QEW HOV lanes open

[Jonny5]

This was a huge project. A lot of bridges and infrastructure had to be built or replaced, notably at Bronte and Sixteen Mile Creeks.
Perhaps GO's QEW Express will now actually use a part of the QEW during rush hour.

Commuters set to get a break with HOV lanes on QEW

Commuters in Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton should get some relief from traffic congestion on the QEW starting Monday when the province is expected to open new high occupancy vehicle lanes between Trafalgar Rd. and Guelph Line.

The 16-kilometre widening to eight lanes from six, was announced in 2007 and cost about $380 million.

About 175,000 cars travel that section of the QEW every day, according to a spokesperson for Ontario Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne.

HOV lanes are believed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging more drivers to carpool since only cars carrying more than one person are permitted to use the new lanes.

About 39 kilometres of HOV lanes have also been operating on Highways 403 and 404 since about 2005, where the government claims they have cut trip times by about 12 minutes on average.

In 2006 Ontario transportation studies showed the average rush-hour speed in HOV lanes on Highway 403 was 100 km/h compared to 60 km/h in general traffic lanes. On Highway 404 southbound, the HOV average was 70 km/h compared to 50 km/h in the other lanes.

Some critics, however, have said HOV lanes are just more room to put cars and transportation experts say police enforcement of the occupancy rules is critical to the success of the carpooling lanes.

The Ontario government plans to add more than 450 kilometres of HOV lanes around Toronto, including the Niagara region and north to Barrie, over the next 25 years.

The QEW lanes are part of the $32 billion Open Ontario infrastructure funds.

 

[gweed123]

Ok, so I drive a Camry Hybrid, and I pass signs for the HOV lanes (both on the 403 and on the 417 here in Ottawa) that state that "green" vehicles are allowed. I'm pretty sure my car qualifies as "green", but I still choose not the use the lanes with just myself in the car, for fear of the cop not knowing that green vehicles are allowed (or not seeing that my car is a hybrid), and pulling me over. Can anyone clarify what the law actually is?

PS: Great news about the HOV lanes. I've been driving to Burlington a few times a month, and the HOV lanes have looked done for some time now, but they have been blocked off. It's especially annoying when you're stuck in traffic at 3pm on a Saturday, with another person with you in your hybrid, but you can't use the HOV lane because it's not open yet.

 

[gweed123]

Oh wait, found the answer to my own question. Apparently it's only plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles. What a rip.

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/electric/ev-green-plates.shtml

 

[Jayomatic]

The lanes have looked complete for about a month now. I'm sure they're just waiting for people's schedules to sync up for a photo op.

 

[nfitz]

The lanes have looked complete for about a month now. I'm sure they're just waiting for people's schedules to sync up for a photo op.

I drove through 3 weeks aago, and a couple of places were done, other places were still in need of paving, and other places still had concrete barriers everywhere as you got further west.

They certainly haven't been all done for a month!

 

[gweed123]

I drove through 3 weeks aago, and a couple of places were done, other places were still in need of paving, and other places still had concrete barriers everywhere as you got further west.

They certainly haven't been all done for a month!

The section from Trafalgar to Burloak certainly has been. It was only the section from Burloak to Guelph Line that was lagging. I suspect that's why it wasn't opened until now (although why they couldn't just open up the section between Trafalgar and Burloak, I don't know, considering that's the section that backs up most).

 

[reaperexpress]

The 16-kilometre widening to eight lanes from six, was announced in 2007 and cost about $380 million.

HOV lanes are believed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging more drivers to carpool since only cars carrying more than one person are permitted to use the new lanes.

Adding HOV lanes by widening the road does not cut greenhouse gas emissions. It causes there to be more cars on the road, each spewing out GHGs. It is true that an 8 lane road with HOV lanes probably has fewer emissions than an 8 lane road without them, but saying that adding HOV lanes while widening the road will decrease greenhouse gas emissions is simply a lie.

 

[catcher_of_cats]

The construction is not 100% complete. There are proper barriers, clean up, plantings, and repaving to do.

 

[Observer Walt]

Yay! This project has been ongoing for too long. To make things worse, the alternative route, Dundas St., has also been under major construction. It's good to hear this.

 

[jwill]

This project by itself will not cut any GHG emissions, as it adds 2 lanes and will likely induce some more traffic. But its necessary to add HOV lanes for now as a demonstration of their potential. In the future people can look at the success of these new lanes and support turning existing lanes into HOV, throughout the highway network.

 

[gweed123]

I think this was a case of using existing lanes and converting them to HOV lanes wasn't really an option. The highway isn't just congested during rush hours, it's congested randomly at almost any time of the day. Substituting in an HOV lane would have only made congestion worse. There are some highways were for sure you can take away a lane in each direction and turn them into HOV lanes (the 401 from the 403 to Ajax for example), but the QEW isn't one of them.

While adding an HOV lane will slightly increase the number of cars using the highway, some of that could be offset by the fact that there will be less pollution generated from idling (or barely moving) cars. If there are nearly the same amount of cars on the roadway, but it takes 10 minutes to travel a stretch instead of 30, that's still a pretty drastic reduction in pollution right there, simply because the amount of time the car is on the roadway is decreased.

Will these HOV lanes make a significant impact on rush hour congestion? Probably not. However, I do think they'll have an impact on the amount and severity of off-peak congestion, as multiple passenger vehicle use tends to be higher in off-peak hours (families, etc, as opposed to 1 person driving to work). If off-peak congestion does occur, the number of people who will be able to use the HOV lanes to bypass it will increase, just by the very fact that they happen to have more people in the car (which will in turn promote their effectiveness).

 

[gabe]

And remember inflatable friends don't count as passengers

 

[Haljackey]

Or how about Otto?

RIP Leslie Nielsen.



The highway needed to be widened. Adding HOV lanes was a better option because it can move more people than a general purpose lane (in theory).

However I think roads need to be 10 lanes (5 each way) in order for HOV's to reach their full potential in carrying enough 2+ person traffic. This means they will work better on the 404 as it's 10 lanes and has enough traffic to warrant sufficient HOV use. The 403 and QEW are 8 lanes, and I don't think this enough to generate optimal usage. A general purpose lane could have simply been added here instead without much change to traffic speed and capacity.

 

[k10ery]

I think this was a case of using existing lanes and converting them to HOV lanes wasn't really an option. The highway isn't just congested during rush hours, it's congested randomly at almost any time of the day. Substituting in an HOV lane would have only made congestion worse.

Where traffic is truly stop and go like QEW, converting an existing lane to HOV can increase the road's capacity and reduce congestion because at least some of the cars start to move at highway speeds, increasing throughput in the lane. In this view, it is irrelevant that the privileged cars have more than one occupant. You could get the same effect by reserving a lane for orange cars. (Or "green" cars.)

 

[unimaginative2]

Or how about Otto?

It would be a tricky situation if he started deflating en route.