lanes. Construction north of Toronto proceeded quickly, with the contract for the section from Steeles to Highway7 being awarded in 1976 and the section opening on November10, 1978. The next extension, to Stouffville Road (then known as the Gormley Side Road), was opened ceremoniously on December9, 1980 by minister James Snow; the segment north of Highway7 was four lanes wide. The section of Highway404 north of Stouffville Road was the subject of considerable controversy when work began to clear the route on May15, 1981 before the completion of an environmental impact assessment. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications was charged with violating the newly enacted Environmental Assessment Act, which it contested came into effect after construction of the extension had begun. Minister James Snow was charged with violating the act, and called upon to resign. The Minister did not resign, but paid a C$3,500 fine. Despite the issues surrounding it, the extension between Stouffville Road and Bloomington Road was opened ceremoniously on the morning of August10, 1982. Construction on the segment north of Bloomington to Aurora Sideroad was already in progress by this point. It was opened to traffic in late September 1985. 16th Avenue, which had been widened from two to four lanes during the mid-1980s, received ramps connecting to the freeway south of that existing underpass. Construction on the section from Wellington Street to Davis Drive began in early 1986, and the section opened to traffic on October24, 1989 at 8:30am. This final segment cost $22.1million, ending the continuous construction program undertaken since 1973 at a cost of $83.3million. Expansion Studies and environmental assessments into various extensions began almost immediately after the completion of the route to Newmarket in 1989; it would take over a decade for any northward progression to take place. The completion of the route to Davis Drive was met with scorn as traffic in Newmarket rapidly increased as the bedroom community grew with the new highway access. Municipal officials warned prior to the opening of the route that major traffic delays would be faced along Davis Drive. Then-mayor Ray Twinney began an immediate push to widen Green Lane – at that time an unpaved rural route – into a bypass of the town. Traffic delays were also compounded at the southern end of Toronto, where drivers whom had previously made use of Yonge Street, Bayview Avenue or Leslie Street would shift to make use