Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[nfitz]

The Study Report for the Class EA for Highway 401 Improvements, Leslie Street to Warden Avenue is out. It's well into it's 30-day review period before MOE approves it.

There's a copy for download in the MTO library (... was like pulling teeth trying to get an electronic copy ...)

 

[GTS]

There was an article in the Scarborough Mirror, it was about improving hwy 401 overpasses, adding lanes and interchanges from Kennedy Rd. in Scarborough to Brock St.. in Whitby! I don't have the article with me- left it at work, but, it is lots of funding for various projects on this stretch that was to be started in 2013 and complete by 2030 (I believe-my memory isn't the best).

I have thought that it should have been 4 lanes all the way to Oshawa- in fact I thought they might be doing that when they tore down one of the three overpasses right near each other in Oshawa after the Stevenson interchange.

 

[Electrify]

Smoothing out the lanes in the collectors so that you always having to change to avoid exiting the highway would do more than any widening project ever could.

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

Local drivers may get relief from Hwy. 401 and Kennedy Road "lane imbalance"

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/l...-from-hwy-401-and-kennedy-road-lane-imbalance

 

[gweed123]

Anyone know what the timing is for the 401 widening from Brock Rd in Pickering to Brock St in Whitby? I've noticed lately that there's a lot more of a bottleneck occurring at Salem Rd.

 

[GTS]

True gweed123- that is where the highway goes from 5 lanes to three lanes in a relatively short 'merge time'. Hopefully they decide to drop it from the existing 5 lanes and keep it at 4 lanes out to Oshawa! Would ease congestion considerably.

 

[gweed123]

True gweed123- that is where the highway goes from 5 lanes to three lanes in a relatively short 'merge time'. Hopefully they decide to drop it from the existing 5 lanes and keep it at 4 lanes out to Oshawa! Would ease congestion considerably.

Yeah, or at least extend the 4 or 5 lanes to Brock St in Whitby, because that's a heavy traffic exit. I've gotten caught in random slowdowns there at 4pm on a Sunday going eastbound.

 

[Electrify]

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/l...-from-hwy-401-and-kennedy-road-lane-imbalance

Sounds good, but I really hope they also look at the 401 eastbound at Leslie: Where the right lane exits with little warning forcing drivers to merge to the left rapidly, meanwhile motorists coming from the express to exit to Leslie have less than 800m to cross 3 lanes of traffic to the right...

 

[nfitz]

Sounds good, but I really hope they also look at the 401 eastbound at Leslie: Where the right lane exits with little warning forcing drivers to merge to the left rapidly, meanwhile motorists coming from the express to exit to Leslie have less than 800m to cross 3 lanes of traffic to the right...

That's a separate project - that post was about Warden to Brock Road. But about 8 posts up we were discussing Leslie to Warden, including a link to the EA.

I had exactly the same concern, and they sent me a response in September. They are redesigning the exit to Leslie, so that should mitigate some of it (that curve is way too tight, when you first turn to the right).

The wrote:

Although the eastbound transfer from express to collector west of Leslie Street was beyond the limits of this study, the Study Team was aware of the issue you raised. As part of the study recommendations the Study Team included an operational improvement that will benefit the traveling public using the
eastbound transfer west of Leslie Street. The eastbound off-ramp to Leslie Street, presently a single lane “must-exit”, is proposed to be replaced with a two-lane exit. As a result, vehicles entering from the eastbound transfer will only need to make two lane changes (instead of three) in order to exit at Leslie Street.

 

[James]

401 eastbound at both the Leslie and Kennedy exits have the same issue in the rightmost lane. Why they never merge and simply transform into DVP/404 and Kennedy Street exits simply don't make sense. As mentioned above, coming in from eastbound express, you have barely any time to skip over 3-4 lanes to exit, especially in rush hour. You can always be assured there will be a backup at those locations.

 

[Electrify]

I think the best solution, at least in the short term, would be to direct people to transfer into the collectors one interchange early to access these exits. While you might still get idiots who will try to make the exit, at least those unfamiliar with the area won't find themselves in such a do or die situation.

 

[JoeParez]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed in this thread however, I think it's time that a major change is made to the on ramp to the 400 NB going EB on the 401; where it merges with the Weston Road on ramp.

I don't know why it is one single lane to get onto the 400.
It is a sea of red lights and drivers unsure of how to merge properly - especially those that are coming off Weston Road and need to get on the 401. Sometimes I play circus music in my car while approaching that interchange!

 

[Haljackey]

Highway 401 will be expanded in the Durham Region to accommodate the volumes the two new Durham Connector highways to the 407 extension will bring.

If I recall, the 401 will be 10 lanes from Brock Road to the Durham West Connector and 8 lanes to the Durham East Connector.

There's also an additional plan to extend the 401's Collector-Express System from Brock Road to Brock Street.

A lot of prep work to widen the highway's 1940's-era cross-section in Oshawa has been completed as well.


Also a little off topic, but the Highway 401 Wikipedia article is going for 'featured article' status, meaning it's of the highest quality and will be featured on Wikipedia's main page. If you have anything to contribute, here is the the link to the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_401 and the review page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates/Ontario_Highway_401/archive2

 

[DavidH]

Highway 401 will be expanded in the Durham Region to accommodate the volumes the two new Durham Connector highways to the 407 extension will bring.

If I recall, the 401 will be 10 lanes from Brock Road to the Durham West Connector and 8 lanes to the Durham East Connector.

There's also an additional plan to extend the 401's Collector-Express System from Brock Road to Brock Street.

I'm not disputing that this will eventually happen but do you have a reference for this being an active project going to an EA?

 

[gweed123]

I'm not disputing that this will eventually happen but do you have a reference for this being an active project going to an EA?

I would assume it would be, because the Western part of the 407 East extension is supposed to be open before 2020, is it not? I would assume that means the Durham West Connector would be part of that, so it would make sense to do the widening work on the 401 while the new interchange is being built, no?