Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[anb]

View attachment 343698

When will there be tolls on other 400 series’s highway, this happens all day and night for whatever reason.

Does fast and reliable public transit exist between Mississauga and North Etobicoke?

There's only the Airport and Renforth Station that does 1 direct connection each between the communities (Lawrence and Eglinton respectively). Humber College also does it further north but its very linear and 1 of them is an express route which Miway is underperforming with 20 min service all day instead of the 10 min or better service pre pandemic (107). There is also one route that goes deep into Etobicoke from Westwood-Islington via Derry/Rexdale but that route comes every 30-40 mins and doesn't run on Sundays so none of these options are good ones to help this bottleneck portion of the highway. Then there's GO Transit route 19 that goes from Square One-Finch via Renforth but that doesn't come nearly as frequently as it should. Basically. connections between Mississauga and North Etobicoke are hard to swallow.

They should've generated more TTC routes/branches at Renforth and push more riders towards that Eglinton West LRT extension which is the only probable solution right now to help with this section of the 401, as well as maybe a route that heads up to VMC or Pioneer Village that could help with the 400 traffic as well, but its probably never going to happen and we have to deal with the shame everytime that the Richview Expressway wasn't built and this is the result of not pushing for that.

 

[Bojaxs]

I just binged watched a documentary called "Deadliest Roads". It really helps to put things in perspective. Made me appreciate the roads and transit we have in our country and all the work that goes into maintaining them. Some of the countries in this "docu series" have main highways still made of mud. Often a truck gets stuck in the mud and the traffic gets backed up for days.

The Congo episode displayed the most acute example of this. In the second half of the episode a truck gets buried in the muddy highway and everyone gets stuck on the side of the road for 4 days with no help in sight. How does a country even function like this?

Imagine if the 401 was in a similar state.

 

[W. K. Lis]

You're all merging wrong. Here's the best way to eliminate traffic bottlenecks​

It's called the 'zipper merge,' and it could be unclogging our roads right now

From link.

Reißverschlussverfahren​

Virtually every traffic scientist agrees Canada is absolutely awful at merging through bottlenecks.

In fact, it’s hard to imagine how we could be worse. At the first sign of a lane coming to an end, the Canadian strategy is to immediately cram into single file and abandon the soon-to-run-out lane. Then, as cars slowly inch ahead through the gap, they zealously defend the sanctity of the line by aggressively blocking the entry of any and all late mergers.

But the late mergers always get through, forcing the queued drivers to watch with mounting frustration as BMW after BMW cuts to the front of the line.

The system is dangerous, anarchic, slow — and in some of the better-driving parts of the world it’s illegal. In Germany or Austria, refusing entry to a late merger can get you a ticket.

The reason is that German-speakers know there is a better way. They (naturally) gave it a complicated name, reißverschlussverfahren. But in North America, it is known simply as the zipper merge.

The zipper merge works by simply having drivers delay their merge until the lane has come to an end. Then, at the precise point of the bottleneck, drivers from each lane take turns entering the gap, like a zipper.

The most obvious benefit is reduced congestion. Cramming into one lane can double the length of a line of traffic and cause unnecessary road blockages to fan out for kilometres behind the bottleneck.

Second, the zipper merge is fair. The simple mantra of “stay in your own lane until the bottleneck” prevents the stress and anarchy of jockeying for position in a single lane. The aforementioned line-cutting BMW, meanwhile, no longer has a clear path to the front of the line.

And, incredibly, the zipper merge might even be faster. A 2004 study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council found that under ideal conditions, the smooth efficiency of the zipper merge results in a faster movement of traffic through the bottleneck.

In essence, when a line of traffic isn’t forced to come to a virtual halt in the chaos of early merging, it allows traffic to maintain momentum that gets it past the obstruction quicker.

“By working together, by abandoning our individual preferences and our distrust of others’ preferences, in favor of a simple set of objective rules, we can make things better for everyone,” wrote Tom Vanderbilt in the 2008 book Traffic.

Jurisdictions have tried with varying success to convert their citizens to the gospel of the zipper merge.

Starting in the early 2000s, the state of Minnesota has been the U.S. standard for the zipper merge, rolling out pro-zipper merge signage and public relations campaigns. Since 2015, the City of Saskatoon has been pushing the zipper merge as a method to reduce congestion.

The Alberta Motor Association has also officially come out in support of the zipper merge. “It’s okay to ‘cheat,’” said the organization in a 2017 press release.

The problem, unfortunately, is psychological.

Canadians love lining up. It’s one of our proudest traditions. We line up at bus stops, at Tim Hortons and even on Black Friday.

Naturally, we are a country filled with motorists who have spent their whole lives proudly queuing through bottlenecks — and learning to view late mergers as the literal scum of the earth.

But unlike the nobly egalitarian bus or Tim Hortons lineup, Canadian politeness is hurting the efficiency of our highways.

The beautiful efficiency of the zipper merge only needs a handful of aggressive or overly polite drivers to bring it to a halt, and that’s exactly what has been happening.

Anywhere in North America the zipper merge is introduced, the effort quickly fizzles out unless it’s aggressively backed by signage and police presence.

Dutiful “zipper mergers” quickly find themselves treated as line-cutting pariahs, and vigilante drivers even take to straddling lanes in order to prevent late mergers from getting to the bottleneck.

