Highways in Canada

[MolsonExport]

what about the Cape Horn interchange?

urbansystems

[EasternFreeway]

A visit to Beauce on a beautiful sunny day on the A73 in my new video

Beauce - Autoroute 73, St-Joseph to Lévis, Québec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f0T3irZ6fA

[craner]

Nice video - thanks for posting.

[RRoome]

Does anyone have any news on the QC route 138 extension along Basse Côte-Nord? You can see on Google Maps now that there is a trail cut between La Tabatière and Tête-à-la-Baleine, with some apparent work on a roadbed on the eastern section.

EDIT - Looks like it's officially in planning stages, with the connection to La Romaine in the works as well, per recent government updates.

[youngregina]

This section of Stoney Trail called T’suu T’ina Trail opened recently. The newly opened section is 12 kilometres in length, and spans from Glenmore/Sarcee to Fish Creek Boulevard on Calgary’s west side.

Originally Posted by Corndogger

We have some new photos of the SW leg from last month. There's seven photos in total.

90th Avenue


???


Source: http://www.swcrrproject.com/media-centre/photo-gallery/

[Innsertnamehere]

The ridiculous scale of that road still catches me off guard. I mean you’ve got a 5 lane wide freeway with what looks like a near unlimited amount of space for widening in the median.

[Taeolas]

Looks like they are trying to future proof it by having space (including space under the bridges) to switch to an Express + Collector highway design in the future. The Median is certainly wide enough that you could put a second Express highway through there comfortably.

Though it is hard to imagine there being enough traffic to need ~8 lanes of highway. Is that area of Calgary anticipated to have anywhere near that much traffic?

[MonctonRad]

Toronto redux/delusions of grandeur.

Even the current 10 lane configuration is wildly optimistic.

[jamincan]

Designing for the future is risky business as just as often some detail leads to them requiring structure replacement anyway, effectively making all the extra money spent now wasted.

[Taeolas]

Of course that median space doesn't have to be used for highways. It could just as easily be used for rail as well, thread a light rail system through, and you could probably have enough room to put a station in as well, and only need to build pedestrian bridges across the highway as needed. But that also anticipates the demand growing to support it in the future.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Of course that median space doesn't have to be used for highways. It could just as easily be used for rail as well, thread a light rail system through, and you could probably have enough room to put a station in as well, and only need to build pedestrian bridges across the highway as needed. But that also anticipates the demand growing to support it in the future.

At least one of the C train lines does just that.

The 401 in Toronto was shoehorned into a narrow ROW. Doing this in Calgary gives them options 50 years from now.

[sonysnob]

I think its the presence of the First Nations community that has driven the extra wide right of way. Firstly, I'm sure neither the province or the city would want to renegotiate a land deal with the first nations community should the highway need to be widened. Even if the first nations community was a willing participant, such a process is complicated and time consuming.

The other thing is that the presence of the first nations community probably means there will be a significant gap in the local roads network to the west of Calgary. If Calgary continues to grow to the west, that local road network gap may become more apparent in the future. It's for this reason, that the widest roads in a city are usually in the vicinity of an airport. An airport is a major traffic generator that also tends to create a significant gap in the local road network.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Of course that median space doesn't have to be used for highways. It could just as easily be used for rail as well, thread a light rail system through, and you could probably have enough room to put a station in as well, and only need to build pedestrian bridges across the highway as needed. But that also anticipates the demand growing to support it in the future.

While you could, the question is would you want to? Walking across a 10 lane highway (with plenty of room to spare) to get to/from the station is hardly convenient. It is the type of thing someone who doesn't use transit would like.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Toronto redux/delusions of grandeur.

Even the current 10 lane configuration is wildly optimistic.

It's not 10 lanes. It's mostly 8 lanes with some sections of 6 lanes. The section in the photo is extra lanes to handle interchange movements.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Looks like they are trying to future proof it by having space (including space under the bridges) to switch to an Express + Collector highway design in the future. The Median is certainly wide enough that you could put a second Express highway through there comfortably.

Though it is hard to imagine there being enough traffic to need ~8 lanes of highway. Is that area of Calgary anticipated to have anywhere near that much traffic?

The long-term plans call for another freeway to go down the median of the existing one. There's a large First Nation literally on the boundary of Calgary in that area and it took decades for the province to reach a deal with them. Part of the deal was that the Nation said that this was going to be a one time thing and that the province should buy as much land as they think they'll need in the future. Some people say what was built is overkill but they have no idea why this is being done. The Nation also wanted a certain number of interchanges built leading into their land as they are building a major retail and entertainment center. To them the freeway is going to be a huge economic generator. For the province and Calgarians it's going to provide a much better option to move goods and people in that area and decongest other roads. There's another section of the freeway further south that has not opened yet. That will allow the people in the deep south to finally have a freeway connection to points further north which will let them connect into have major roads much more easily than what they have to do now. There's a shitload of people who live in the deep south of Calgary and beyond.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

I think its the presence of the First Nations community that has driven the extra wide right of way. Firstly, I'm sure neither the province or the city would want to renegotiate a land deal with the first nations community should the highway need to be widened. Even if the first nations community was a willing participant, such a process is complicated and time consuming.

The other thing is that the presence of the first nations community probably means there will be a significant gap in the local roads network to the west of Calgary. If Calgary continues to grow to the west, that local road network gap may become more apparent in the future. It's for this reason, that the widest roads in a city are usually in the vicinity of an airport. An airport is a major traffic generator that also tends to create a significant gap in the local road network.

Decades from now if the province decides to build another bypass it would have to go so far out on the west side that it would be totally useless. That's why the 201 on the west side of Calgary has such a wide median. What they're doing is very smart because there will never be another deal like the one they signed back in 2013.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Decades from now if the province decides to build another bypass it would have to go so far out on the west side that it would be totally useless. That's why the 201 on the west side of Calgary has such a wide median. What they're doing is very smart because there will never be another deal like the one they signed back in 2013.

Hasn't 22 through Bragg always been the unofficial bypass on the west. similar to Highway 60/19 to the west of Edmonton has been.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Hasn't 22 through Bragg always been the unofficial bypass on the west. similar to Highway 60/19 to the west of Edmonton has been.

Maybe for some people but I don't think it aligns with what they plan on doing 30+ years from now.

[Dengler Avenue]

Honestly though, with such a wide freeway, if you guys still need a bypass further west, there's a problem.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Honestly though, with such a wide freeway, if you guys still need a bypass further west, there's a problem.

We won't unless we become the size of Houston in terms of population.