Highways in Canada

[eternallyme]

The US National Highway System is much larger than just the Interstates. It includes many US and state-numbered routes as well, some 2 lanes, some 4 lanes uncontrolled and some freeways.

[sonysnob]

A screen print of some old highway numbering proposals in Ontario:

[SignalHillHiker]

The Trans Labrador Highway.

The Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) is a Canadian highway located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primary public road in Labrador. Its total length is 774.66 mi (1,246.69 km). Due to the harsh winters and sparse population in most of Labrador, most of the road is a well-packed asphalt/gravel surface that is re-graded annually (usually in mid to late May), and there are no plans to fully pave it (as of 2015).

The TLH runs through dense wilderness for most of its length with no roadside services between communities. Travellers attempting to drive the TLH in winter months should plan for unpredictable and extreme weather and road conditions.

Labrador city by Paysan, on Flickr

Trans-Labrador Highway by -AX-, on Flickr

The road goes on forever by suicidechump, on Flickr

(^ I suspect this one might be mislabeled. I'm not sure such foliage exists in Labrador)

Labrador, Canada by herb.hoskins, on Flickr

Open Road by Don Janke, on Flickr

Trans-Labrador Highway by -AX-, on Flickr

Trans-Labrador Highway by -AX-, on Flickr

[FrAnKs]

^ nice pictures. Ahah the british flag again. Always funny to see when NFLD is totally independant since a little while

[SignalHillHiker]

I think that's actually pretty normal across English Canada. The big thing up there is that the Province won't let them fly their own flag.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Labrador, Canada by herb.hoskins, on Flickr

I love when you get views like that driving down the highway. If anyone ever has the opportunity when they're in the Yukon, it's well worth driving the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City to Alaska. It has similarly glorious views:



In the same area, the Dempster Highway to Inuvik also has some incredible vistas:

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Driving from Toronto to Alberta is certainly faster to do by cutting through the states.

Same with driving Toronto to the Maritimes.

The Choke point is highway 11/17 between Nipigon and TB, not TB and Winnipeg. At that point it is literally the only road crossing the country. Every vehicle travelling from MB to ON needs to cross it. It is slowly getting twinned however, the government is issuing roughly 10km contracts every year or so to cover the 100km stretch. Right now around 30km is completed.

That choke point is also where all rail lines cross. If the river ever flooded and destroyed the infrastructure south of Lake Nipigon, all land based traffic in Canada would not be able to get east west, unless it went into the states.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

That choke point is also where all rail lines cross. If the river ever flooded and destroyed the infrastructure south of Lake Nipigon, all land based traffic in Canada would not be able to get east west, unless it went into the states.

CN's main transcontinental line in Canada actually runs north of Lake Nipigon. This is also the line that VIA rail runs on.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

CN's main transcontinental line in Canada actually runs north of Lake Nipigon. This is also the line that VIA rail runs on.

My mistake.

[ssiguy]

Can you drive from Labrador to anywhere in Quebec?

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah. There are two major border crossings with Quebec but only one of them allows access to main Canadian highway system:



The other just extends a little ways along Quebec's Lower North Shore. In this area, Corner Brook tends to be the main destination for healthcare, shopping, etc. as they have no highway access to the rest of Quebec.



The ferry link you see above is the main passenger link between NL and Labrador. It actually docks in Blanc Sablon, on the Quebec side. On our side it normally docks in St. Barbe, as pictured, but when the strait is jammed with ice it often gets diverted to Corner Brook instead.

[le calmar]

You mean the ferry goes all the way down to Corner Brook from Blanc-Sablon? That's a pretty long detour... If can even call that a detour. It has to take at least 10 times longer.

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah, it's 18 hours or so at least, I think I heard, when they go that way. But it's only if the strait is full of ice.

And, this being a region of the country and even within the province that isn't all that important, the Coast Guard has no trouble leaving ferries and people stranded in port for weeks at a time. So when you've been sleeping in your car in a parking lot in Blanc Sablon for eight days, the prospect of an hours-long detour doesn't seem so bad.

http://www.thewesternstar.com/News/Local...scort-MV-Apollo-to-Corner-Brook-Friday/1

[le calmar]

So in other words, during cold winters getting in or out of Nfld overland can be pratically impossible? The ferry service to North Sydney is seasonal if I remember well, and the only other option can be be very problematic when the strait is frozen over.

[SignalHillHiker]

Close, but not quite. The ice can effect the North Sydney to Channel-Port-aux-Basques ferry run, as it is right now - but that route is explicitly protected in our Terms of Union with Canada, which is now a constitutional document.

So it legally part of the Trans Canada Highway and must be maintained year-round.

[vid]

Originally Posted by esquire

This highway is not that great... it's still mostly 2-lane with many treacherous stretches. But traffic volumes are not that high apart from summer peak seasons (long weekends, etc.). I'd imagine that a significant chunk of E-W traffic across northern Ontario actually ends up going through the US, which is at least as fast at the TCH.

At this point, most of it does. It's faster to get to Alberta from Thunder Bay through the US than through Canada. (Faster still if you fly.) The amount of traffic going through this region gets smaller every year.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by vid

At this point, most of it does. It's faster to get to Alberta from Thunder Bay through the US than through Canada. (Faster still if you fly.) The amount of traffic going through this region gets smaller every year.

I can't understand how that would even be possible given the positioning of Thunder Bay and say, Calgary.

[vid]

Me either, and Google Maps says it takes longer, but I've seen lots of people get recommended the US route between here and Calgary or Vancouver as opposed to travelling through Canada. Might actually be due to cheaper fuel costs as opposed to speed?

Everyone east of Thunder Bay heading west is better off taking the US, for sure.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by vid

Me either, and Google Maps says it takes longer, but I've seen lots of people get recommended the US route between here and Calgary or Vancouver as opposed to travelling through Canada. Might actually be due to cheaper fuel costs as opposed to speed?

Everyone east of Thunder Bay heading west is better off taking the US, for sure.

I've never driven more than about 12 hours out of Winnipeg... been to Chicago, Calgary, Edmonton and Thunder Bay (along with various points in between). I found the drive to Chicago to be an absolute breeze because the highways are excellent with high speed limits, the scenery is pleasant, there are a lot of conveniences along the way (hotels, restaurants, gas stations...where the gas is cheaper). 13 hours on the road to Chicago sure felt like it went by a hell of a lot faster than 12 hours on the Yellowhead through Saskatchewan to Edmonton. I'm sure that isolated feeling is even more pronounced through N. Ontario, especially east of T.Bay.

Even if the driving times between Winnipeg and Toronto are similar on the US route and the TCH, I'd expect the US route to be a more enjoyable drive.

[vid]

The highway 11 drive from Thunder Bay to North Bay is probably the most boring drive in the country. It's flat, but unlike Saskatchewan where you have things to look at in the distance, it's just a tunnel of trees for 1,100km.

Thunder Bay is actually the largest city located on Highway 11 at this point, and that highway is 1,600km long and crosses the province! That's how desolate it is! If it didn't wiggle all over the place for most of its distance, it would probably kill people with how boring it is.

Highway 17, on the other hand, is pretty decent. Heading west it is really boring once you get to Dryden since you're out of the uplands and into flatter, less varied terrain, but from Dryden to Thunder Bay it's varied enough to interest you, and the railway runs along it and there are actually towns and stuff! But you definitely need to be able to tolerate driving for two hours without so much as a space on the shoulder to pull over, because that's how basic it is up here.

Every Canadian needs to drive through this region once in their life, though, if only to say they've done it.