Highways in Canada

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by davee930

Is it just me or should a two lane road with lights that goes through a town NOT be called a highway? Just annoying to me but I have issues

The term "highway" can be confusing to some people, as some people associate the term with freeways, particularly in Ontario. But in general a highway can be any public road. The terminology has been used with two-lane motorized vehicle roads for over a century.

In British Columbia it tends to be used for major arterial roads, even if it's not a provincial highway - for example, Westminster Highway in Richmond, or Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by davee930

Is it just me or should a two lane road with lights that goes through a town NOT be called a highway? Just annoying to me but I have issues

Until the 1950s this is how highways were built.

They were trunk 2-lane roads that went directly into towns and cities, because most traffic was going from A to B, not bypassing it.

As cars got more reliable and people travelled further, larger places were bypassed as people wanted to go from A to C without passing through B.

[Acajack]

To me, a highway might have occasional stoplights and even two-way traffic, but it still implies a decently fast level of speed. At least 70 kmh and ideally 80 kmh or more.

Not 50 kmh that's for sure.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Acajack

To me, a highway might have occasional stoplights and even two-way traffic, but it still implies a decently fast level of speed. At least 70 kmh and ideally 80 kmh or more.

Not 50 kmh that's for sure.

Sure, but a lot of highways still pass through small towns, especially on more rural portions.

Whether they should in this day and era is another question.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by davee930

Is it just me or should a two lane road with lights that goes through a town NOT be called a highway? Just annoying to me but I have issues

Either you don't understand how highways work, or you don't understand how traffic lights work.

Take highway 17/11 between the MB border and Ottawa. There are lights both on the Thunder Bay Expressway and the North Bay bypass. Both have lights on the highway going through the city. The governments are too cheap to put in the necessary infrastructure to remove those lights.

Then there is Blind River and SSM where no real plan is in place for bypassing the sections with lights.

So, either we build freeways around those places, or we remove lights and have way too many accident happening, and having traffic backing up to get on/off the highway. Or we accept them as is.

[davee930]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Either you don't understand how highways work, or you don't understand how traffic lights work.

Take highway 17/11 between the MB border and Ottawa. There are lights both on the Thunder Bay Expressway and the North Bay bypass. Both have lights on the highway going through the city. The governments are too cheap to put in the necessary infrastructure to remove those lights.

Then there is Blind River and SSM where no real plan is in place for bypassing the sections with lights.

So, either we build freeways around those places, or we remove lights and have way too many accident happening, and having traffic backing up to get on/off the highway. Or we accept them as is.

Yeah I don't really understand anything.

[Tone]

A20 August 2015

[Dengler Avenue]

It’s quite hard to believe that the extension to Trois-Pistoles was pretty “recent”.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

It’s quite hard to believe that the extension to Trois-Pistoles was pretty “recent”.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that?

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Tone

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that?

Assuming that the photos refer to the extension of A20 between Cacouna and Trois-Pistoles, I find it incredible that the extension was only opened to traffic as recently as 2016.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Assuming that the photos refer to the extension of A20 between Cacouna and Trois-Pistoles, I find it incredible that the extension was only opened to traffic as recently as 2016.

Yes the pictures are from the latest extension from Cacouna to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (Trois-Pistoles), yep its pretty recent!

[Innsertnamehere]

GTA west seems to have quietely released detailed alignment plans on their website in May - see the "draft straw model design" plates through the link below.

https://www.gta-west.com/consultation-2/

The 407/401/GTA West interchange looks like fun.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

GTA west seems to have quietely released detailed alignment plans on their website in May - see the "draft straw model design" plates through the link below.

https://www.gta-west.com/consultation-2/

The 407/401/GTA West interchange looks like fun.

I might be missing something, but it appears they haven't really planned to make it easy to access Bolton from this new highway nor the Highway 427 extension.

