Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[Bojaxs]

QEW HOV lanes to be extended to Winston Churchill and the 403 between the QEW and 407 will be widened to 6 lanes. NICE!

Looks like the Ford Dr. area of Oakville will be a mess of construction for the next 3 years. So many changes coming to Upper middle and Dundas st. The ability to get on and off the 403 at Upper Middle will be removed permanently.

http://www.oakville.ca/residents/highway-403-QEW-improvements.html

I'm excited for this project. I live near this area and I;ve been waiting a long time for them to widen this section of the 403 to 6 lanes.

The province could easily extend the HOV lanes to Erin Mills. Don't know why they aren't doing that. Wish they could just bulldoze all those houses leaning up against the QEW in Mississauga and extend the HOV lanes straight to the Gardiner.

 

[gweed123]

The province could easily extend the HOV lanes to Erin Mills. Don't know why they aren't doing that. Wish they could just bulldoze all those houses leaning up against the QEW in Mississauga and extend the HOV lanes straight to the Gardiner.

Yeah Winston Churchill seems like kind of a weird place to end the lanes, especially because the recently rebuilt interchange at Erin Mills already has a bridge wide enough to accommodate HOV lanes.

Glad to hear about that project though. Next thing is to reconfigure the QEW-403-407 interchange, because especially heading westbound on the QEW at Brant, it's a mess.

 

[Bojaxs]

Yeah Winston Churchill seems like kind of a weird place to end the lanes, especially because the recently rebuilt interchange at Erin Mills already has a bridge wide enough to accommodate HOV lanes.

Glad to hear about that project though. Next thing is to reconfigure the QEW-403-407 interchange, because especially heading westbound on the QEW at Brant, it's a mess.

They're currently working on it.

http://cms.burlington.ca/Page10057.aspx

 

[gweed123]

They're currently working on it.

http://cms.burlington.ca/Page10057.aspx

Glad to see, thanks!

On another note, anybody know when we'll see some actual construction of the West Durham Link near the 401? I noticed they cleared a bunch of trees a while ago, but I figured given the 2015 completion date that I'd have seen some work on the interchange by now. Also, is an extension of the express-collector system to the WDL going to be done at the same time? Or is that coming later?

 

[Edllguy]

Hello everyone. Haven't posted in this thread before but here we go.

Steeles Ave under the 400 Highway uses only 1 of the 2 underpass tunnels to accomodate east west traffice flow. These 2 underpasses were built when the 407 (just slightly north) was constructed.

My question for those in the know is the following:

Is that second underpass (currently unused) meant to accomodate future population growth needs in north Toronto/Woodbridge or is the unused underpass meant to accomodate a future South Bound Steeles exit coming off the 400 as there is no current exit to get off at Steeles when traveling south on 400.

Thanks

 

[CDL.TO]

Rather than extending the HOV lanes to Winston Churchill (which seems to be another arbitrary ending point), they should have the QEW HOV lanes feed directly into the 403 and build HOV lanes to close the gap with the existing 403 HOV lanes.

A steady HOV lane, going from Brant St in Burlington to Eglinton Ave in Mississauga would be very beneficial to HOV users.

Direct HOV-to-HOV connections between highways are quite common in the LA region.

 

[gweed123]

Rather than extending the HOV lanes to Winston Churchill (which seems to be another arbitrary ending point), they should have the QEW HOV lanes feed directly into the 403 and build HOV lanes to close the gap with the existing 403 HOV lanes.

A steady HOV lane, going from Brant St in Burlington to Eglinton Ave in Mississauga would be very beneficial to HOV users.

Direct HOV-to-HOV connections between highways are quite common in the LA region.

It would be useful for the southbound 403 to westbound QEW, but going the other way it doesn't really back up, so that added expense for a flyover wouldn't be too justified. But yes, HOV to HOV connections would be very useful, especially for connecting highways to the 401 (if the 401 ever gets them that is).

 

[Bojaxs]

Direct HOV-to-HOV connections between highways are quite common in the LA region.

Any pictures or videos of what they look like?

