Highways in Canada

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I was out there skiing last week. Don't miss the tight curves at all.
While on the ski lift I could hear blasting going on in the valley. I'm assuming that they are going to blast out those high points that the old highway was on to marry it up with the new road?

It depends. In some places, it’s okay for EB and WB lanes to be at different altitudes.

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I was out there skiing last week. Don't miss the tight curves at all.
While on the ski lift I could hear blasting going on in the valley. I'm assuming that they are going to blast out those high points that the old highway was on to marry it up with the new road?

While it's generally fine for freeways to have independent alignments for each of the carriageways, I believe for Kicking Horse both the eastbound and westbound lanes will have the same grade, with opposing traffic separated with a paved flush median and one of BCs movable concrete median barriers.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

It depends. In some places, it’s okay for EB and WB lanes to be at different altitudes.

https://goo.gl/maps/YjD1RSVvVx9zcN8h7

https://goo.gl/maps/YYyB8YTxxRiEeLbj9


or many km apart. Drove this road a few years ago. Corkscrews within tunnels and the different directions quite a few km apart across a valley at times. Managed to get a speeding ticket on the road as well

[Metro-One]

The two eastbound lanes already open (currently bi-directional) is already a massive improvement over the old highway. The use of viaducts is also a welcomed sight. It will be an impressive stretch to drive when completed. I wish the Feds would get moving on Yoho park twinning phase two…

The lack of tunnels in Canada (indeed North America in general) for highways is interesting.

Just drove from my place to Kochi across a mountain range (about an 80km long section of freeway) and I think that stretch is about 60% tunnels and only 40% at grade or elevated.

There is a 30km stretch in particular that only has about 2 or 3 km of highway that isn’t in a tunnel.

And this isn’t a major route between big population centres. The city of Kochi is about the size of Victoria and where I live is about the size of a more spread out Hamilton.

Now, not expecting that intense of use of tunnels in Canada (or the US), but you would think there would be a few more than we have.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

https://goo.gl/maps/YjD1RSVvVx9zcN8h7

https://goo.gl/maps/YYyB8YTxxRiEeLbj9


or many km apart. Drove this road a few years ago. Corkscrews within tunnels and the different directions quite a few km apart across a valley at times. Managed to get a speeding ticket on the road as well

Here's my favourite one, from Baja California:

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.5679768,-116.0068458,13.55z

I-8 in California a short distance to the north also has something similar but it's not as spaghetti-like as Fed. 2D to the south.

[Innsertnamehere]

I84 is sort of like that in Oregon:

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5898267,-118.621557,3410m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Mazrim]

Roads like at have fallen out of favor because they usually straddle both sides of a valley and that essentially land locks the area. It's also a bit of an environmental nightmare.

[craner]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Kicking horse progress

• Video Link

• Video Link

This is so awesome.
I can’t believe it’s going to be done in just over a year

[craner]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

If we are to have federally designated highways, then we should have a system, like the US interstate system. It should be coherent and logical. It doesn't need to be grade separated across the country like down there, but there should be a system of principle highways which are logically numbered.

Couldn’t agree more

[craner]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Here is the "National Highway System" map:



If I had my druthers, I would make all the green highways on the latter map part of the TCH system. This would include the Alaska Highway and more intercity routes in BC, the Prairies, southern ON and the Maritimes. I would set minimum standards for the system in terms of quality and maintenance, and number the routes appropriately, including standardized signage.

Absolutely THIS !

[Airboy]

They could also so the north extension up to Tuk. and Highway 88 right up the middle of Alberta to the north which is a core highway now out of NWT and Northern Alberta.

[swimmer_spe]

Besides the current section under construction, on the Mainland of Canada, are there any other really bad sections that need to be twinned?

