Highways in Canada

[sonysnob]

Very little federal funding was contributed to the completion of Ontario's 400 series highway network. I don't think any of the ongoing work on either Hwy 69, Hwy 17/417, or Hwy 11/17 near Nipigon is as a result of a federal cash infusion.

In recent years, Quebec has faired better in terms of funding for Autoroutes (the extensions of both A-5, A-35 and A-85, all received federal funding), but the bulk of funding for the completion of Quebec's highway system has come from provincial coffers as well.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by SOSS

Not just the transcanada highway but also funds that went to the Autoroute system in Quebec and the 400 Series in Ontario.

Building an expressway into downtown Vancouver will thankfully never be built, doesn't need to be built, and if it was built it wouldn't solve anything. That thinking died decades ago. Give people good alternatives and they'll use them and leave their cars at home. Or better yet, not even buy cars and will rent when needed. Canada Line = 10 lane expressway from YVR to downtown. Why on earth would you want to carve an actual expressway downtown? That traffic in queue to get to the northshore would be heavily alleviated by a proper mass transit system servicing the north shore.

More and more people are also telecommuting and living closer to their work in the many town centres that have been created in Metro Van. Downtown proper is not the end all be all of Vancouver.

The cost of building an expressway to the downtown between land aquisitions and actual construction would probably be the equivalent to another 2 or more RRT lines downtown.

Vancouver is the most congested city in Canada for the 3rd straight year. Second-worst traffic congestion in North America, behind Los Angeles for the second year in a row.

No highways means that secondary roads are congested even more. It will only get worse.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Very little federal funding was contributed to the completion of Ontario's 400 series highway network. I don't think any of the ongoing work on either Hwy 69, Hwy 17/417, or Hwy 11/17 near Nipigon is as a result of a federal cash infusion.

In recent years, Quebec has faired better in terms of funding for Autoroutes (the extensions of both A-5, A-35 and A-85, all received federal funding), but the bulk of funding for the completion of Quebec's highway system has come from provincial coffers as well.

Feds gave some money to 69 and to 11/17 I think. Not much though, less than 30%. 69 is a billion dollar project and the feds have given less than $100 million to it I believe.

[Innsertnamehere]

Thought I would create a fantasy map for what I would like to see for the eastern canada freeway network.

Overview:


I included the east - west corridor through Maine as it is important for quicker access to the maritimes from the rest of Canada It would cut roughly 2 hours off of the drive to Saint John.

Maritimes:


PEI:

- Super 2 highway to Charlottetown from the bridge.

Nova Scotia:

- Extension of 104 up to Sydney

- not included, but continuing the twinning of 101 past Windsor is a possibility.

New Brunswick:

- 7 twinning from Saint John to Fredricton
- Super 2 "triangle" improving connections to the Confederation Bridge, highway 15 and 16. Slight extension of 15's twinned section to Robichaud.
- Improvement of 8 through Fredricton, upgrading it to a full super two and fixing that weird jog on the north side of the river.

Quebec:


- extension of A73 to the border
- extension of A20 as a full freeway to Rimouski
- Extension of A610 to the US border to meet the Maine East-West corridor
- Completion of the Sherbrooke Ring road by extending the A410 to the A610.
- Extension of the A55 down to the A20
- Fixed A40 jog in Trois-Rivieres.


Ontario:


- Extension of the 417 all the way to Sault Ste. Marie. This would be around 700km of new highway, and would have to be phased over a long period of time. First parts to be done would be Arnprior to Petawawa, North Bay to Nipissing, and Sudbury to Espanola, with the rest being filled in after that.
- Extension of highway 7 twinning from Carleton Place to Perth, along the south side of Mississippi lake.
- Extension of 174 in Ottawa to Clarance-Rockland
- Bradford Bypass
- complete upgrade of highway 6 in Guelph to a full freeway
- construction of the highway 6 Morriston bypass south of the 401.
- Extend the highway 6 super 2 from the Hamilton Airport to Caledonia

Widenings:
- Widen highway 6 from the 403 to the Hamilton Airport
- 401 widening between Kitchener and Toronto as planned with an 8+2 HOV setup
- widen highway 11 to 6 lanes from Barrie to Gravenhurst, upgrade to full freeway. upgrade remaining at grade crossings on the highway, rename highway 411.
- Widen 400 to Barrie with an 8+2 HOV setup.
- Widen QEW from the 403 to the 406 with a 6+2 HOV setup
- Widen 403, 6+2 HOV to highway 6 from the QEW, and 6 lanes after that to Brantford.
- Upgrade highway 35 to a full freeway
- Widen 401 from London to Windsor with a 6 lane setup
- Widen 401 from Cobourg to Kingston with a 6 lane setup
- Widen 401 through Durham extending the express-collectors system to the 407 WDL and 10 lanes between the 407 WDL and 407 EDL.

