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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

20 years it too short. The pavement will have to be redone in 20 years but the bridge structures--which are by far the most expensive part of a freeway project--last for at least 50. Closer to 100 with the newer construction standards. Plus fixing up a bridge or pavement when its lifespan is done is cheaper than building it from scratch, because the corridor is already there. They will not be repaying the entire construction cost every few decades.
How much is more regular maintenance, snowploughing, etc? How long do you think it would take to spend the construction cost again in maintenance and reconstruction?
 
Given today's accident, is there any reason to speculate on the future of the original 1958 span of the Burlington Skyway?
 
It's not going anywhere, as part of MTO contract 2013-2047, it is undergoing structural rehabilitation, coating and repaving to the tune of 50 million dollars.

I wouldn't doubt that the damage done today to the superstructure is comparable to a fender bender. Okay, perhaps not a fender bender, but no means a write off.
 
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I'd agree that its probably nothing to serious, but I'd say its a little bit more than the equivalent to a fender bender;
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That said, I'm sure its nothing that can't be fixed. In fact I'd say the timing couldn't be better, considering they were working on the bridge already.
 
Shows the need for sacrificial structures or laser warning systems though. Even a few days of downtime will have consequences for the area, which is hopefully as long as it will take to get things going again.
 
One reason for another freeway going through the Niagara Peninsula.

There are two bridge structures. If this "problem" will take several days or weeks to fix the original Skyway bridge, the MTO should use the good Skyway structure for two-way traffic, in the interim. The Skyway was originally one structure, before the twin was built.
 
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One reason for another freeway going through the Niagara Peninsula.

There are two bridge structures. If this "problem" will take several days or weeks to fix the original Skyway bridge, the MTO should use the good Skyway structure for two-way traffic, in the interim. The Skyway was originally one structure, before the twin was built.

I agree that there should be a second freeway but this is NOT one of the reasons. Wherever this freeway ends up (403 on top of the Mountain is the best guess), there still will be a huge backlog of traffic if the Skyway is closed. Going through Hamilton with 2 lanes of traffic (that are already fairly busy) will clog up just as much as Eastport.

Eastport is a very good alternative to the Skyway. The ramps off of the QEW are designed for closures. What this closure does is highlight the need to keep Eastport as a bipass (and not turn it into a local road). The MTO should consider provisions for Eastport to allow for 3 lanes on the ramps and to convert it to a 4 lane one-way road when one of the Skyway spans are closed.
 
The Lincoln and red hill are just as good of an alternative as the mid Penn would be for this situation.

Mid Penn isn't happening for a very long time anyway, MTO has decided to add HOV lanes to the QEW to hold over for the next 20-30 years.
 
One reason for another freeway going through the Niagara Peninsula.
Not really. It is a good reason for an upgraded, faster rail system to the Niagara peninsula though. Much better to reduce our reliance on unreliable modes of transportation like driving. By the way, a second freeway does exist at this location - the Linc/Red Hill.
 
I agree that there should be a second freeway but this is NOT one of the reasons. Wherever this freeway ends up (403 on top of the Mountain is the best guess), there still will be a huge backlog of traffic if the Skyway is closed. Going through Hamilton with 2 lanes of traffic (that are already fairly busy) will clog up just as much as Eastport.

Eastport is a very good alternative to the Skyway. The ramps off of the QEW are designed for closures. What this closure does is highlight the need to keep Eastport as a bipass (and not turn it into a local road). The MTO should consider provisions for Eastport to allow for 3 lanes on the ramps and to convert it to a 4 lane one-way road when one of the Skyway spans are closed.

Eastport is still owned and maintained by the MTO, not Hamilton and Burlington/Halton and has a 7000-series MTO internal highway number (it also has all-yellow traffic signals in Hamilton, which uses black and yellow). It's designed for these closures which are most commonly caused by extreme winds. (The Garden City Skyway in St. Catharines is not designed with an easy on/off alternative via Queenston Road/Homer Lift Bridge).

I completely oppose a full Mid-Pen Freeway, but would be open to upgrades and some realignments of Highway 20 (along with MTO re-assumption) to provide a high-quality alternative between Hamilton and Welland, with a new direct Welland-Fort Erie connection to the QEW/Peace Bridge.
 
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The welland fort Erie link was identified in the Niagara study that just finished.

The study recommended twinning highway 6 from the 403 to the airport, building a super two from the airport to the caledon bypass, the Welland - Fort Erie link, and widening the QEW to 6+2HOV.
 
Shows the need for sacrificial structures or laser warning systems though. Even a few days of downtime will have consequences for the area, which is hopefully as long as it will take to get things going again.

I believe that there was a laser warning set up. One of the articles stated that a horn went off to alert workers to vacate the platform. The laser is after Burlington street and there is a sign that warns if a truck is too high. It was set up for this construction.
 
But again, there's good casual reason for one to wonder about the future of the 1958 skyway--after all, besides being a "through truss" (with accidents like this thus more of a factor), it's also about the same vintage as the Champlain, the Tappan Zee, etc. And replacing it with a clone of its prestressed-deck 1984 twin might *seem* logical (if visually duller)...
 

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