Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[ssiguy2]

The London/Woodstock stretch of the 401 is very busy but importantly much of the traffic is transport making it even more congested and dangerous.

The stretch between these 2 cities needs to be widened to 4 lanes each way but that is not possible. The median is simply too thin and doing so would require all new interchanges and bridges as well as land purchases............very expensive stuff. It would also not solve the problem of serving London.

Due to political influence, London got screwed twice on the freeway front. The 402 was NEVER suppose to connect to the 401 at London but was suppose to go across northern London to connect to the 403 when it was finally finished to Woodstock. The beer king Labatt put a stop to that. He lives in Northern London on a hill and didn't want the freeway close to his tony area so he cashed in some of his political chips and voila......a southern route.

London also got screwed on the 401. It was suppose to be roughly parallel to Commisioners Road in the city which at the time was the southern most tip.....roughly 3km north of where it is now. It could have actually been useful to London commuters but alas the City of St.Thomas demanded a closer connection so it was placed where it is now. The very original plans had it run that way and continue to it's current Woodstock alignment but actually would have run just north of Ingersol as opposed to just south of it.

London has no freeways so getting from the northern half of the city to the 401 is a painful and slow and in rush hour is a good 45 minutes. For a city it's size, there is no city in the country that comes even remotely close to London with it's traffic congestion.

 

[DKsan]

410 is expanding from 3 to 5 lanes

Brampton Guardian
By Peter Criscione
PEEL—If you thought the commute along Highway 410 was hard now, you might want to brace for the traffic headaches to come as the province embarks on major roadwork.

Ontario’s Transport Ministry confirmed Tuesday that road crews are gearing up to start on new improvements to the highway, including adding High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) and general-purpose lanes in addition to commuter parking lots in Brampton and Mississauga.

The project starts next month and is expected to wrap up in 2018. The work will cover north and southbound lanes and stretch some 12 kilometres from Highway 410 and 401 in Mississauga to Queen Street in Brampton.

Astrid Poei, spokesperson for the ministry, said notifications will show up along the highway in late August just to let motorists know of what’s to come.

She said planners have designed the work to mitigate impact on traffic.

At first, crews will be working on the lane shoulders and stormwater management ponds.

Once the work gears up, Poei said most of the lane closures would occur overnight, although heavier machinery will have to be used during the day because they’re just too noisy.

“We’re trying to limit impacts to traffic where we can,” Poei said. “We will alert the public to any major closures that may occur.”

When the work is complete, the Highway 410 will go from three lanes to five lanes along that stretch.

Commuter parking lots will be added at Courtney Park in Mississauga and Clark Boulevard in Brampton.

Work also includes rehabilitating existing lanes, said Poei noting the project is valued at $156.7 million.

Highway 410 connects Highways 401 and 403 in Mississauga to Brampton. North of Brampton, the highway connects to Highway 10 and continues north into Caledon.

In May 2013, Charles Sousa announced during the provincial budget that high occupancy vehicle toll lanes would more than double around the region — including possibly Highway 410.

At the time, he offered no concrete details but also argued in favour of “HOT” lanes where tolls could raise between $200 million and $300 million for provincial transit and transportation initiatives.

Link

 

[TOareaFan]

Be interesting to see where these 5 lanes go......how the road meets the 401/403 is a large part of the bottleneck....would be nice if the ramp to the 401 eb included a split ramp between the collectors and the express.

Also will be interesting to see how the HOV lanes work.....it is a fairly short stretch of road to have HOV lanes appear then end.

 

[innsertnamehere]

The HOVs will go from queen to the 401, not queen to 407. That's a fairly long stretch.

 

[Translude15]

Thank God they're widening the 410. Long overdue. They should seriously consider adding another lane to the NB and SB connections between the 410-403 as two lanes easily creates a bottleneck when transferring between the two highways.

 

[JasonParis]

Surprised the 410 extension north of Bovaird wasn't built with them in anticipation either (as we assume they will one day go north of Queen).

 

[innsertnamehere]

the plan is to have them go to Bovaird, from my understanding. Nothing further north than that, which leaves me wondering why they aren't just building them to Bovaird in the first place.

 

[TOareaFan]

the plan is to have them go to Bovaird, from my understanding. Nothing further north than that, which leaves me wondering why they aren't just building them to Bovaird in the first place.

I have never heard that they were going north of Queen....what I had thought, however, was that these were going to be HOT lanes but the media is just calling them HOV lanes at present.

 

[innsertnamehere]

edit: just realized this map has it going to Queen. I could have sworn I remember seeing it being planned to Bovaird.

 

[Toffy]

Construction is gearing up on the 427 widening as well, Dufferin has their signs up now and a slew of ramp closures begin on the 22nd of August and September 2nd.

Also, I can't find any information about this one and it has nothing to do with the widening going on south of the 407, but the 427 is closed in both directions north of Highway 7. Con-Drain and Coco Paving crews are ripping up the roadway completely down to the soil. Traffic leading up to highway 7 is a nightmare.

I did some research and Con-Drain was the contractor that built the 427 extension to Zenway a few years ago, but that's all I could find. I haven't seen any contracts pass through RAQS regarding this section of the 427. This isn't a simple resurfacing project, the roadway and base are being completely removed. This closure is going to last a while by the looks of things.

Of course, no infromation regarding this closure is posted on the MTO's website, but this is the same ministry that posts construction notices on the travelers road portal a month or two after they begin. Still nothing on their website regarding upcoming closures for the 427 ramps or about the 403 southbound ramps at Eglinton that have been closed for two weeks now.

 

[innsertnamehere]

the 427 north of highway 7 is owned by York Region, not MTO. might be why. they are probably doing preliminary work to bring the highway to the proper width for the extension.

 

[Toffy]

the 427 north of highway 7 is owned by York Region, not MTO. might be why. they are probably doing preliminary work to bring the highway to the proper width for the extension.

The only tidbit I could find about it was off Wikipedia, saying that RR 99 (427 north of 7) is to be bypassed and removed as a result of the 427 extension. Although; I am searching from my iPhone and that might be why my search isn't coming up with much.

With that being said, considering the work being done, I would agree that it is being outright removed rather than being widened. That's a 3.6 million dollar highway extension that lasted a whole 5 years.

 

[TOareaFan]

The only tidbit I could find about it was off Wikipedia, saying that RR 99 (427 north of 7) is to be bypassed and removed as a result of the 427 extension. Although; I am searching from my iPhone and that might be why my search isn't coming up with much.

With that being said, considering the work being done, I would agree that it is being outright removed rather than being widened. That's a 3.6 million dollar highway extension that lasted a whole 5 years.

The extension to Zenway was always temporary and, I believe, was actually paid for by the Zen group of companies as it unlocked the development lands they were sitting on right there.

 

[CITY_LOVER]

So, when, if ever, will Highway 410 be extended to 5 lanes in each direction (from the current 3) north of Queen all the way to Mayfield, given the continued sprawling growth of Brampton (and beyond)? thanks!

 

[innsertnamehere]

Never, theoretically. the current build north of Bovaird is the final setup, from my understanding. The urban expansion area essentially ends at Mayfield anyway, so there is little need to widen it beyond its current capacity regardless.