[GreaterMontréal]

Extension of the A55 down to the A20

A-55 already exists, from Trois-Rivières to A-20 , it's called Autoroute de l'énergie ,
south of A-20 is A-955 towards Victoriaville. 100kmh limit



http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_autoroutes_du_Qu%C3%A9bec

A-55 down to A-20 is similar to a Super-2.
A-955 is not a real highway but a controlled access highway, you can drive at 100kmh/h.

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Feds gave some money to 69 and to 11/17 I think. Not much though, less than 30%. 69 is a billion dollar project and the feds have given less than $100 million to it I believe.

The feds provided some money for some earlier contracts on Hwy 69 (I think immediately south of Hwy 69, and perhaps for some of the work in Nobel), but haven't committed funding on any new work for nearly a decade. Unless you have some real evidence, none of the information pertaining to any of the work along Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon gives any reference to federal funds being allocated to this project.

[Innsertnamehere]

I meant those old contributions for 69.

Now that I think about it, I may have been confusing the 11/17 twinning with the 17 twinning around the Manitoba border. Fairly sure I read somewhere that it had federal funding.


A55 is just a super 2 even with some regular rural highway sections south of Trios Riviere.

Unless of course you consider this a freeway:

[GreaterMontréal]

Unless of course you consider this a freeway:

it's considered a highway if you can drive at highway speed. You need a traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles per day for a ''doubling''.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

it's considered a highway if you can drive at highway speed. You need a traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles per day for a ''doubling''.

It already is for the most part.

AADT 2012



http://transports.atlas.gouv.qc.ca/NavFlash/SWFNavFlash.asp?input=SWFDebitCirculation_2012

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

It already is for the most part.

AADT 2012



http://transports.atlas.gouv.qc.ca/NavFlash/SWFNavFlash.asp?input=SWFDebitCirculation_2012

With that, it should definitely be twinned and completed between 20 and 40.

[MonctonRad]

Here is my map from the "1 km" thread that I posted earlier today:



The main reason why I included a twinned 11 to northern NB with a connection via the Matapedia Valley to the A20 at Mont Joli is as an act of nation building.

The AADT might not be enough to justify the twinning, but northern NB and the Gaspe are dying, and one way to combat this is to connect these areas more firmly to the continental highway system.

I am a strong proponent of a nationwide Trans Canada Highway network similar to the US Interstate system. There are many areas of the interstate system where traffic counts are quite low, but I don't think you would hear too many Americans arguing that the system is a waste of money.

BTW, I have no problem with a trans-Maine route. This would certainly be a benefit to southern NB, but the logistics of an international route serving principally Canadian traffic may be an issue.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Here is my map from the "1 km" thread that I posted earlier today:



The main reason why I included a twinned 11 to northern NB with a connection via the Matapedia Valley to the A20 at Mont Joli is as an act of nation building.

The AADT might not be enough to justify the twinning, but northern NB and the Gaspe are dying, and one way to combat this is to connect these areas more firmly to the continental highway system.

I am a strong proponent of a nationwide Trans Canada Highway network similar to the US Interstate system. There are many areas of the interstate system where traffic counts are quite low, but I don't think you would hear too many Americans arguing that the system is a waste of money.

The least used sections of major Interstates tend to be the western transcontinental routes away from the urban areas, and those generally have an AADT around 4,000 to 8,000.

[Innsertnamehere]

Indeed, its a tough sell in Maine. A private company wanted to build it a couple of years ago as a toll route, and got some significant opposition from locals. That proposal has sort of faded away for some reason, the website is still live for it but there hasn't been any news on it for almost two years.

