Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[W. K. Lis]

So after a couple of days of using the 427 extension... my observations: the Bolton truck traffic makes starting & ending at Major Mac. pretty miserable if you are using the highway 50 route.

SB highway 50 has a single left turn lane onto Major Mac, and truck traffic piles up during rush hour like crazy as everyone is trying to get to the start of the 427.
Coming home, getting off at Major Mac quickly leads you to a massive traffic jam, as there is only one right turn lane from WB Major Mac to NB Highway 50. Same story with massive truck traffic. Even the straight through to Coleraine (the highway 50 bypass) gets backed up... It's supposed to be truck-free, but is only one lane in each direction. Too many cars attempt a left at Countryside Dr (no dedicated left turn lane here!) which backs traffic up real bad too. .

I would be interested in if "Waze" would suggest getting off at Highway 7 or Rutherford Road before continuing north on Highway 50? And use Highway 7 or Rutherford for the reverse trip. Bypassing Major MacKenzie entirely.

 

[EddyMCD]

It probably depends on the time of day as to what is faster. Hopefully the Region of Peel quickly realizes they need to re-work the Major Mac/Highway 50/Coleraine intersection. Knowing the residents of Bolton, they will be complaining a lot if the traffic on Major Mac is bad.

 

[kamira51]

Those problems are planned to be addressed relatively soon, or at least the Highway 50 problem. York Region is planning to widen Highaway 50 to 6 lanes through that stretch in 2024.. so still a few years off. I'm surprised they didn't add a second left turn lane sooner though. I wouldn't be surprised if that intersection is accelerated. The right turn problem probably isn't going to go away entirely though, at least until Coleraine Drive gets upgraded. Not sure on the timing of that one. York Region will probably build a right turn merge which will increase throughput, but not eliminate that issue.

But yea, not great. I'm sure getting to Bolton is still much faster than before the highway though..

The 427 extension is probably the closest thing to a freight-supportive road infrastructure investment you can get, same with anything involving Coleraine Drive and Highway 50. The amount of truck traffic on those roads is insane. You can't just fix it with transit.

My biggest gripe with the gta west proposal is they cut out the interchange on Coleraine Drive, thus forcing trucks to through more traffic lights. Traffic lights are the biggest issue on the road, they waste so much time for trucks it's ridiculous.

I doubt the gta west will ever get built, so that's why I never included it in my alightment proposal that saw an extension right to Mayfield/Coleraine drive intersection.

 

[whydidimakethis]

im thinking of like highway 115 type extension. 4 lanes, small footprint following the existing highway 10 with a concrete median but still controlled access. The environmental impact would be very limited. Like i really hate the huge grass medians for 400 series highway, its such a waste of land (like the bradford bypass).

The ROW is already there to make a RIRO relatively easily enough. There is already enough space in the middle to add a median, and then after that you just have to spruce up the merge lanes to RIRO standards, add bridges here and there so cars can make left turns, and then bam, you have a new high capacity route with no traffic lights while still accommodating property access to adjacent land. The problem with the freeway would be acquiring all the land adjacent to the highway, also full interchanges are expensive.

 

[Deadpool X]

Not sure if it's been talked about, but the 35/115/7 through Peterboro has a quasi express/collector system. Noticed it a couple months ago, and it's kinda neat. Like a one lane express bypass.

Where exactly?

 

[ShonTron]

Highway 10 operates generally fine from the few times I've driven it.. And that's some very, very sensitive environmental land through there. I can see why MTO isn't really planning to extend the 410.

The most I could is is 10 turning into a RIRO at some point like 35/11. Same thing with Highway 6 from Waterdown to Guelph.

Highway 10 is still mostly fine as is, barring summer weekend traffic. The MTO should have protected for a Caledon Village bypass decades ago, but in the end, just widened the highway through it. The number of gravel trucks turning from 10 to 24 is a bit much, but otherwise the signalized intersections are sufficient.

I am more interested in upgrading Highway 10 north of Orangeville, particularly around Shelburne. A bypass around the town is necessary now, given how much Shelburne is sprawling these days. More passing lanes between Shelburne and Owen Sound is necessary as well - it can be an unpleasant drive, especially northbound as the highway is too busy for passing opportunities on two-lane sections.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Yea, a Caledon & shelbourne bypass and extending the 4-landing up to Highway 89 would be useful.

the only time I’ve driven that way was on my way to Owen Sound in a blizzard in February so it was just an ugly drive in general, so I can’t really comment on the highway north of Shelbourne.

MTO could probably use a dedicated town bypass fund to be honest. I can think of 10+ towns in southern Ontario alone that could probably really use a bypass, and MTO has largely stopped building them for whatever reason.

 

[ShonTron]

Since the 1980s, the MTO’s attitude can be summed up as “freeways or nothing.” The one exception I can think of is Highway 26 New between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood, which was innovative by Ontario standards.

Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener has lingered as a overloaded two lane road as work stalls forever on a freeway replacement. The smart thing would have been to simply upgrade that and accelerate transit alternatives to mitigate the need for a new highway.

The boom in bypasses was in the 1960s – Ontario took federal Trans-Canada Highway money to upgrade Highways 7, 12, 17, and 69 with major bypasses of places like Thunder Bay, North Bay, Parry Sound, Orillia, Lindsay, Peterborough, Pembroke, Renfrew, and Carleton Place.

Those worked out pretty good.

 

[kamira51]

Yea, a Caledon & shelbourne bypass and extending the 4-landing up to Highway 89 would be useful.

the only time I’ve driven that way was on my way to Owen Sound in a blizzard in February so it was just an ugly drive in general, so I can’t really comment on the highway north of Shelbourne.

MTO could probably use a dedicated town bypass fund to be honest. I can think of 10+ towns in southern Ontario alone that could probably really use a bypass, and MTO has largely stopped building them for whatever reason.

Since the 1980s, the MTO’s attitude can be summed up as “freeways or nothing.” The one exception I can think of is Highway 26 New between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood, which was innovative by Ontario standards.

Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener has lingered as a overloaded two lane road as work stalls forever on a freeway replacement. The smart thing would have been to simply upgrade that and accelerate transit alternatives to mitigate the need for a new highway.

The boom in bypasses was in the 1960s – Ontario took federal Trans-Canada Highway money to upgrade Highways 7, 12, 17, and 69 with major bypasses of places like Thunder Bay, North Bay, Parry Sound, Orillia, Lindsay, Peterborough, Pembroke, Renfrew, and Carleton Place.

Those worked out pretty good.

My theory is it's because of all the environmental regulations and etc, waste so much time(no wonder nothing gets built in this province), it's a pain in the ass.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Since the 1980s, the MTO’s attitude can be summed up as “freeways or nothing.” The one exception I can think of is Highway 26 New between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood, which was innovative by Ontario standards.

Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener has lingered as a overloaded two lane road as work stalls forever on a freeway replacement. The smart thing would have been to simply upgrade that and accelerate transit alternatives to mitigate the need for a new highway.

The boom in bypasses was in the 1960s – Ontario took federal Trans-Canada Highway money to upgrade Highways 7, 12, 17, and 69 with major bypasses of places like Thunder Bay, North Bay, Parry Sound, Orillia, Lindsay, Peterborough, Pembroke, Renfrew, and Carleton Place.

Those worked out pretty good.

26 only happened because it was going to be a full freeway that got cancelled halfway through construction and MTO eventually built a half-hearted retrofit onto the already built infrastructure, no?

I do think Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener is best as a full freeway, but generally agree with you. MTO has spent far too little on it's non-freeway network in the last 40 years.

Towns like Shelbourne, Cookstown, Hagersville, Dunnville, Brechin, Brooklin, Shakespeare etc., all need bypasses, a lot of roads need more passing lanes (35 south of Lindsay comes to mind, Highway 6 south of Hamilton, Highway 10 north of Shelbourne, etc), etc.

I think MTO should re-introduce more RIRO type highways as well. They get you freeway style roads with similar travel times but are much less environmentally destructive and less expensive. 6 between Guelph and Hamilton and 10 through Caledon are good candidates. I know MTO long term is still planning on upgrading 35 south of Lindsay to a RIRO, so they are still ok with that style of highway, but that stretch of road really doesn't need anything more than some climbing lanes and passing lanes.

MTO does have some "mid quality" roads planned still, like 3 from Windsor to Leamington and 7/8 from New Hamburg to Stratford.

 

[Transportfan]

Does anyone know if the MTO is planning an extension, especially if the GTA West highway gets scrapped by the feds (which they absolutely should).

Aren't there any proponents of 413 on this site?

 

[kamira51]

Aren't there any proponents of 413 on this site?

I support the section that goes through southern Caledon because of the traffic volume on Old School Road/Healey Road, King St, and most importantly Mayfield Road is absolutely crazy.

 

[nfitz]

26 only happened because it was going to be a full freeway that got cancelled halfway through construction and MTO eventually built a half-hearted retrofit onto the already built infrastructure, no?

I've never heard that before. There's been some thoughts - but I don't recall any contracts for an expressway being issued - let alone halfway through construction. Do you have a link?

 

[innsertnamehere]

I've never heard that before. There's been some thoughts - but I don't recall any contracts for an expressway being issued - let alone halfway through construction. Do you have a link?

My understanding was that it was started as a "first step" of a full freeway bypass of Collingwood in the early 2000's, with the land being graded and cleared, before sitting idle for 5-8 years or so and getting completed at a reduced scope.

Could be wrong on that though.

 

[Transportfan]

I've never heard that before. There's been some thoughts - but I don't recall any contracts for an expressway being issued - let alone halfway through construction.

There was an interchange with Mosley St. originally planned but it was replaced with a roundabout.