Highways in Canada

[sonysnob]

^ The twinning of Hwy 406 isn't scheduled to be completed until 2015, and the latest estimate has the 404 opening in September.

There is a stretch of four lane Hwy 11/17 that is supposed to open this year west of Nipigon, but that isn't a freeway.

Those A-5 extension photos look pretty nice. I took some last June, they can be found here:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/PQ/A/5/index.html

[harls]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

...as well as a new 25km of the A35 between Montréal and NY state.

You mean Vermont, no?

Haven't been there in a while, but that road (135?) was seriously in bad shape. A 35 is desperately needed.

[eternallyme]

How is 69/400 doing? I know there was a section near Killarney/French River under construction, down to about Britt...but there was a dispute with First Nations between Nobel and Britt.

[haljackey]

Last I heard Highway 400 is supposed to be complete to Surbury by the end of 2017.

After that I think work will commence improving the existing 17/69 interchange and improvements on Highway 17 itself.

Maybe one day we'll see the 17 twinned all the way from Surbury to North Bay.

[FrAnKs]

Our new Prime minister, Philippe Couillard, says during the last election that he might go for a full widening of the A50 between Buckingham and Mirabel.
The dashed lines on the shoulders & in the middle didn't helped for the security obviously...
We will stay tuned about that.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Our new Prime minister, Philippe Couillard, says during the last election that he might go for a full widening of the A50 between Buckingham and Mirabel.
The dashed lines on the shoulders & in the middle didn't helped for the security obviously...
We will stay tuned about that.

I've had mixed opinion on A-50. It is very important for connecting the 3rd largest urban area in Quebec to Montreal. But Highway 417 (and Autoroute 40) across the Ottawa River pretty much duplicate it, albeit mostly in a different province. Maybe better to try to improve connectivity to the 417?

That said, looking at traffic counts alone, 4 lanes are probably warranted.

Back onto Autoroute 5, what is traffic like north of Wakefield towards Maniwaki? I have never taken that section of the 105, so not sure if A-5 should be extended farther north.

[Dwils01]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Last I heard Highway 400 is supposed to be complete to Surbury by the end of 2017.

After that I think work will commence improving the existing 17/69 interchange and improvements on Highway 17 itself.

Maybe one day we'll see the 17 twinned all the way from Surbury to North Bay.

Not going to happen by 2017. The new section they are doing from the completed section south of Sudbury to the French River won't be completed until 2016. Then there is from the French River to just south of Pointe Au Baril does not have completed drawings yet with the routing. There will be multiple bridges to build, land clearing, and rock blasting so I would be surprised if it's completed by 2020. There there will be the re-building of the 17/69(400) interchange then twinning highway 17 south Sudbury bypass from Whitefish to Coniston.

[eternallyme]

I decided to look it up myself:

Parry Sound to Nobel - Completed and opened 2010

Nobel to Highway 522 - In negotiations with First Nations

Cranberry to Alban - Construction to begin in 2014, opening 2016?

Alban to south of Highway 637 - Construction underway, opening 2015?

Highway 637 to Estaire - Completed and opened 2012

Estaire to Richard Lake - Completed and opened 2008

Richard Lake to Highway 17 - In development and planning, likely to be constructed concurrent with twinning the Sudbury Bypass

I agree that 2017 is not going to happen. I'm thinking around 2021 or so is reasonable, depending on when the First Nations issues are solved. The section through the Wahta territory (south of MacTier) was not completed until 2008, despite surrounding sections being opened much sooner:

* Through the 1980s it was built from Barrie to Coldwater, in multiple stages, with the last section opening in 1988.

* Waubaushene to Port Severn - opened 1991 (before then, 400 ended at 12)

* Port Severn to Crooked Bay - opened 1996

* Crooked Bay to Gibson Lake - opened 1997

* Gibson Lake to Musquash River - opened 1999 (but was not a freeway until 2005)

* Wahta Territory - opened 2008

* MacTier to Horseshoe Lake - opened 2003

* Horseshoe Lake to edge of Parry Sound - opened 2001

* Parry Sound Bypass twinning - opened 2007

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I've had mixed opinion on A-50. It is very important for connecting the 3rd largest urban area in Quebec to Montreal. But Highway 417 (and Autoroute 40) across the Ottawa River pretty much duplicate it, albeit mostly in a different province. Maybe better to try to improve connectivity to the 417?