When I say low traffic counts, I don't mean 5-6,000 AADT like most of highway 17 in northern ontario is or 69 (soon to be 400). I mean those routes are probably closer to 2,000 AADT, which is lower than almost any interstate, and doesn't serve a key cross country route. Upgrade 11 to a super 2 sure, not a dual carriageway freeway.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The AADT might not be enough to justify the twinning, but northern NB and the Gaspe are dying, and one way to combat this is to connect these areas more firmly to the continental highway system.

I am a strong proponent of a nationwide Trans Canada Highway network similar to the US Interstate system. There are many areas of the interstate system where traffic counts are quite low, but I don't think you would hear too many Americans arguing that the system is a waste of money.

I absolutely agree with you on this. I don't think we should only be looking at current traffic volumes, I think it's important to consider how a proper freeway network can stimulate economic growth, but I also think connectivity between regions often goes beyond the cost vs benefits. It's probably not economically viable to have telephone or internet running to small remote towns in the north, but does that mean those towns shouldn't be connected? Not necessarily.
A proper national freeway network would also reduce transportation costs, and thus the cost of consumer goods in many regions.

I can understand when people are against freeways in urban areas, but inter-region freeways are a no-brainer IMO. I think we should be prioritizing transit in cities, but that doesn't mean we can't build proper highways between cities, nationwide.

[eternallyme]

Regarding the Maritimes, those areas near good highway connections (i.e. Fredericton/Saint John to Moncton to Halifax, plus PEI) are doing at least decently economically right now, while those outside the corridors (i.e. southwest NS, Cape Breton, northern NB) are extremely depressed economically. Is there a correlation?

[Innsertnamehere]

not as much as it would seem. The fact that those connected to the highways are larger metro regions likely has more to do with it. There are parts of North NB that have a highway to them that are still falling apart.

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Thought I would create a fantasy map for what I would like to see for the eastern canada freeway network.

...

Nice. One more thing for NB, the province is twinning Route 11 up to Richibucto in the coming years. I would add a Super Two from there to Miramichi and possible twinning all the way to Bathurst. I would also (eventually) twin Route 8 across Princess Margaret Bridge and partway to Boiestown, and complete the Miramichi North Bypass.

That 417 Extension is huge. That would be (because of terrain and length) possibly the biggest single highway project the country has ever seen. Maybe then the TCH can finally rival the Interstate system. That Highway 411 looks like an iffy project, though.

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I meant those old contributions for 69.

Now that I think about it, I may have been confusing the 11/17 twinning with the 17 twinning around the Manitoba border. Fairly sure I read somewhere that it had federal funding.


A55 is just a super 2 even with some regular rural highway sections south of Trios Riviere.

Unless of course you consider this a freeway:

They built an additional interchange to the south of Trois Rivières last year on A-55. That only leaves one traffic light remaining on the route between Trois Rivières and A-20. Hopefully that can be eliminated in the next few years. The most recent stretch of A-55 that opened in the 2000s (2004?) is two lane freeway similar to A-50.

[SOSS]

I agree we need proper connectivity between major centres. Not necessarily with freeways - a proper expressway with limited lights would suffice IMO. I'm definitely western focused. I think it's important to have a safe, 4-lane divided transcanada highway. We have that in the lower mainland, through to Kamloops (via Hwy 5) but need it through to Lake Louise.

[haljackey]

Very cool map!

I added a few fantasy ideas for Ontario. Only one I'm not sure about is the Mid-pen highway as its route could go 2 ways and it might only be warranted if Ontario's manufacturing sector grows stronger with exports to the US.



Some routes:
-Highway 3 freeway from Windsor to Leamington
-EC Row to 401
-Highway 440 if Sarina and Chatham grow considerably
-Highway 7 freeway from Kitchener to 402, bypassing Stratford
-VMP upgrades and extension from St. Thomas to Highway 7 freeway
-Highway 424
-Highway 6 freeway from Guelph to Hamilton, continued extension to Hamilton Airport if in more demand.
-420 extended west to 406
-400 as a 4-lane HOV only / mega toll highway into downtown Toronto
-Highway 448 (DVP to 401)
-Highway 7 east to hook up with Bradford Bypass
-410 up to Collingwood
-Red Hill south to Highway 6
-426 from Collingwood to 400
-404 to Orillia
-407 to Ottawa. 115 would be renamed to 407
-Ottawa bypass

On top of this, convert the leftmost express lane on the 401 to HOV throughout Greater Toronto. So what if there's no buffer? It will carry more ppl.