Highways in Canada

[Innsertnamehere]

for a city of 200,000 people, not really.

Thats roughly similar to the highway between Edmonton and Calgary, form my understanding.

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just heard these stats mentioned as part of an unrelated story on the radio:

The Outer Ring Road is the busiest in this province with 30,000 vehicles using it daily. The Conception Bay Bypass linking St. John's with its southwest suburbs is second-busiest and used by 24,000 vehicles daily.

Obviously, small city, small potatoes. But those seem exceptionally low to me. Are they?

For 4-Lane freeways around a city like St, John's, those are about average, if not a bit on the high side.

See page 106

This PDF has traffic volumes for all the highways in NS. On page 106 we find the 102 here. This section is considered very busy, with an upgrade to six lanes being considered. The AADT here is 23600 NB and 25200 SB. Considerably higher than in St. John's. But on page 166, the 118 from Wright Ave. to the 107 (third chart on the page), it's a lot more like St. John's at 12800 SB and 12600 NB.

[SignalHillHiker]

One of them is mostly two lanes. Probably should be four, though. But thanks guys. I thought it was way out of whack low but if it's normal then that's good I guess.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just heard these stats mentioned as part of an unrelated story on the radio:

The Outer Ring Road is the busiest in this province with 30,000 vehicles using it daily. The Conception Bay Bypass linking St. John's with its southwest suburbs is second-busiest and used by 24,000 vehicles daily.

Obviously, small city, small potatoes. But those seem exceptionally low to me. Are they?

That sounds normal for a city the size of St. John's, in a province with no larger cities or major international border crossings nearby. London, Ont. has no roads with AADTs exceeding 50,000, except for Highways 401 and 402, but those don't serve much local traffic.

[drawarc]

Day/Night by Jason Hightower, on Flickr

[sonysnob]

^ Ottawa Queensway?

[drawarc]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

^ Ottawa Queensway?

Yes, looking west from Preston street I think.

[eemy]

I find it interesting how the Queensway almost seems like an elevated highway in the central section.

[Innsertnamehere]

it is elevated, just elevated on a berm instead of an actual deck.

edit: spelling

[drawarc]

Between Maitland Avenue, and the Vanier Parkway, the road is elevated throughout the downtown area. Here's another photo from same vantage point, this time looking east:

Untitled by Jason Hightower, on Flickr

[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by drawarc

Between Maitland Avenue, and the Vanier Parkway, the road is elevated throughout the downtown area. Here's another photo from same vantage point, this time looking east:

Untitled by Jason Hightower, on Flickr

And this why the road lobby claims we need more lanes? Many times in the evening, night and morning the highway is like this. People in Ottawa often think the 417 is the equivalent of the 401 through Toronto. Ottawa just needs to get more people on transit in and out of the city during rush hours. The 417 has lots of capacity during the rest of the day.

[dmuzika]

[deleted]

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by GoTrans

And this why the road lobby claims we need more lanes? Many times in the evening, night and morning the highway is like this. People in Ottawa often think the 417 is the equivalent of the 401 through Toronto. Ottawa just needs to get more people on transit in and out of the city during rush hours. The 417 has lots of capacity during the rest of the day.

Would a ring road/bypass help at all?

[biguc]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

Also man does that huge surface parking lot at Queen's Quay and Rees St. need to go. It's an awful stretch of an otherwise decent waterfront street.

What's up with that, anyway? Does the city want to protect views of the skydome from the lake?

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by dmuzika

Would a ring road/bypass help at all?

No. Almost all of the traffic on the 417 is destined for central Ottawa. There's no through traffic, really, because Ottawa is not along the main QC-Windsor travel route. The only traffic going through the metro would be transcontinental Western Canada/Northern Ontario <-> Quebec/Atlantic Canada travel which is very low volume.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

No. Almost all of the traffic on the 417 is destined for central Ottawa. There's no through traffic, really, because Ottawa is not along the main QC-Windsor travel route. The only traffic going through the metro would be transcontinental Western Canada/Northern Ontario <-> Quebec/Atlantic Canada travel which is very low volume.

Or east-west within Ottawa. Like Orleans-Kanata traffic.

No real need for a ring road you're right.

I do think that photo of the Queensway was taken in the middle of the night or something though.

Aside from the peak periods on weekdays, there are frequent off-peak congestion issues on the Queensway when there are events at the Canadian Tire Centre.

On weekday evenings when there is an event at the CTC, the Queensway can be jammed or at least extremely from all the way in the east end at St Laurent going west all the way to Kanata. A distance of almost 30 km, and far worse that your typical congestion starting from downtown and going either east or west.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

No. Almost all of the traffic on the 417 is destined for central Ottawa. There's no through traffic, really, because Ottawa is not along the main QC-Windsor travel route. The only traffic going through the metro would be transcontinental Western Canada/Northern Ontario <-> Quebec/Atlantic Canada travel which is very low volume.

A much higher priority than a ring road for Ottawa would be a proper connection between the 417 and Gatineau, a plan that might take the form of a tunnel.

Did nobody ever think of that back when the Queensway was being planned? Or was there a plan that got shot down?

[manny_santos]

The Ontario government has awarded the contract for the next phase of Highway 407 east to Highway 35/115, as well as Highway 418. The winner is Blackbird Infrastructure.

[niwell]

Didn't most of the traffic issues on the Queensway stem from the inadequate ramp setup? Particularly in the downtown area and headed westwards. Most of the ramps were short and terminate at lights on surface streets. IIRC there has been some new construction to correct this but I could be wrong.

All I know is last time I drove to Ottawa (first time in 7 years) I was shocked at how quick the Queensway section from the 416 to downtown seemed.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

A much higher priority than a ring road for Ottawa would be a proper connection between the 417 and Gatineau, a plan that might take the form of a tunnel.

Did nobody ever think of that back when the Queensway was being planned? Or was there a plan that got shot down?

The original plan in the 1960s was to blow up a huge chunk of the urban Sandy Hill and Lowertown neighbourhoods to transform King Edward Avenue into a trenched expressway.