Converting Canada to the zipper merge is like a miniature version of converting Canada to the metric system. Although the metric system made mathematical sense for efficiency and world trade, we forget that it was viciously opposed by a strong cohort of Canadians who saw it as faddish and inconvenient. That, or they just didn’t want to bother measuring their gasoline in litres.

But the zipper merge is that rare Canadian reform that costs next to nothing, and could immediately yield untold benefits in terms of shorter commutes, lower gas bills and reduced heart rates.

By perpetually turning lanes into a no-man’s-land at the first sign of merge, we are prohibiting Canadian tarmac from being used to its full capacity and potential every day.

 

[lenaitch]

Back in the early days of my driving life when the earth was still cooling, the 'zipper' was pretty much SOP. At some point between the then and the now it disappeared. Social psychologists probably have all sorts of theories; defending personal space, 'time is money', me-centric, etc., etc., but I think there is also the element of diminished driving skills and awareness. In order for the zipper to work, drivers need to have spatial awareness, and that would require a remedial class in mirrors.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Back in the early days of my driving life when the earth was still cooling, the 'zipper' was pretty much SOP. At some point between the then and the now it disappeared. Social psychologists probably have all sorts of theories; defending personal space, 'time is money', me-centric, etc., etc., but I think there is also the element of diminished driving skills and awareness. In order for the zipper to work, drivers need to have spatial awareness, and that would require a remedial class in mirrors.

Need better signage...

From link.

From link.

From link.

 

[11th]

Back in the early days of my driving life when the earth was still cooling, the 'zipper' was pretty much SOP. At some point between the then and the now it disappeared. Social psychologists probably have all sorts of theories; defending personal space, 'time is money', me-centric, etc., etc., but I think there is also the element of diminished driving skills and awareness. In order for the zipper to work, drivers need to have spatial awareness, and that would require a remedial class in mirrors.

I know of people who think zipper merge equates to cutting in line.

 

[Allandale25]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1431439554628702210

 

[Undead]

I don't zipper merge because a**holes will tail gate the guy ahead of them and fail to leave space for me to merge.

 

[afransen]

I know of people who think zipper merge equates to cutting in line.

I think signs would help with the culture change. People can't be mad if people are obeying signs that say to merge that way.

 

[afransen]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1431439554628702210

and

Both came out today. The YT content producers are spying on us!

 

[EnviroTO]

The "keep right except to pass" mantra used to be more ingrained in drivers and people would return to the right lane after passing, and in those days letting someone from the right lane in during a merge was normal. Leisurely Sunday drives were common.

These days the highways are an aggressive competition. There are times I am on the road and the middle lane is packed but the outside lane is empty because everybody thinks they are the fastest people on the road and who cares that they aren't passing because as the fast person they are eventually are going to pass people so they may as well keep left. Seeing people pass on the right infuriates the actually fast people trapped behind the slow "fast" people. You throw in a disappearing lane and the actually fast people that were trapped behind the slow "fast" people are about to lose it. With driving now a competition the drivers are out to win and late mergers who zipped by the backed up traffic are no better than the people who pass during a yellow flag and need to be disqualified. Where are the racing officials when you need them??

 

[afransen]

I usually sit in the right lane and am driving faster the the middle lane. I don't really consider it passing on the right (which is legal in Ontario, but I digress) as I don't change lanes to pass on the right. I just follow lane discipline when volumes allow for it , and half the time there are idiots driving 100 kph in the middle or even left lane.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The "keep right except to pass" mantra used to be more ingrained in drivers and people would return to the right lane after passing, and in those days letting someone from the right lane in during a merge was normal. Leisurely Sunday drives were common.

These days the highways are an aggressive competition. There are times I am on the road and the middle lane is packed but the outside lane is empty because everybody thinks they are the fastest people on the road and who cares that they aren't passing because as the fast person they are eventually are going to pass people so they may as well keep left. Seeing people pass on the right infuriates the actually fast people trapped behind the slow "fast" people. You throw in a disappearing lane and the actually fast people that were trapped behind the slow "fast" people are about to lose it. With driving now a competition the drivers are out to win and late mergers who zipped by the backed up traffic are no better than the people who pass during a yellow flag and need to be disqualified. Where are the racing officials when you need them??

I have seen the right lane disappear (or merge to the left), when it should be the left lane that disappears. That's against the "keep right except to pass". This only leads to more drivers keeping left because it is the right lane that disappears.

 

[lenaitch]

I have seen the right lane disappear (or merge to the left), when it should be the left lane that disappears. That's against the "keep right except to pass". This only leads to more drivers keeping left because it is the right lane that disappears.

That is a major design flaw and I agree it may be one of the reasons drivers avoid the right lane. I imagine many of those instances, at least on the 401 through Toronto, are a result of trying to shoehorn as many lanes as possible into the available footprint.

I still maintain; however, that many people head to the middle lanes simply because they don't want to deal with merging and lane changing traffic. I see this all the time on multi-lanes outside of the GTA when the loss of lanes isn't an issue.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

The zipper merge is a two way street. I've seen drivers using the meeting lane as their own personal queue jump lane. And still others veering around vehicles in front of them on the shoulder to "get further ahead"

I'm not endorsing vigilantes enforcing their idea of appropriate lane merging but remember it's always a two way street.