I drove back from Kamloops again today, and the entire segment of Monte Creek to Pritchard Phase I is indeed divided. I think most of us were hoping this project and Phase II would have a depressed grass median through the majority of the alignment, but I'm at least happy they decided to add a median barrier to improve safety.
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i just drove from dawson creek via chetwynd to prince george and vancouver yesterday, and there was some construction down by 100 mile house they are doubling a large part of the highway there
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Any word on when we'll see the full Monte? :haha:
I thought Phase 2 was delayed (created) because of issues with a grave-site. The MoT website doesn't have any indication about when phase 2 will start that I can see so hopefully this won't be a major hurdle. I would think there must be a respectful protocol for dealing with this kind of thing. |
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I don't know the advantages of a grass median vs barrier, someone else might want to field that. I always thought it was mainly for looks and a more open feel on the road. Maybe there's a benefit from being able to pull off into the median vs the barrier you hit it lol. Phase 2 is supposed to be tendered this year, but due to ongoing consultation with the natives I don't see that happening. |
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I'm aware of the cost savings with a barrier, and that in much of BC's terrain a grass median is unrealistic. What I was asking is whether there is much benefit for a grass median other than driver preference when building one is possible. If a grass median had been chosen for Monte Creek to Pritchard, it would have meant more loss of agricultural land and cost more, so I think that's a reasonable trade off. |
^ Grass medians provide a much softer landing for vehicles gone out of control. Hard barriers perform their job of keeping the lanes segregated, but they make a mess of anything that hits them
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Monte Creek to Pritchard Phase I is effectively complete. When I drove through a week ago all four lanes were open but still a 80 km/hr speed limit, and now the 100 km/hr speed limit has been posted. Maybe there are some odds and ends they are finishing up and that's why it hasn't been posted on the Ministry's website yet.
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Caribou Highway
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Another view of the new Donald Bridge and rail overhead on Hwy 1 taken on November 11, 2012:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8...b4c33f77_c.jpg Source: Flickr/TranBC |
Looks nice! Thanks for posting.
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:previous:Then you will hate many highways in Europe and Japan that are built n the same "small scale" fashion through similar terrain areas.
I have a feeling I know who you are, the same good old troll that will always knock anything BC does highway wise, welcome back! |
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Why do people always use the terrain excuse The US and parts of Eastern Canada have similar terrain as the area around the Donald Bridge yet they would never build an undivided highway/highway bridge Why does BC? |
Why did they build it so... small scale? And don't say its because of $$$
Should have been 2 seperate bridges so the 2 directions are divided BC seriously makes the WORST highway designs |
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In my opinion the thing they do wrong is they don't divide the new highways automatically and tend to only upgrade an insignificant amount of roadway while they're at it. It's sad because once the death and injury toll reaches a certain level they'll likely add the barriers. One has to wonder how expensive those concrete barriers are in the overall cost. Surely nothing compared to a life - but even if you cheap out to save money you likely pay the cost anyway in terms of accidents which can cause significant delays and cost big time for insurance and medical costs. But politicians rarely think that way - that's why BC is likely dead last in deciding to finally twin the #1 highway even though it's their main link to the rest of Canada. But anyway, the new bridge is a welcome improvement. Many of the original bridges were below standards from day one according to the BC MoT website - and anyone who had the hair raising experience of driving on a 1950's era bridge in BC knows they were extremely dangerous even in the 1950's. Besides the lack of safety barriers the main concern most people have is the extremely slow pace for the upgrades. 200 yrs is my estimate considering the current pace. Sad given the cost/benefit a modern highway would give BC. I can't wait to finally drive on the new Donald section. I really hope they fixed the weigh scale section since it's ridiculous to expect cars and other traffic to slow down, yield, make lane changes etc just because of a truck weigh scale. Dangerous and inconvenient from day 1. It would be nice if BC just built stuff right to begin with. That truck station was practically brand new and even then they didn't double the highway there for much of it. And it has nothing to do with terrain. The terrain all the way to Golden and for quite a while towards Revelstoke is relatively easy to double, yet it's just frustrating and dangerous. Understandable if money was tight, but inexcusable given some of the expensive "fluff" that makes it into the budgets while dangerous roads are almost completely ignored for decades. |
