While your point about aircraft landings is funny, I'm guessing general aviation in Canada is similar to that of the US. It's not really uncommon for planes to land on highways in the US. Even busy ones. It just isn't very interesting to be honest, so no one makes much point about it. I think the FAA publishes numbers on that sort of thing.

You're missing the point. The 40x series highways around Toronto are some of the most gridlocked transportation networks in North America. I believe often ranking worse than LA or Atlanta etc etc. The 401 is pretty much bumper to bumper every single day all day except maybe at like 3am.

The 407 toll route the author is describing takes basically the same route as the gridlocked 401. The toll on the highway is insanely high, probably 10 x higher than anything you'll see in the US on any of the EZpass etc type routes. If you were to take it end to end (100ish km or 60 miles, maybe a 45 minute or 1 hour drive tops) you'd probably be paying at least $60 CAD or so.

Because it's so high, it's essentially vacant large parts of the day.

Yes planes can land on highways and do so all the time. The point is that the only highway they could do that on in the GTA is the 407. Because it's priced so insanely high.

And that money is going straight into private sector bank accounts, not into public coffers.

I've been around Toronto and agree: the roads are mostly parking lots. I actually wonder if the low average speed reduces the cost of maintenance since the roadway should be less worn.

But aren't tolls meant to be set high enough to discourage their use? Otherwise the average travel time on them would be about the same as the untolled route.

The 407 could likely handle 3, 4 times the capacity it holds right now.

I don't know what the elasticity situation and supply/demand looks like for that highway. I can guarantee you that the owners do, and they've set it accordingly to accomplish their goals ($$). But not necessarily the goals the benefit the city.

For me it's the difference between being able to work at certain employers in the west end of the GTA vs not. The fee, paid daily, would be a big nope to me. And I'm upper middle class.

Was the toll road utilized before the government sold it off?

It wasn't finished.

Ah alright, that makes discussion of this rather complicated. We don't really know what the road would have ever looked like when completed by the Canadian government.