Highways in Canada

[urbandreamer]

^Where's the traffic? The 401 is probably back to 80% of its normal transport truck volume: seems very busy from Toronto to London and maybe at 50% from London to Windsor.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Video of Highway 2 and 201 along the eastern edge of Calgary:

Interesting. Traffic was much lighter than I expected, especially after you entered the commuter belt near Airdrie. Comparatively, by the time Ontario decides that 3 lanes in each direction are required on freeways, the existing section is usually running just at the edge of capacity.

I chuckled at the Okotoks shout-out FYI.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by wave46

Interesting. Traffic was much lighter than I expected, especially after you entered the commuter belt near Airdrie. Comparatively, by the time Ontario decides that 3 lanes in each direction are required on freeways, the existing section is usually running just at the edge of capacity.

I chuckled at the Okotoks shout-out FYI.

You need to factor in when this was shot along with other factors. That was a beautiful weekend and a lot of people were camping, etc. to get away from the urban area.

[urbandreamer]

Highways in Ontario are always busy, especially on long weekends. The 401 between London and Windsor was much busier than that stretch on an early Saturday morning. Even the Conestoga Parkway is busier.

[sonysnob]

This video was filmed very early on a Saturday morning, so traffic is pretty light.

While it's true that the highways around Toronto would probably be much busier at the same time on a Saturday morning (Toronto is a much larger city), but by no means is this video indicative of typical Calgary traffic.

[Loco101]

I have been working in Alberta for the last week and a half. People in Calgary were warning me how bad the traffic would be before and after the long weekend as I had a few days off and was free to travel. I laughed when I saw what they think is bad. Not even close to highways 400 and 11 in Ontario during long weekends.

I've been in Vancouver where people there complain about traffic but it's not as bad anywhere as even the QEW going through Oakville and Burlington.

[craner]

Thanks sonysnob. Traffic was very light, I assumed it must have been recorded earlier in the pandemic.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I have been working in Alberta for the last week and a half. People in Calgary were warning me how bad the traffic would be before and after the long weekend as I had a few days off and was free to travel. I laughed when I saw what they think is bad. Not even close to highways 400 and 11 in Ontario during long weekends.

Where and when were you traveling?

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I have been working in Alberta for the last week and a half. People in Calgary were warning me how bad the traffic would be before and after the long weekend as I had a few days off and was free to travel. I laughed when I saw what they think is bad. Not even close to highways 400 and 11 in Ontario during long weekends.

I've been in Vancouver where people there complain about traffic but it's not as bad anywhere as even the QEW going through Oakville and Burlington.

I dunno, I think you could torture someone by asking them to drive back and forth between Surrey and Abbotsford on Hwy 1. Both lanes of traffic doing 86km/h for seemingly no reason is pretty irritating in my book.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

I dunno, I think you could torture someone by asking them to drive back and forth between Surrey and Abbotsford on Hwy 1. Both lanes of traffic doing 86km/h for seemingly no reason is pretty irritating in my book.

Irritating is still a far cry from the excruciating ordeal of driving 80+km in stop-and-go traffic.

[Airboy]

I kinda agree, the years that I lived in TO were maddening for driving. I moved back to Alberta and found that if it took me 10 min longer to get somewhere people would complain about bad traffic. I am quite relaxed about it now. I complain more about people who don't seem to know there are other people on the road. The drive into Van is tough as well but I have done it enough to know when to hit the road to avoid the worst of it. In Calgary I tend to stay away from the Deerfoot. In Edmonton Stay off the Whitemud.

TO driving mad me watch traffic more. watching way up the road for break lights. If I saw them I would have a plan to bail. Always know alternate routes.

Cal, Ed and Van traffic is bad if you have never truly experienced TO or Montreal traffic. I have also experienced Washington, Chicago and LA driving. Don't plan to do those ever again.

[hipster duck]

Traffic is a relative thing. Nobody thinks that traffic isn’t a problem where they live unless they live in a rural area where there is no traffic. My mom used to complain about how it would take 20 minutes to cross Peterborough at 5pm. This, of course, sounds quaint to a Torontonian. Likewise, Torontonians complaining about gridlock on the 401 would seem quaint to a taxi driver in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Transit is the same. Torontonians think the TTC is the worst transit system in the world, but it would probably be the best system compared to any American city (yes, even NYC). I’ve even heard Europeans complain about their transit systems when they’re miles ahead of anything in Canada.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Airboy

TO driving mad me watch traffic more. watching way up the road for break lights. If I saw them I would have a plan to bail. Always know alternate routes.