[GreaterMontréal]

Autoroutes are divided into three types – principal routes, deviation routes, and collector routes – and are laid out and numbered in a fashion similar to the Interstate Highway System in the United States. The principal Autoroutes are the major highways of the province, and have single- or double-digit numbers. East-west Autoroutes running parallel to the Saint Lawrence River (for example, Autoroute 20 and Autoroute 40) are assigned even numbers, while north-south Autoroutes running perpendicular to the Saint Lawrence (such as Autoroute 5 and Autoroute 15) are given odd numbers. Deviation and collector Autoroutes both feature triple-digit numbers. Deviation routes are bypasses intended for truck traffic to circumvent urban areas, and are identified by an even number prefixing the number of the nearby Autoroute that it bypasses (for example, Autoroute 440 in Laval). Collector Autoroutes, by contrast, are spur routes into urban areas, and are identified by an odd number prefixing the number of the nearby Autoroute that it branches off of (such as Autoroute 720, a spur of Autoroute 20 into downtown Montreal).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoroutes_of_Quebec

Doesn't matter if you are in Montreal in Quebec City or in Sherbrooke, the highway system is built the same.

In Montreal-Laval the most westerly North-South Autoroute begins with the A-13, then going East we find the A-15, the A-19 and the A-25.

The main West to East Autoroute is the A-40 in Montreal, the bypass Autoroutes are the A-440 in Laval and the A-640 on the North Shore.

Quebec City has multiples Collector Autoroutes, The A-540, A-573, A-740 and the A-973.

The A-530 Collector in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield on the South Shore is very important. There is a new major industrial park developping in Salaberry because of the direct link to the A-30 and the A-530.

The strangest Autoroute to me is the A-955 between the A-20 and Route 122. It's not even a Super 2 highway, it's an at-grade, no interchange, but rather intersections, and the speed limit is 100km/h. It's the only major direct link to the Victoriaville region (pop. 75k). The A-55 will be twinned between Saint-Grégoire and Saint-Eulalie, they could have twinned the A-955 as well but they decided to wait I guess.

[craner]

^Very interesting about the Autoroute system in Quebec GM.

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Besides the current section under construction, on the Mainland of Canada, are there any other really bad sections that need to be twinned?

Sigh. Where to start ?…..

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by craner

^Very interesting about the Autoroute system in Quebec GM.


Sigh. Where to start ?…..

Yeah, there are many more bad sections to twin, many of them are in the federal parks though.

That said, I do think Kicking Horse Canyon (great name by the way) was the worst stretch of all.

[MolsonExport]

I think every road should just be called Highway 97.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoroutes_of_Quebec

Doesn't matter if you are in Montreal in Quebec City or in Sherbrooke, the highway system is built the same.

In Montreal-Laval the most westerly North-South Autoroute begins with the A-13, then going East we find the A-15, the A-19 and the A-25.

The main West to East Autoroute is the A-40 in Montreal, the bypass Autoroutes are the A-440 in Laval and the A-640 on the North Shore.

Quebec City has multiples Collector Autoroutes, The A-540, A-573, A-740 and the A-973.

The A-530 Collector in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield on the South Shore is very important. There is a new major industrial park developping in Salaberry because of the direct link to the A-30 and the A-530.

The strangest Autoroute to me is the A-955 between the A-20 and Route 122. It's not even a Super 2 highway, it's an at-grade, no interchange, but rather intersections, and the speed limit is 100km/h. It's the only major direct link to the Victoriaville region (pop. 75k). The A-55 will be twinned between Saint-Grégoire and Saint-Eulalie, they could have twinned the A-955 as well but they decided to wait I guess.

I'm fascinated by all the different systems governments came up with for numbering highways. It's something you'd initially think it's straightforward, but dig deeper and it's not.

Newfoundland seems to use a system at least partially inspired by the British A road zonal/regional system.

[Airboy]

Tuk Highway is getting some upgrades.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/improvements-inuvik-tuktoyaktuk-highway-1.6718641

[Marshal]

Could anyone tell us what the speed limits are/will be for the Kicking Horse Canyon Hwy 1 improvements?

[Vantage]

Originally Posted by Marshal

Could anyone tell us what the speed limits are/will be for the Kicking Horse Canyon Hwy 1 improvements?

80 km/h I imagine. I'll ask my inside source and see if they know.