Not saying it's impossible, but it seems like it would be fairly difficult to have 2 sets of HOV lanes on the highway when it splits off between the 403 and QEW.

It would probably turn into a mess of fly overs.

One thing I didn't notice about this project until later is that fact that Oakville is going to connect Royal Windsor with Iroquois Shore. That's a big deal! That's really going to help connect the city and will definitely help with congestion on Trafalgar Rd.

 

[ShonTron]

Any pictures or videos of what they look like?

Here's one that would be very similar to a QEW-403 HOV lane split. This is a three-way interchange between Interstate 10 and US 60 near Phoenix. Note the flyovers that allow HOV lanes between the north and east directions.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=33.38...1.962357&spn=0.012362,0.016844&num=1&t=h&z=16

Here's what the approach looks like from the north:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=33.38...=o6rvG3J9FXXP9IsKpYL_Nw&cbp=12,187.33,,1,2.29

 

[CDL.TO]

That's a great example! Thanks Shon!

 

[Basshats]

An Ottawa (sort of) highway question: The last couple of time I was there I noticed that there were some sort of supports being built on the Queensway (417) just east of the Riverside/Vanier Parkway bridge and just west of the baseball stadium. Anyone know their purpose?

 

[Wrenkin]

An Ottawa (sort of) highway question: The last couple of time I was there I noticed that there were some sort of supports being built on the Queensway (417) just east of the Riverside/Vanier Parkway bridge and just west of the baseball stadium. Anyone know their purpose?

I believe they intend to build a pedestrian bridge from the Train Bus/LRT station across to the area by baseball stadium. This would tie in with the plans to provide tunneled pedestrian access underneath the tracks to new office development on the south side, near the Post Office.

Currently it's kind of a nightmare to cross over the Queensway on foot when you're coming from the Walmart etc at the train yards because pedestrians have to yield to cars on the on/off ramps. This is especially a problem when you have cars coming northbound over the hump of the bridge attempting to head westbound on the highway.

 

[gweed123]

I believe they intend to build a pedestrian bridge from the Train Bus/LRT station across to the area by baseball stadium. This would tie in with the plans to provide tunneled pedestrian access underneath the tracks to new office development on the south side, near the Post Office.

Currently it's kind of a nightmare to cross over the Queensway on foot when you're coming from the Walmart etc at the train yards because pedestrians have to yield to cars on the on/off ramps. This is especially a problem when you have cars coming northbound over the hump of the bridge attempting to head westbound on the highway.

That's correct. It's for a new pedestrian bridge in conjunction with 3 different projects: the updating of the Ottawa Baseball Stadium, the new LRT line, and the widening of the 417. It's its own independent project, but it has ties to all 3.

I believe the City is looking at selling some of the parking lot space at the baseball stadium for office/hotel development, so as a result they need to make it easier for people to take transit to the events there.

 

[Basshats]

A bit off-topic but it makes sense to respond here. Re: Parking at baseball stadium - More parking space taken away? Hopefully not too much. My parents were Lynx season ticket holders for the first few years but they and many of those around them became less enamoured with attending once the loss of parking space created more bottlenecks getting in and a lack of space for larger crowds. Obviously the AA team won't draw like the Lynx during the glory years but, since a large portion of the previous crowds came from the suburbs and drove there, they are going to have to do everything they can to provide enough parking. Regardless of a pedestrian bridge only so any people will take transit.

 

[gweed123]

A bit off-topic but it makes sense to respond here. Re: Parking at baseball stadium - More parking space taken away? Hopefully not too much. My parents were Lynx season ticket holders for the first few years but they and many of those around them became less enamoured with attending once the loss of parking space created more bottlenecks getting in and a lack of space for larger crowds. Obviously the AA team won't draw like the Lynx during the glory years but, since a large portion of the previous crowds came from the suburbs and drove there, they are going to have to do everything they can to provide enough parking. Regardless of a pedestrian bridge only so any people will take transit.

I believe that the hotel and convention centre has parking spaces that make up for it. I'd assume that any new development would also incorporate similar underground parking. They're also reducing the capacity of the stadium slightly, so parking won't be as much of an issue.