Highways in Canada

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

The shield colours are different. Those colours seem to mean something.

The green colour and the NB outline on the shield simply means it is a provincial trunk road. There is nothing special there to indicate whether it should be divided or undivided. The shield in no way mimics a US Interstate shield.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The green colour and the NB outline on the shield simply means it is a provincial trunk road. There is nothing special there to indicate whether it should be divided or undivided. The shield in no way mimics a US Interstate shield.

It may not mimic a US shield, but if you were not from there, you might assume that the green means freeway and blue means 2 lane.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

It may not mimic a US shield, but if you were not from there, you might assume that the green means freeway and blue means 2 lane.

That’s why Google street view is your best friend.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

That’s why Google street view is your best friend.

Yes, but I do not want to spend hours on it.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Yes, but I do not want to spend hours on it.

I mean, if you’re into roads like me, you’ll end up learning to do that to kill time~

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

It may not mimic a US shield, but if you were not from there, you might assume that the green means freeway and blue means 2 lane.

• Video Link

[harls]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

It may not mimic a US shield, but if you were not from there, you might assume that the green means freeway and blue means 2 lane.

That is exactly the opposite in QC.

[LuluBobo]

Has the federal government ever discussed upgrading the number one to remove at grade access, like the entire American interstate system has?

It would have prevented the Manitoba bus crash, and would greatly expedite the delivery of goods across the country.

Driving on a Canadian highway compare to an American highway is a very stark contrast.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by harls

That is exactly the opposite in QC.

Also 1xx, 2xx, 3xx series are not spur routes of freeways.

Originally Posted by LuluBobo

Has the federal government ever discussed upgrading the number one to remove at grade access, like the entire American interstate system has?

It would have prevented the Manitoba bus crash, and would greatly expedite the delivery of goods across the country.

Driving on a Canadian highway compare to an American highway is a very stark contrast.

The bigger priority will be to help B.C.*, Manitoba**, Ontario**, N.S.*** and now Newfoundland to twin their portion of TCH first.
* Building roads in the Rockies aren't for the faint-hearted.
** This is assuming that the provincial government won't fight the federal one.
*** N.S. will definitely need help building an expensive 4-lane crossing over Straight of Canso.

[ConundrumNL]

Drove from St. John's to Stephenville and back last week, for the first time in a decade. The TCH was pretty good for most of the trip, lots of roadworks going on in Central and around Corner Brook, but the road quality dropped off once you left Corner Brook heading toward the ferry.

Thinking about twinning. For NL, I'm wondering if a proper 2+1 configuration with grade-separated interchanges and median barrier would be enough in a lot of areas.


Random thought I had on my drive:

What provinces do exit numbers for at-grade intersections? NS seems to (street view), NL doesn't.

[Dengler Avenue]

What provinces do exit numbers for at-grade intersections? NS seems to (street view), NL doesn't.

Apparently B.C. does that for its Highway 19 on Vancouver Island too.
As for Newfoundland, in practice I do think that 2+1 will work since people don’t have to be stressed about getting stuck behind slow cars.
That said, I also hold the opinion that, where adding a 4th lane doesn’t increase the cost substantially (due to economy of scale), all 4 lanes may be accorded right from the get-go.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Apparently B.C. does that for its Highway 19 on Vancouver Island too.
As for Newfoundland, in practice I do think that 2+1 will work since people don’t have to be stressed about getting stuck behind slow cars.
That said, I also hold the opinion that, where adding a 4th lane doesn’t increase the cost substantially (due to economy of scale), all 4 lanes may be accorded right from the get-go.

I'm curious to see what the NL government will do with exit numbering once the twinning construction starts up. TCH exits are numbered in sequence starting from PAB and ending at 50 in St. John's. I'd like to seem them move to KM based numbering.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by ConundrumNL

I'm curious to see what the NL government will do with exit numbering once the twinning construction starts up. TCH exits are numbered in sequence starting from PAB and ending at 50 in St. John's. I'd like to seem them move to KM based numbering.

And who knows, maybe that’ll put pressure on N.S. to do the same.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Apparently B.C. does that for its Highway 19 on Vancouver Island too.
As for Newfoundland, in practice I do think that 2+1 will work since people don’t have to be stressed about getting stuck behind slow cars.
That said, I also hold the opinion that, where adding a 4th lane doesn’t increase the cost substantially (due to economy of scale), all 4 lanes may be accorded right from the get-go.

I wonder if outside the built up areas if they did a 4 lane with centre rumble strip if that would be sufficient?

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

And who knows, maybe that’ll put pressure on N.S. to do the same.

Why? There are 26 letters they can use....

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I wonder if outside the built up areas if they did a 4 lane with centre rumble strip if that would be sufficient?

If it’s new build, you may as well build it to proper standard.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

If it’s new build, you may as well build it to proper standard.

If you are trying to save money, why not just get 4 lanes undivided, with a wide enough spot for a concrete barrier, but for now, just put a rumble strip? Make the rest of it proper with exits and no left turns.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

If you are trying to save money, why not just get 4 lanes undivided, with a wide enough spot for a concrete barrier, but for now, just put a rumble strip? Make the rest of it proper with exits and no left turns.

I don’t think you’ll save much in that case, since everything else (especially geometry) needs to be built to freeway standard anyway. At that point, you may as well build it with a grassy median. That’s why Highway 69 and Highway 11 have grassy median even in Canadian Shield.
It comes back to what the MTO engineer told me when I was showing my cheap design in the highway group on Facebook,

If you wanna build it cheap, don’t build at all.

#tbt In fact, that was the turning point in my highway design, as it finally dawned on me that the stuff that B.C. does with TCH won’t fly here.

So now my design looks something like this (for a worst-case scenario):

[Acajack]

Haha, I read that as "17 becomes deviant 417".

Ontario-style bilingualism...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ConundrumNL

I'm curious to see what the NL government will do with exit numbering once the twinning construction starts up. TCH exits are numbered in sequence starting from PAB and ending at 50 in St. John's. I'd like to seem them move to KM based numbering.

Yes and no.

It doesn't make that much sense to have the KM-based exits if you don't know what the routing for an eventual divided freeway (at least on some segments) is going to be, as then you'll have to change them all again. And people will be used to the old exit numbers by that time. So you end up with temporary signs with both the NEW and OLD exit numbers, like I've seen elsewhere.