Highways in Canada

[wave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

I hear what you're saying, although on the flipside the Perimeter has functioned as a reasonably efficient bypass around the city for nearly 60 years. Given how far it was from the built-up parts of the city, it was more of a rural highway at the outset than an urban expressway, and it was built accordingly.

It's only in this century that urban development has pushed up against the Perimeter in such a big way that it has started to take on the character of an urban freeway, so now we're seeing pressure to improve the clearly deficient parts of it.

Fair, and my intent was not to take shots at Manitoba specifically, per se.

It's just the idea of these little podunk roads crossing this high-speed road give me pause - why not just close them off when building it? It's just such a bad idea from a design standpoint. I'm aware they are being closed off now, but they should have never been there in the first place IMO.

[Spocket]

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer but that Wanuskewin Rd/Perimeter interchange seems way too overbuilt. Is there some reason it's so overbuilt?

It's just the idea of these little podunk roads crossing this high-speed road give me pause - why not just close them off when building it? It's just such a bad idea from a design standpoint. I'm aware they are being closed off now, but they should have never been there in the first place IMO.

It wasn't designed as a freeway when it was first built. I absolutely agree with you that the province cheaped out and did it half assed but if there was a plan to make it a freeway from the beginning, nobody said as much until far less than a decade ago. I don't think the province ever thought they'd actually do much more than leave it as is.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Spocket

It wasn't designed as a freeway when it was first built. I absolutely agree with you that the province cheaped out and did it half assed but if there was a plan to make it a freeway from the beginning, nobody said as much until far less than a decade ago. I don't think the province ever thought they'd actually do much more than leave it as is.

It was fine for the time. It was built when much of the province didn't even have paved roads and when you still had to drive way up through Beausejour to get to Ontario. There were a lot of other priorities at the time besides an ideologically perfect freeway around Winnipeg.

[vid]

Back when it was built in 1955, Thunder Bay wasn't connected by road to the eastern parts of Ontario, so it isn't like there was much traffic going around Winnipeg at the time to begin with.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by vid

Back when it was built in 1955, Thunder Bay wasn't connected by road to the eastern parts of Ontario, so it isn't like there was much traffic going around Winnipeg at the time to begin with.

When was the TCH north of Superior built?

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

When was the TCH north of Superior built?

Highway 11 was finished before WWII, but 17 along Lake Superior Shore wasn’t done until 1962.

[vid]

Highway 11 is a very long drive though, and there weren't many service stations. It was something people rarely did. If you left Thunder Bay back then, you took the train. These days, most of us fly in or out of the city. It's just as expensive as driving if you're going further than Winnipeg, but it's also faster.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Has there been any proposals to build a ring road in London? Really you only need a half to 2/3s of a ring road with the 401/402 in place.

https://www.trucknews.com/features/ring-road-plans-hit-a-roadblock/

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

https://www.trucknews.com/features/ring-road-plans-hit-a-roadblock/

Isn't that story from 2003?

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Isn't that story from 2003?

Digging around, there are various stories about it. This is from then, but it shows that the conversation constantly hits roadblocks.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Digging around, there are various stories about it. This is from then, but it shows that the conversation constantly hits roadblocks.

Seriously, forget about this London Ring Road thing. That city is just a lost cause through and through.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Seriously, forget about this London Ring Road thing. That city is just a lost cause through and through.

If that is the case, give up on seeing 11/17 twinned in your lifetime. The Ring Road has a better chance happening than twinning 11/17

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

If that is the case, give up on seeing 11/17 twinned in your lifetime. The Ring Road has a better chance happening than twinning 11/17

I love how you see my comment and think TCH.

I really have trained y’all well when it comes to conditional reflex.

For the record, TCH was actually not on my mind when I wrote that. I was ranting because the city council couldn’t seem to get any aspect of transportation right (*cough cough* BRT * cough cough *).

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I love how you see my comment and think TCH.

I really have trained y’all well when it comes to conditional reflex.

For the record, TCH was actually not on my mind when I wrote that. I was ranting because the city council couldn’t seem to get any aspect of transportation right (*cough cough* BRT * cough cough *).

True, but, if the county sees it a a good thing for those communities that border London, they will press for it.

[PEI highway guy]

Dengler:

From the PEI thread


http://pei360vr.com/Cornwall/output/...MAL9jGWQsw96FE

I hope this opens for you. It is on the Atlantic/PEI thread if it does not.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by PEI highway guy

Dengler:

From the PEI thread


http://pei360vr.com/Cornwall/output/...MAL9jGWQsw96FE

I hope this opens for you. It is on the Atlantic/PEI thread if it does not.

The link redirected me to something else...

[PEI highway guy]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

The link redirected me to something else...

sorry, I do not know why this happened? The link on the PEI Project thread opened for me. I am not sure why it would not copy to this thread

[Dengler Avenue]

Update: I saw it now. I just needed wifi. (For some reason, it didn’t load when I was on data.)

[ssiguy]

London has been talking about the Ring Road for 50 years and will continue to do so for the next 50. The reason why London is so poorly served is because neither the 401 nor 402 were built where they originally planned to be but politics got involved with both.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

London has been talking about the Ring Road for 50 years and will continue to do so for the next 50. The reason why London is so poorly served is because neither the 401 nor 402 were built where they originally planned to be but politics got involved with both.

A ring road around London would be useful.

The other year I stayed in a Stratford hotel for a couple of nights while exploring southwestern Ontario. When returning to Stratford from the west, the GPS guidance system took me on a succession of rural roads around the northwest of London to get back to Stratford. It was a pretty drive, but without GPS I would have gotten hopelessly lost. This was compounded by the fact that not many of the roadsigns actually said "Stratford, this-a-way."

I consider myself geographically literate and still would have gotten lost. I can imagine a poor tourist from Michigan (who is only dimly aware that Canada is a country) trying to find the Stratford Festival.

A ring road around London would certainly improve access to Stratford, and also perhaps would give a nascent alternate route between London and Kitchener-Waterloo.