernizing its environmental assessment program to better serve communities now and in the future.

As part of this work, we amended the Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Transportation Facilities so that it applies to more projects, such as:

• establishing new freeways
• municipal expressways

The amendments also rename the class environmental assessment to the “Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Transportation Facilities and Municipal Expressways” to better reflect the project types covered by the class.

These and other amendments align the class environmental assessment with:

• amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act
• new regulations made to move to a project list approach for projects that will require a comprehensive environmental assessment

Class EAs continue to provide a framework for consultation, identification of potential impacts and mitigation measures.

Class environmental assessment—major amendment (2023)

To support the government’s modernization initiative, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) proposed an amendment to its Class EA for Provincial Transportation Facilities (MTO Class EA). The MTO Class EA allows projects that involve the planning, design, construction, upgrade and maintenance of the provincial transportation network to proceed without having to get project-specific approval under the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA). The requirements in the Class EA must be met before a project can move forward.

The 2023 amendments to the Class EA will reduce duplication and streamline the process for transportation projects, reducing delays on projects that matter most to Ontario communities while maintaining strong environmental oversight and protection.

The Class EA for Provincial Transportation Facilities is one of 10 class EAs that are approved for use in Ontario.

Approved amendments

These amendments consider the feedback we heard from Indigenous communities, stakeholders and other agencies. The amendments include:

• changing the assessment requirements for projects so they better align with a project’s potential for environmental impacts, including:
  • renaming project groups to more accurately reflect the types of projects that are designated under each
  • shifting certain projects to a lower project group to better align their assessment with their potential for impact
  • removing the option to “step down” a Group B project to a Group C
  • exempting additional projects from the requirements of the EAA where they are considered to have a low potential for impacts (for example, rehabilitation projects within the existing right of way)
  • establishing a screening process that, if successfully completed, would exempt additional projects on a case-by-case basis
• eliminating the requirement to advance the planning and assessment of projects beyond the preliminary design stage of the MTO Class EA process, consistent with other Class EA processes
• creating a formal issues resolution process to address concerns raised during the MTO Class EA process and public review periods
• improving the MTO Class EA’s readability so it’s easier to understand and follow
• addressing outdated references to legislation, organizations, and terminology

Please visit the Environmental Registry for more details.

Class environmental assessment – administrative amendment (2020)

On July 8, 2020, the Director of the Environmental Assessment Branch made amendments to the Class EA to replace terms or phrases related to notices required by the Class EA. The purpose of this administrative amendment was to create consistency between the Class EA documents. This amendment was made pursuant to section 15.4(5) of the Environmental Assessment Act. 

Class environmental assessment (1999) as amended (2000)

On December 19, 1997, MTO submitted an EA document to support an application for approval of their Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) for the Provincial Highways Program which includes the planning of various provincial transportation facilities listed within the Class EA document. The Environmental Assessment Act provides for the preparation of Class EAs for approval by the Minister. A Class EA is an approved planning document that defines a group of projects and activities and the environmental assessment processes which the proponent commits to following for each of these undertakings. The government review of this environmental assessment was published on November 25, 1998 for a 30-day public comment period. This project was approved on October 6, 1999.