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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

I know MTO is rebuilding the Henry Street interchange soon, and as a part of that work the 412 ramp onto the eastbound 401 will be extended and turn into the off ramp onto Henry Street.. but not sure about the west side of the 412.
 
toaster29 said:
It forces people not to wait until the last minute to get out of the right lane, and allows those exiting to the 412 to "zoom' past all those continuing on the 401. I wish this existed where this kind of thing occurs on my commute, where the right hand lane ends up exiting. Everyone continuing stays in that right hand lane making me have to wait until they can sneak back in before I can exit.
Click to expand...

I find just the opposite actually. If a travel lane exits, I find most people get out of it sooner rather than later (yes, you do get the occasional newbie who doesn't realize it exits), but most of the time in congested traffic I find it's the fastest lane. On the QEW EB between Guelph Line and Walkers Line, the rightmost lane exits at Walkers, and it's generally the fastest of all lanes when the highway is congested.

In my opinion, on straight suburban sections of highway where exits are ~2km apart, the acceleration lane of the on-ramp should become a travel lane, and then become the deceleration lane of the next exit. The number of times that I've been stuck in traffic sitting near one exit and my exit is the next one, but having to wait until I'm 500m away from the exit to cut into the deceleration lane and bypass the congestion drives me nuts. I'd much rather be able to hop into the onramp lane and continue in it to the next exit.

innsertnamehere said:
I know MTO is rebuilding the Henry Street interchange soon, and as a part of that work the 412 ramp onto the eastbound 401 will be extended and turn into the off ramp onto Henry Street.. but not sure about the west side of the 412.
Click to expand...

Strange that they're doing it for one side but not the other.
 
Does anyone have any detailed information on the construction work being done on the 401 between Milton and hwy 6? Ive seen that the bridges have been reconstructed with the east and west lanes shifted quite far apart in some sections. I'm aware that widening is scheduled in the long term, is the prep work for it?
 
Apparently the Shawanaga first nation has come out and said they will not lease or sell land needed for Highway 69 four laning unless the provinces allows them to build a casino:

http://www.parrysound.com/news-stor...as-trump-card-in-push-for-parry-sound-casino/

Looking at maps... the highway is proposed to run north of the currently alignment:

http://highway69.ca/highway69/529northerly/pdf/ex E-2 .pdf

And for more fun, they did consider going around the first nation: (9it would be B3) http://highway69.ca/highway69/529northerly/pdf/ex 4-9A.pdf

however it was rejected: http://highway69.ca/highway69/529northerly/pdf/ex 4-9B.pdf
 
ConformistsWake said:
Does anyone have any detailed information on the construction work being done on the 401 between Milton and hwy 6? Ive seen that the bridges have been reconstructed with the east and west lanes shifted quite far apart in some sections. I'm aware that widening is scheduled in the long term, is the prep work for it?
Click to expand...
The work is being performed under contracts 2014-2002 and 2014-2009. They are for complete bridge replacements due to the condition the existing overpasses are/were in. Since the existing structures needed complete replacement, new structures had to be built adjacent to the existing ones. Once complete the much wider structures will provide redundancy for future widenings, but also room for lane shut downs when the time comes to perform repairs to these new structures.

As for as I know, the widening of the 401 to RR 25 is within the 10 year horizon. It's supposed to be tendered by Infrastructure Ontario as one huge AFP between the Credit River and RR25.
 
I swear that I read about the issue of sub-par quality asphalt being used on highways a few years ago:

Ontario auditor general exposes litany of government snafus in annual report

[...]

The auditor also expressed concern that Ontario’s highways are cracking up — long before they should — in some cases just a year or two after being repaved.

That’s because contractors are using poor quality asphalt, costing the government millions in repairs and adding to drivers’ frustrations.

The poor pavement problem was identified some 16 years ago — the diluted asphalt can’t withstand the cold winter weather — yet oversight of testing is lax, leading to tampering.

Queen’s Park has also failed to deal with questionable road contractors and, in fact, continues to pay some bonuses and allows them to bid on future jobs.

The auditor general cited one case where a portion of Highway 7 was in disrepair a year after being paved.

On Highway 403, paving in 2006 was redone in 2008 and again in 2011, and is estimated repairs will be needed yet again, costing millions. The company in question received $686,000 bonus payout.

Roads are supposed to last 15 years before needing upgrades.

While the Ministry of Transportation may say road quality has gone up 8 per cent over the last decade, the auditor general countered that could include roads that have been repaved as cracks repairs are not tracked.

[...]
Click to expand...

https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...ny-of-government-snafus-in-annual-report.html
 
I'm working on something, and I figured this would be a good place to pose the question. What would you consider closer to full 400-series standards: A Super 2 (controlled access, but single carriageway), or a dual carriageway highway with occasional at-grade minor intersections? Or posed another way, is controlled access more important, or a dual carriageway?

An example of each would be Autoroute 50 between Gatineau & Mirabel, and Highway 11 between Gravenhurst & North Bay. You can make a case for either, I'm just curious what people think.
 
I like highway 11 better, but that is because the volume of traffic on the occasional at-grade intersections is small. If it increases, an overpass can be built.
Avoiding head on collisions is important.
How about highway 11 between Barrie and Orillia?
 
That's the way I lean as well. It's easier to build an overpass or interchange (like on the Hanlon as well, which has seen interchanges gradually added) than it is to add a whole second carriageway, even if the overpasses are already in place. I also don't have the stats immediately available, but I would venture to guess that fatal collisions are lower on dual carriageways with occasional at-grade crossings than they are on Super 2s. The risk of head-ons is significantly higher, which at highway speeds is almost always fatal.

And yes, RIROs are a step below for sure, since many of them have access to/from adjacent uses.
 
Although if you look at Highway Capacity to Cost ratio, RIRO is likely the least expensive than the others (depending on location and cost of land). They likely could use some more paved shoulders to allow entering vehicles a location to accelerate.
 
Super 2's are dangerous when trucks use them frequently. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have quite a collection of them with a posted speed of 100 km/h. They seem to be fine in the quite areas but is annoying if someone is tailgating you. They are also dangerous when you're on a curve on a snowy day. I was one going around a curve just east of Gatineau on the A50 where it because a super 2. A very nice scene in the snow but trucks can easily cross over on the other side in slippery situations.

At grade 4 lane expressways like Highway 11 is much safer for 95% of traffic which uses the highway oppose to side roads. I think less animals crosses dual carriageways than a single one. RIRO expressways are only built along built up highways. It doesn't apply to every part of the province. MTO did a EA to convert highway 35 from the split up to Lindsay a decade back. I would like to see that happen but who knows when. Maybe 2030?

Highways need significant land to be acquired. Interchanges add to that price as they need to acquire the land over the ramps. Many super 2's are built with diamond interchanges to reduce this cost. Parclos are particularly more expensive. Also, a bridge structure cost more to maintain over time than second carriageway.
 
I don't think 35 will be converted any time soon, there isn't much traffic growth on it. Mind you, Lindsay has been growing quite a bit recently so those numbers may be rising again. Last time I checked it had been sitting at around 6,500 AADT for around 10 years. Typically 4 laning requires over 10,000.
 
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