Highways in Canada

[eemy]

If a cross-Canada link is a priority, I wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to widen Hwy 11 instead though.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They put in a new bypass around Welsford, but aside from that, no more work is planned on this section.

The Welsford bypass is still yet to be completed. They were doing paving when I drove through this past Friday. It should be open sometime in the spring. The bypass will take away what is easily the most dangerous and slowest portion of Highway 7 and should take about 5 minutes off the 45-minute drive between Saint John and Fredericton. I'd love to see it all twinned as it would then probably turn into a 30-minute drive but, alas, there are no plans to at this stage.

[toaster]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I feel that a freeway to a town of 10,000 would get little use. is there many big industries up there or something?

And the upgrading of Hwy 11 to make it Hwy 411 is top priority in my opinion as well. probably because i drive from Washago to Just past Bracebridge to get to my cottage a lot.

I think the idea is to eventually get the 4-laneing done up to highway 101 near Timmins (pop. ~ 45,000), and beyond. Lots of transports and large trucks use the highway 11 corridor, rather than 17, to get to Manitoba and further west which has caused safety concerns, as there are not many passing lanes.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by someone123

The big missing piece now is an east-west highway in Maine that goes from St. Stephen to Sherbrooke via Bangor. It would be in the best interests of all Atlantic provinces to help Maine pay for that segment.

Maine won't be footing the bill. It's a private project.

[SKJohnson]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Picture of the new bridge that will carry Hwy 7 overtop of the 407 East Extension just west of Brooklin. Picture taken today

It's crazy how long this bridge has taken to reach completion... I lived in Whitby up until April of 2011 and it had been under construction for some months, back then. I can only presume they took an extremely long break, but I wonder why the delay?

Anyway, thanks for the pic, sonysnob. I would love to see more pics, if you have them. Also curious, can you tell how many lanes it's going to be?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I would agree. In fact, if you divided the 17 between Sault Ste. Marie & Ottawa and pecked away at dividing the highway between Thunder Bay & the Manitoba border, this would go a long way towards completing the national highway system.

The stretch between Sudbury and Winnipeg will be the last segment of the national 4 lane east-west highway system to be built. Canada will likely have the rest built then have to wait decades for the northern Ontario portion.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The stretch between Sudbury and Winnipeg will be the last segment of the national 4 lane east-west highway system to be built. Canada will likely have the rest built then have to wait decades for the northern Ontario portion.

I would say the likely scenario is not exactly that.

From Winnipeg to the Ontario border is basically done, and the stretch into Ontario to Kenora is planned and likely to get done as well. There will also be some twinning completed in the Thunder Bay area, although I’d say there are no final plans for doing all of Thunder Bay to Kenora.

Going east the TCH splits into the 11 and the 17 at Nipigon. I’d say this is where any hope for twinning disappears for some km and some time.

Nipigon-Sault on the 17 – sorry.

Nipigon-Hearst-Kapuskasing-Iroquois Falls-Timiskaming-North Bay on the 11– not really likely either

As for the 17 from Sault-Sudbury-North Bay this is pretty likely to get done eventually. Probably as far as Mattawa east of North Bay even.

Highway links south from Sudbury (69-400) and North Bay (11) are either all
four lanes already or in the process of being done.

As for the rest of the 17 to Ottawa, the stretch from Mattawa to the Petawawa-Pembroke area is not likely to get done, but the rest of the route southeast to Ottawa is planned for twinning.

[Airboy]

2 great drives even in the fog and snow. From this weekend.
Entering Kootenay National Park along BC 93 at Radium.


Ice Field Parkway in Jasper NP

After the columbia Ice Feilds

Yellowhead eastbound out of Jasper

[SignalHillHiker]

That first picture is beautiful. I could sit and watch a scene like that all day.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

That first picture is beautiful. I could sit and watch a scene like that all day.

Sorry had to add a couple of others.
I had never really stopped at that point but it is worth the time. Most people don't know there is a river running under them. It just as nice without the fog.

[vid]

We might not get twinning on the north shore any time soon, but the bridge proposed for Nipigon is going to be amazing:


©MTO

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by SKJohnson

I can only presume they took an extremely long break, but I wonder why the delay?

Because public sector.

As far as lanes go, I think it's planned to be 6 lanes from Brock Road to the Durham link and then 4 lanes from there to Highway 35/115.