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Japan almost always twins their bridges http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/6...8baedb43_b.jpg |
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I know in Taiwan, there's NO twinned bridge and grass median in any freeway except when there's a twin tunnel nearby or if the terrain requires a split grade. Most of the median in older freeways is just a small shrub in between 2 guardrails. The newer freeways almost always use just a jersey barrier. I think China have a similar system... |
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He was the guy who would not stop talking about jersey barriers in the past, he also criticized the new Port Mann bridge supports because the concrete was slightly different colors (due to it being new and still bleeding some moisture). He also hated the new Kicking Horse sections because they "cut too much off the sides of the mountains..." destroying the nature, and that no where else in the world would a highway do that :koko: And yes, I use to live in Japan, and the majority of their highways have little to no median. In fact most are only designed for a 60 to 80 km/h speed. But you will never hear him bitch about that in another country, but if BC does that on a highway then it is the end of the world ;) |
Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff:
http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayproje...luff/index.htm Project Scope Design and construct 5.8 km of 4 lane alignment from existing Pritchard 4 lanes heading east. The project to include intersection and access improvements including consolidation of Willow Rd and Stoney Flats Rd intersections into the new Stoney Flats protected-T intersection and associated side road work. The project will be delivered in 2 phases. Phase 1 will consist of a 2.8 km segment and Phase 2 will be a 3.0 km segment, moving from West to East So it looks like things are finally moving forward again. I've been wondering for awhile if this segment would start before Monte Creek Phase 2, as the negotiations with the Neskonlith are still ongoing. |
This is great but man is it painfully peacemeal.
I hope I live long enough to see the TCH twinned through BC. |
Well.. I can live with few at-grade intersections and some RIROs. But again, no center median barriers?
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At least barriers can be added on a whim. It is not as if they have to redesign the entire project to do so. They are all built with barrier installment in mind, just odd they don't put them in from the get go. All I can think of is these 4 lane sections (such as Donald Bridge) are relatively short, so they are waiting until further sections are added to do so.
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After the Hilltop section completed, there's a 11km of continuous 4-lane all the way to Ford Road. Yet they didn't bother to add a barrier beside a short ~400m one around a curve. For the 6km between Balmoral and Ford, they even grade separated the entire highway and built a frontage road, but not bothering to divide the roadway to make it a full "freeway" (I know the 2 RIROs are not built with freeway standard, but at least they are not at-grade crossings) |
My dream would have been a 110 design speed where possible as recommended back in the early 90s. Too bad highways are so damned expensive now. :S
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Seems to me a center barrier likely saved some lives on the coq the other day. An accident like that should have caused at least one head on collision, but was likely prevented by the center barrier. (I'm assuming that the accident didn't break through the center barrier).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...-accident.html |
There really is no excuse for BC's horrible highway designs
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Hey now . . . ;)
GO STAMPS! |
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Looks like the Clanwilliam project has stopped for the winter. Too bad - it was supposed to wrap up in November. All you can see from the construction cam is that it snowed and that they haven't opened two way traffic in both directions. Oh well, hopefully it'll be opened up in the early spring.
http://wcs.pbaeng.com/projects/R2-Hwy1-Rev Too bad they removed the construction cam on the Donald bridge. I liked watching them take down the old bridge. I guess it'll be a few years now until we see another project underway. |
New Highway 1 4-laning website: www.bchwy1.ca
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^Yes, just noticed that myself. Came to post it here but you beat me to it. ;)
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Haha yeah I wanted to post it too. There's been so little action on this thread lately, I got all excited! I'm interested in the Salmon Arm West project (obv cause I live there), I imagine it's gonna have a lot of traffic lights.
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I really wish they would just do a mega project in Salmon Arm and create a tolled freeway by=pass with the before mentioned bridge of the lake.
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It's an awfully expensive project for a net savings of maybe 15 minutes.