Hell, transiting the GTA, you have to plan ahead. Going from London to anywhere east of Toronto takes some planning, unless you are only going as far as the 407 will get you. When we used to make our annual summer drive to New Brunswick, that involved double planning to factor in Montreal as well lol. We found leaving London around 9pm was best. Toronto would be thick at 11, but moving anyway, and then past Montreal before 6am.

[Denscity]

Ever waited 5 hours to get onto a ferry? A unique coastal traffic experience.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Hell, transiting the GTA, you have to plan ahead. Going from London to anywhere east of Toronto takes some planning, unless you are only going as far as the 407 will get you. When we used to make our annual summer drive to New Brunswick, that involved double planning to factor in Montreal as well lol. We found leaving London around 9pm was best. Toronto would be thick at 11, but moving anyway, and then past Montreal before 6am.

On the bright side, for a couple of dollars, you can now avoid Montreal and take Autoroute 30 around the south of the city.

The 407 is a really expensive way to avoid Toronto. You're right in the sense that planning makes the drive less painful, but there's no toll-less way to painlessly pass north of the city. You either skim discontinuous side roads or grind along the 401.

[Dengler Avenue]

Actually, Autoroute 30 seems to get busier and busier between 10-30 Mall and Autoroute 20. I think MTQ needs to have 2 lanes exit to Autoroute 20 instead of one, and a flyover from 20 west to 30 west.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by Airboy

I kinda agree, the years that I lived in TO were maddening for driving. I moved back to Alberta and found that if it took me 10 min longer to get somewhere people would complain about bad traffic. I am quite relaxed about it now. I complain more about people who don't seem to know there are other people on the road. The drive into Van is tough as well but I have done it enough to know when to hit the road to avoid the worst of it. In Calgary I tend to stay away from the Deerfoot. In Edmonton Stay off the Whitemud.

TO driving mad me watch traffic more. watching way up the road for break lights. If I saw them I would have a plan to bail. Always know alternate routes.

Cal, Ed and Van traffic is bad if you have never truly experienced TO or Montreal traffic. I have also experienced Washington, Chicago and LA driving. Don't plan to do those ever again.

^This.

I lived in KWC for 5 years during school and drove into and around the GTA for three of those. I remember I had to drive from Kitchener to Downtown Toronto (King and Bay) on a Friday afternoon, during the Pan-Am Games when they closed a lane in each direction for HOV on the 401, and it was excruciatingly slow from Milton onwards.

Whenever someone in Edmonton complains about traffic, I chuckle.

[urbandreamer]

There was a ton of truck traffic on the 401 from KW to London around noonhour today. Not so much commuter traffic though.

There's plenty of tricks to avoid the 401 if you're desperate: take Eglinton to Caledonia, Glencairn to Marlee and get back on the 401 via Lawrence/Allen Road or Lawrence to Avenue Road to 401. There's some slower but more scenic routes both north and south of the 401 between Townline Rd and Trafalgar.

[Dengler Avenue]

“There's some slower but more scenic routes both north and south of the 401 between Townline Rd and Trafalgar.“
They are really slow though. In that case, I just hop on Highway 7 and enjoy getting stuck behind slow pokes. Once I reach the western limit of Guelph, traffic will have subsided by then.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by wave46

On the bright side, for a couple of dollars, you can now avoid Montreal and take Autoroute 30 around the south of the city.

In my experience the A30 toll saves 30-45 minutes on drives that would have otherwise gone through the A20/A40 on the island. Much easier to drive around than through the island, especially during rush hour.

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Actually, Autoroute 30 seems to get busier and busier between 10-30 Mall and Autoroute 20. I think MTQ needs to have 2 lanes exit to Autoroute 20 instead of one, and a flyover from 20 west to 30 west.

Not sure if widening is necessarily the answer but the A30 has definitely been getting more congested the further east as time has gone on.

Originally Posted by wave46

The 407 is a really expensive way to avoid Toronto. You're right in the sense that planning makes the drive less painful, but there's no toll-less way to painlessly pass north of the city. You either skim discontinuous side roads or grind along the 401.

The 407 is too expensive for the normal person to take the full length to avoid Toronto. I've only ever driven the full length in work vehicles. Although now it does directly connect to the 401 east of Toronto so that's nice.