[Innsertnamehere]

Are they upgrading the current highway to be 6 lanes up to Brock as well? It's currently 4.

[waterloowarrior]

Highway 7 widening Brock to Brooklin is supposed to be opened by the end of the year, not sure if they are still on schedule. Construction started in 2010 although some works were done prior to that through a separate funding project.

407 East will be extended to Harmony Road in Oshawa by 2015, Taunton/East Durham link by 2017, Highway 35/115 by 2020. The contract was awarded earlier this year to 407 East Development Group General Partnership, a consortium of Cintra Infraestructuras S. A. and SNC-Lavalin. I am sure the section between York/Durham Line and Brock Road will be widened in conjunction with that.

map

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that Memorial Drive was an elevated expressway that actually penetrated the core...

It's not the same, but cool nevertheles:

(from Wikipedia)

i does elevate and it does enter the core via an overpass that is quite impressive as well. when driving westbound you will come to the overpass which is quite curvy as you leave the main road and then enter the core while elivated. next to this curvy bridge is a lrt bridge that is also curvy. i would argue that the lrt bridge entering the core is unique to canada. i love the feeling of riding into the core on this train much more than driving into the core using the freeway bridge.

[toaster]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I would say the likely scenario is not exactly that.

From Winnipeg to the Ontario border is basically done, and the stretch into Ontario to Kenora is planned and likely to get done as well. There will also be some twinning completed in the Thunder Bay area, although I’d say there are no final plans for doing all of Thunder Bay to Kenora.

Going east the TCH splits into the 11 and the 17 at Nipigon. I’d say this is where any hope for twinning disappears for some km and some time.

Nipigon-Sault on the 17 – sorry.

Nipigon-Hearst-Kapuskasing-Iroquois Falls-Timiskaming-North Bay on the 11– not really likely either

As for the 17 from Sault-Sudbury-North Bay this is pretty likely to get done eventually. Probably as far as Mattawa east of North Bay even.

Highway links south from Sudbury (69-400) and North Bay (11) are either all
four lanes already or in the process of being done.

As for the rest of the 17 to Ottawa, the stretch from Mattawa to the Petawawa-Pembroke area is not likely to get done, but the rest of the route southeast to Ottawa is planned for twinning.

It's time like these where Northern Ontario as a separate province would greatly benefit the highway system. I'm sure links to and from the 5 major cities would be a major priority. I mean, the Sault, pop ~ 75k, is 4 hours away from any freeway (in Ontario). Surely a city of that size in any other province isn't that far away from a proper freeway. Another dream of mine is for the 400 to be extended north beyond Sudbury to Timmins (along highway 144), but I don't think that will happen in my lifetime.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

If a cross-Canada link is a priority, I wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to widen Hwy 11 instead though.

Yes, but such would miss the main population centres of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

This will never happen. Not enough traffic to make it worthwhile. Wouldn't twinning Highway #17 from North Bay to the Ottawa area make more sense?

Actually, 11 from North Bay to Temiskaming Shores has more traffic than 17 from Mattawa to Deep River.

[Dwils01]

I think the biggest priority is to widen hwy 17 between Sudbury and North Bay. There is not a lot of passing lanes and traffic is always so heavy there.
It would be nice also to have the Sudbury by-pass become a divided hwy instead of just sections of it because sometimes you're stuck behind a vehicle going only 80km/h and you can't pass it.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

I think the biggest priority is to widen hwy 17 between Sudbury and North Bay. There is not a lot of passing lanes and traffic is always so heavy there.
It would be nice also to have the Sudbury by-pass become a divided hwy instead of just sections of it because sometimes you're stuck behind a vehicle going only 80km/h and you can't pass it.

All of Highway 17 between Sudbury and Arnprior needs to be twinned. Traffic is always very heavy because it's the only road on the North End of Algonquin Park, so everyone is inevitably funneled onto it. I would agree that the Sudbury bypass should be upgraded first though, it would be immensely beneficial for the city to have both a freeway connection and a true half-ring road.

Originally Posted by toaster

Surely a city of that size in any other province isn't that far away from a proper freeway.

For McMurray in Alberta has about 60,000 people and as far as I can tell, there is no proper freeway connection. You also forget that Thunder Bay, with about 120,000 people, is in an even more outrageous situation since it's more than 12 hours away from another Ontario freeway. Only 6 hours to Manitoba, though.