[Dwils01]

There is an interchange with the 427 extension on the section 7 picture. It does seem like there's no easy access for traffic coming from Bolton. The 2 closest on ramps seem to be at Hwy 27 and Humber Station Road.

[Innsertnamehere]

video update of the Kingston third crossing across the Cataraqui River from May. This is a fairly large bridge structure that seems to be flying well under the radar as it's a municipal project instead of a provincial one. The bridge will provide a third crossing across the river, which has been seeing major capacity issues for residents on the east side as the existing crossing options are only either the 401 or an old crossing that routes right through downtown Kingston.

• Video Link

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I might be missing something, but it appears they haven't really planned to make it easy to access Bolton from this new highway nor the Highway 427 extension.

Originally Posted by Dwils01

There is an interchange with the 427 extension on the section 7 picture. It does seem like there's no easy access for traffic coming from Bolton. The 2 closest on ramps seem to be at Hwy 27 and Humber Station Road.

Welp, Bolton’s getting shafted…

[Dengler Avenue]

Let's see how well this meme flies on SSP.

[craner]

Drove out to Vancouver Island from Calgary & back - here are some of my observations & comments regarding the TCH in BC:

- Seems the most recent 4-laned sections do not include median barriers, this is concerning. One section had upright reflectors in the median (but no barrier) - WTF ?
- The main intersection in Revelstoke is a joke and an accident waiting to happen. Looks like a traffic circle was built to try and improve things rather than doing it properly with an interchange.
- BC highway standards appear to have deteriorated over time. Older twinned sections include a grass median where possible and concrete barriers where a median is not possible (the Coquihalla for example). Later twinned sections eliminated grass medians but have concrete barriers. And as mentioned, some of the most recent sections have no barrier.
- Also, newer twinned sections do not include a 3rd lane for trucks to use as a climbing lane on steep grades.
- The TCH east of Vancouver needs to be expanded from the current 2 lanes each direction as it's been like that since at least the 1970s. 3 lanes each direction out to Chilliwack would be nice.
- It seems 4-laning west of Golden for about 45kms would be pretty simple and inexpensive (by BC standards). Wish they would tackle this low hanging fruit and get a decent chunk done at once.
- I can confirm a traffic signal has been added to the TCH at Field. Unfortunate that we're still adding lights to the TCH.

On the Island:
- Was surprised the TCH entering Victoria from the north reduces from 4 lanes to 3 (or 2) lanes. I thought the highway would get wider (not narrower) entering the largest city on the island.
- The rest of the TCH between Victoria & Nanaimo (as far as I went) was 4 lanes but was littered with traffic lights (a very BCey thing to do).

My intent is not to pick on BC. I really wish national highways were a much higher priority for the Federal Government. IMO the Feds should be developing minimum standards for a system of TC Highways and dictating those standards as well as footing 90% of the bill for upgrading these highways.

I think the best I can hope for before I leave this life is for a TCH in BC that is continuously 4-laned from the west to Salmon Arm, and from the east to the Glacier Park east boundary. That would leave from Salmon Arm to the east Glacier Park boundary to 4-lane. I think an alternate route will need to be found for the 3-Valley Gap section.

Anyway - this has all been discussed before, just had to vent - thanks all.

[ssiguy]

BC's roads would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous.

People who haven't been to BC would be truly horrified to see the state of BC highways. The safety standards are very low, there are few freeways and in the LM they are completely under built, and most our major routes are nothing but regular 4 lane roads with a plethora of traffic lights.

It would take between $20 to $25 billion in new infrastructure over the next 20 years to bring our highway system up to standard.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

BC's roads would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous.

People who haven't been to BC would be truly horrified to see the state of BC highways. The safety standards are very low, there are few freeways and in the LM they are completely under built, and most our major routes are nothing but regular 4 lane roads with a plethora of traffic lights.

It would take between $20 to $25 billion in new infrastructure over the next 20 years to bring our highway system up to standard.

My first time driving there, about 15 years ago was the lack of guardrails along the cliff edge.