ninetykman
New Member
GTA Population growth:
1950 = 1,068,305
1970 = 2,534,788
2018 = 6,082,425
Well with population growth, not building more highways makes no sense. Unless we shutdown the car industry or start making flying cars.
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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion
- Thread starter Haljackey
- Start date
GTA Population growth:
1950 = 1,068,305
1970 = 2,534,788
2018 = 6,082,425
Well with population growth, not building more highways makes no sense. Unless we shutdown the car industry or start making flying cars.
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
Obviously highway expansion can’t be linear. New technologies and techniques can make existing highways more efficient, but some expansion is needed.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The population increases is why the GO Transit expansion is happening, right now. So highways will not be required.
From link.
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
GO doesn’t serve one major group: people who go horizontally from one suburb to another. Yes GO buses exist, but until there’s proper east -west rapid transit (Hwy 7, Hwy 407, Midtown, Finch/Sheppard East/West), driving will still be necessary.
44 North
Senior Member
We also have a good amount of medium sized concrete arch bridges scattered around. Not on the scale of the bridges you and insertname listed, and only really visible from underneath. But still quite nice nontheless. We'll unfortunately be losing one over the coming years (QEW over Etobicoke Ck). Definitely not as grand as QEW over Credit River, or some of the taller ones around. But still a loss in exchange for boring modern status quo.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
employment trends show that a significant margin of new employment growth in the GTA right now is in the downtown. I believe it's something like 50%. Most office job growth is occurring in the downtown.
TOareaFan
Superstar
We may not have built many new highways during those times but it would be interested to see how many "kilometres of lanes" have be been built.
Pretty sure, for example, that the 401 is a bit wider than it was in 1950.
Neutrino
Senior Member
Not in any of our lifetimes.
nfitz
Superstar
Lots of new highways ... the 404 extension opened not that long ago. 427 extension is under construction. The 401 collectors are being extended from 403 to Milton, and 401 itself will be widened from there to Kitchener. 407 extension is under construction. 412 just opened, and 418 is under construction.
This is because of population growth, and urbanization of rural areas.
No one is going to start building north-south highways in central Toronto. The induced demand would just create gridlock downtown ... which is often more driveable even now, I find, compared to trying to drive similar distances in rush-hour in Mississauga, Markham, or Vaughan. or even north of about York Mills/Wilson in Toronto.
The answer is increased and faster transit. New lines. More active transportation. Etc.
BurlOak
Senior Member
Henley Bridge is likely the best example - since the widenings have all been sympathetic (the thicker arch in the photo)..
Bronte Creek (formerly 12 miles creek), 16 Mile Creek (formerly Oakville Creek) and (soon to be) Credit River, have all been widened with a different structure type (prestressed concrete girder for the 2 Oakville ones and (upcoming) cast-in-place cantilever construction for Credit.
BurlOak
Senior Member
Burlington Bay Skyway just celebrated its 70 anniversary.umm. Our bridge just celebrated it's centnennial:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Viaduct
The next "big" bridge that may actually get built in Toronto likely won't even carry cars - it'll probably carry subway trains over the Don Valley as part of the DRL North. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up as a cable stay bridge.
There are lots of nice big bridges in Ontario, but most of them are border bridges, so I feel like most people don't get to experience them regularly. The "biggest" domestic bridge is probably the Burlington Skyway.. but Ontario has a ton of big bridges once you count border bridges:
Peace Bridge
Rainbow Bridge
Ambassador Bridge
Burlington Skyway
Queenston Lewiston Bridge
Garden City Skyway
Bluewater Bridge
Thousand Islands Bridge
Odgensburg-Prescott International Bridge
Seaway International Bridge
Sault Ste Marie International Bridge
Plus the under construction Gordie Howe Bridge..
Oct. 30, 1958: Burlington Bay Skyway completed
Skyway Bridge was longest in Canada when it opened in 1958
Longest overall length that is, not main span. Off the top of my head, Alexandra Bridge (Ottawa) Lions Gate (Vancouver) and Quebec Bridge (Quebec City) are longer main spans.
We have argued about the difference between a "Signature" bridge and a "Landmark" bridge. Our consensus was that a signature bridge has significant additional efforts put in for the architecture or appearance of the bridge. I would call Nipigon River Bridge as signature, but many of the other examples are really the most logical bridge for that crossing that satisfies the constraints.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
How long is the Causeway on highway 11 by rainy river?
TransitBart
Senior Member
60th, non?
BurlOak
Senior Member
Oops.
It's officially called the Noden Causeway.
It is comprised of 2 major bridges that are 615m (with 2-46m navigation spans) and 553m in length and a third bridge that is 138m in length. It actually consists of causeways and 2 islands. Overall, the length of the Causeways and bridges (and short island portions) are about 5km in length - but each individual bridge is not huge (although still MTO's 5th longest, behind the Burlington and Garden City Skyways, and 2 bridges to Prince Edward County - Norris Whitney @ Belleville and Quinte @ Deseronto), and with typical spans of 30m and main span of 46m, it is not that remarkable.
https://www.traveltheheart.org/content/noden-causeway/hoc393589c7ddbfa4f9d
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Interestingly enough, Toronto already has suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges.
The Sewells Road Bridge is a one-lane both ways suspension bridge that is over the Rouge.
The John Street Bridge is a pedestrian cable-stayed bridge over the railways next to the Rogers Centre.
It would be interesting if the Leaside Bridge were to be upgraded using cables to increase carrying capacity for the DRL.
The Sewells Road Bridge is a one-lane both ways suspension bridge that is over the Rouge.
The John Street Bridge is a pedestrian cable-stayed bridge over the railways next to the Rogers Centre.
It would be interesting if the Leaside Bridge were to be upgraded using cables to increase carrying capacity for the DRL.