.

This would have been a possibility but it has proven impossible time and time again to improve links between the autoroutes in Gatineau and the 417.

As traffic has increased in Ottawa on the roads between the Gatineau bridges and the 417, for most people in Gatineau the drive to Montreal via the 417 was starting to push 2.5 hours or more before the A-50 was completed. Unless of course you were doing it at 2 am.

[Innsertnamehere]

my understanding is that the next section of the 69 twinning will be from the existing terminus of the 69 twinned portion south of Sudbury down to Highway 64, opening in 2015. After that it gets a bit blurrier on what will occur.

I'm a bit more hopeful, I'm thinking closer to 2018 or maybe at latest 2019.

[sonysnob]

AFAIK regarding Hwy 69, the section south of Hwy 637 southerly to Hwy 64 is scheduled to be completed in 2015, and the section from Hwy 64 southerly to Hwy 607 is scheduled to be complete in 2016.

I saw a design build assignment one day when I was perusing the MTO website for the next segment which will extend the highway southerly beyond Hwy 607 but I can't remember much about the details, and the assignment is now closed, so I can't find it anymore.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I've had mixed opinion on A-50. It is very important for connecting the 3rd largest urban area in Quebec to Montreal. But Highway 417 (and Autoroute 40) across the Ottawa River pretty much duplicate it, albeit mostly in a different province. Maybe better to try to improve connectivity to the 417?

That's because many of the Québec trucking companies that service Gatineau (from the greater Montreal area) dont have a commercial license to circulate in Ontario (and have to stay on the Quebec side for their commercial route). That's why groceries trucks for example would take the 148 instead of the 417 even if it was longer.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Tone

That's because many of the Québec trucking companies that service Gatineau (from the greater Montreal area) dont have a commercial license to circulate in Ontario (and have to stay on the Quebec side for their commercial route). That's why groceries trucks for example would take the 148 instead of the 417 even if it was longer.

Is that really true? A lot of trucks from various chains coming from Montreal (French slogans on the side and Quebec plates give them away) do seem to go to Gatineau via the 417 and downtown Ottawa.

I suspect there may be a few other factors at play:

- some of the trucks from Montreal make drop-offs in Ottawa before crossing over to Gatineau

- as for the trucks that used the 148 they would probably do towns like Lachute, Papineauville, Montebello and Thurso before coming to Gatineau.

[Innsertnamehere]

surely as long as they are not making deliveries they are allowed to use the 417? Circulation & deliveries in Ontario is different than simply driving through.

[Tone]

I dont care if you guys believe it or not, that's what a trucker doing a Montreal-Gatineau express route once told me.

(Like I said, not all, but many large companies have to stay on the Quebec side for their commercial routes).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Tone

I dont care if you guys believe it or not, that's what a trucker doing a Montreal-Gatineau express route once told me.

I do believe you that some commercial trucks may have licences that only allow them to be driven in Quebec.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I do believe you that some commercial trucks may have licences that only allow them to be driven in Quebec.

Thank you, that's all I was sayin!

The Quebec trucks you see on King Edward can even come from Montreal on the 50 and unload in Ottawa...

[Innsertnamehere]

Premier Wynne just promised to twin the entirety of highway 17..

[1overcosc]

^ Are you sure about that? That would be a HUGE expense... something like $15-20 billion. The funding commitment to Ontario outside the GTA/Hamilton is $14 billion, and that has to pay for projects in Ottawa, London, etc.

[Innsertnamehere]

if you built it to 400 series standards, yes. You could simply do it at prairie style standards with a dual carriageway and be fine, maybe $5 billion for it. The costs start to rack up very quickly when you have to build overpasses. Probably long term anyway, short term with money in this budget will probably be something like extending the 417 to Petawawa, twinning 17 between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, etc.