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Yes, I know, but it would be nice to have a full freeway crossing BC. We should honestly toll it like they do in Japan. I don't know why we don't follow Asian and European examples of cross nation highways.
At the very least, I would the #1 to be upgraded to full freeway standards from Kamloops to Salmon Arm. It honestly would not require to much more investment than they are currently putting in the stretch currently. Another expressway I would love to see built is between Victoria and Nanaimo, linking up to the #1 on both ends respectively. This could be a tolled route as well. |
I fully agree, I think it should be the long term goal (it might already be) of the MOT to have the TCH be a full freeway from Van to Banff, however I think money could be better spent than by building a huge bridge to save 15 minutes of drive time on what are usually multi hour trips.
It would almost be better to upgrade the current TCH to full freeway standards through salmon arm, thereby achieving the goal of full freeway to banff and giving the citizens of salmon arm a freeway to speed their commutes through the town. And as for not following Japanese/Euro freeway systems, well just look at the pop served by this route compared to similar routes in those areas. I'm sure people at the MOT/fed govt would love for that kind of system but we have to work with what we have. |
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As for speeding up the "commutes" lol, I suppose for people who say live south of town and commute to Tappen maybe, but in general few places take more than 15 minutes to get to. My house is about 5 minutes from work. |
Highway 1 improvements east of Pritchard move to tender
Economy, Families, Transportation Tuesday, February 26, 2013 9:00 AM
KAMLOOPS - Work to improve the safety of Highway 1 east of Pritchard will get underway this year, with the first phase of the Highway 1 Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff project going to tender this week. Phase 1 of the Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff project, located approximately 42 kilometres east of Kamloops, will widen three kilometres of a 6.1-kilometre segment of the Trans-Canada Highway from two lanes to four lanes, and upgrade an intersection at Stoney Flats Road. http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/0...to-tender.html This is exactly what I thought would happen, that this would go to tender before phase II of Monte Creek. I went to the public info session on the 20th in Salmon Arm, and I was told the burial site can't be moved, but a retaining wall will likely be built between the highway and the site as a solution. |
Does anyone know if there is any appetite by the province and feds for the Kicking Horse Canyon project in the near future?
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^ I sure hope so. :fingerscrossed:
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I'd guess they'll build one of the bridge structures within the next round of highway twinning; I'd be surprized if they do much more. |
Due to the high cost of the shorter West Portal to Yoho Bridge section, I foresee Phase 4 broken down into several stages with the tunnel being the last portion constructed.
Since the KHC has been ongoing for years, I suspect once the current section is finished that another section will be announced - perhaps this year sometime. |
That would be great if that was the case. They haven't had any real lapse in time between each phase and it would make sense for them to push forward.
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From the ministry's website (http://www.gov.bc.ca/tran/):
Major investments to improve Highway 97 at South Taylor Hill The governments of Canada and British Columbia announced a funding commitment of $26 million to expand and upgrade Highway 97 at South Taylor Hill, just south of Taylor, between Fort St. John and Dawson Creek. Highway 97 improvements to bring better road conditions for Kelowna drivers The governments of Canada and British Columbia announced new funding for the expansion and upgrade of over 4.5 kilometres of Highway 97 through Kelowna. Highway 11 upgrade benefits border and commercial traffic A major upgrade to Highway 11 south of Highway 1 will relieve congestion and support cross-border travel and trade, while improving safety along this important road and rail corridor. I kinda have to laugh at the 4 laning at South Taylor Hill. Alberta widens most of highway 43, and we get a sweet 2 kms of undivided 4 lane highway with a paved median on our side of the border lol. Especially considering most of that highway is in areas where it is relatively flat land and less expensive to widen. |
Drove Calgary to Penticton and back over the weekend - what a national embarrassment the TCH is for a large portion of this journey. Long stretches through Yoho, Rogers Pass don't even have any lines and the state of the road surface is third world. Pleeeaaase put some Federal/Provincial money into our national highway.
On the bright side, the highway could realistically be twinned from Calgary to Golden in 10 years with a concerted effort. |
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