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Originally Posted by MolsonExport
Wow now that is one ambitious plan! Unless London suddenly gains 2 million people, I don't see why we would ever need 3 parallel North-South freeways and the ten-lane 401. Still, interesting. How does transit fit into that vision?
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Well this is assuming no other freeways get built. In my opinion, Highbury doesn't count (it's classified as an expressway) and a VMP freeway is at least 20 years away I'd assume. I doubt the plan for a freeway on the west side will ever get built.
The amount of traffic on the 401 is expected to grow significantly as it is Ontario's "main street" as our province's population goes up and up. In addition, as London grows south, a lot more people are going to use the 401/402 as a east/west artery. Separating local traffic from longer distance travelers will help eliminate weaving on the road and minimize localized congestion.
Also, take the Conestoga Parkway in K/W for example. That's strictly a local freeway and yet it also has a collector/express system for a portion of it's length.
(Link to Google Maps example)
As for transit, this has nothing to do with transit. It is just a long term vision of how the increased traffic on the 401 can flow smoothly despite considerably higher volumes and how it is to handle it's new role as a urban freeway in the London Area. Perhaps a High Speed Rail line could be built along the 401 corridor as well, and maybe a light rail line could overpass it in the future to link growth south of the 401 to the downtown.