Highways in Canada

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I believe the plan is to twin the Southeast and Southwest Bypasses, and build a new alignment to reach the Maley Drive extension and north of the existing corridor to Wahnapitae. There would be no new interchanges along the bypass until the current end of the bypass near Coniston, but grade separations would be built at Fielding Road and Southview Drive. I see no reason why they can't start building it soon...

That is preferable in my opinion, since a northern bypass does not grab any traffic from 69/400, forcing them onto a 2-lane corridor to reach 17.

From the current cloverleaf, they could twin just that section to the current 4 laned point.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Lots of regional highway shots.

• Video Link

Is it just me or isn't the videographer the bad driver?

I was just going to comment and say that Some of the shots are debatable, but the last clip of the people crossing the street with the dogs the driver is definitely in the wrong (the crosswalk timer is on).

EDIT: went to the youtube channel and checked out a few more videos, this person is a bad driver.

[bulliver]

The Alaska Highway was originally built by the US Army as quickly as possible to supply landing strips for the 'Northwest Staging Route'. The team of cat-skinners would often be felling trees on the route a day, or even mere hours behind the surveyors. It twisted and turned around obstacles to minimize time consuming rock cuts, earthworks, and drainage for the extensive muskeg which the highway travels through. The highway was so twisty that there was a rumour floating around, apocryphal, that it was built that way intentionally so that the Japanese could not use it as an ersatz landing strip.

Almost immediately upon handover from the US Army to the Canadian Government civilian contractors were brought in to realign some of the more notorious sections, replace temporary bridges, and bring the highway up to modern standards. This practice continues right up to today: during the summer of 2015 there were two sections of approximately 5km each being straightened out and realigned.

The crux of this is that the highway today is some 500km shorter than it was originally, and it gets shorter every year. Some former sections have been downgraded to local roads. Some have had the surface removed, and are recognizable only by the unnatural cut through the trees. Other sections, like the one pictured here near Scoby Creek on the 60th parallel were left somewhat intact, slowly crumbling and getting reclaimed by nature.

[lake of the nations]

That reminds me of the old Route 112, in Thetford Mines. The story is different, as is the result: not only is it abandoned, but it would also be totally impassable for a car nowadays. As you can see at 1:01, the new road shares the same fate. A third one is currently being built.

• Video Link

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by lake of the nations

That reminds me of the old Route 112, in Thetford Mines. The story is different, as is the result: not only is it abandoned, but it would also be totally impassable for a car nowadays. As you can see at 1:01, the new road shares the same fate. A third one is currently being built.

• Video Link

Wow. Why does this keep happening? Is it just the mine weakening the ground? Is the new (new) road going right alongside the mine like the old ones?

[bulliver]

I wonder if there are other sections of relatively intact abandoned highway in Canada. Pictures?

[haljackey]

401/403/410 loop going in!



https://www.flickr.com/photos/vaughanweather/21210842219/sizes/k/

[lake of the nations]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Wow. Why does this keep happening? Is it just the mine weakening the ground? Is the new (new) road going right alongside the mine like the old ones?

The ground is very unstable all around the hole. At first, the MTQ intended to keep following its border, this time on the other side, but they realised at the very last moments that the new road would have been just as precarious as the old ones. It was finally decided to add a 2 km curve so the road wouldn't pass too close to the hole...

The dotted line below corresponds to the original outline.


MTQ

[vegeta_skyline]

Originally Posted by haljackey

401/403/410 loop going in!



https://www.flickr.com/photos/vaughanweather/21210842219/sizes/k/

Nice!

[Horus]

Here we go again. This seems to come up every 10 years or so.

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/20...s-at-toronto-city-hall-on-wednesday.html

Bury the Gardiner? Idea resurfaces at Toronto City Hall on Wednesday
Proposal comes before city council on Wednesday to bury the expressway, in a plan some consider 'transformational,’ and others dismiss as ‘fanciful’

By: Betsy Powell City Hall Bureau, Published on Wed Sep 30 2015

It’s a big idea that could transform Toronto’s downtown.

Montreal did it, Boston struggled to do it, Seattle is doing it.

It wouldn’t be cheap, it wouldn’t be easy and city staff gives it a thumbs-down — but councillors will on Wednesday consider a proposal to replace the Gardiner Expressway with a tunnel.

“It is a bold idea, and it would be transformational because it would free up all that land,” said Murtaza Haider, an associate professor at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management.

The construction consortium behind the plan calls it a visionary solution, although the idea of tunnelling under the Gardiner is as old as the elevated, inner-city roadway itself.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” said John Beck, executive chairman of Aecon Group, a Canadian infrastructure and construction giant.

Tunnelling would improve connectivity between downtown and the waterfront, lessen commute times for motorists, reduce carbon emissions and could be done with minimal traffic disruption during construction, he said.

It would run for 6.5 kilometres, from around Cherry St. in the east to near Jameson St. in the west. Along the way, there would be an entrance at Yonge St. and another around Lower Simcoe and York Sts. South of the Fort York, it would break away from the Gardiner route and follow Lake Shore Blvd. A second tunnel along Front St. would take pressure off the western Gardiner. It would take six years to build.

The consortium estimates it could build a Gardiner and Front St. tunnel for an estimated $5 billion. If the environmental assessment process began soon, the tunnels could be open by 2023, Beck said. Separately, the Gardiner tunnel would cost $4 billion, the Front St. tunnel, $1 billion.
....

Read the rest here

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by Horus

Here we go again. This seems to come up every 10 years or so.

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/20...s-at-toronto-city-hall-on-wednesday.html



Read the rest here

Great idea, and the Gardiner would not be like the Ville-Marie tunnel. A-720 passes under the CBD. Therefore, the costs to bury the Gardiner should not be very high.

[MolsonExport]

Great idea, except for the extremely likely and very elevated (if you will pardon the pun) cost overruns associated with burial. I still favor burying the Gardiner, regardless. It is a huge barrier between the Lake/attractions and the CBD. The corridor would be worth perhaps billions to developers.

[SignalHillHiker]

Guys, reading through some old articles and I'm trying to tell if we were hilariously far behind or if it was normal, even if only for cities our size, at the time.

Our government invited the Americans to advise us on what to do with our roads in 1929.

Their report notes:

At the 1929 session, it was decided to place the Highroads Commission under the control of a Minister of the Crown, responsible to Parliament. Thus the responsibility of the roads and bridges throughout the Dominion was consolidated.

With the exception of the main roads on the Avalon Peninsula, very little attention has been given to the construction of highways in the Dominion. On December 31, 1929, there were 731 miles of highway in Newfoundland suitable for motor vehicle traffic.

The highways are constructed of earth and gravel and then oiled. A few miles of roadway are surfaced with waterbound macadam. About one mile of the principal business street in the City of St. John's is paved with granite blocks. No other paving is laid in Newfoundland.

When was control centralized in Canada? And what would, say, NB/NS/PEI have had in roads at that time?

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

When was control centralized in Canada? And what would, say, NB/NS/PEI have had in roads at that time?

It never was centralized in Canada. At least not in the same way it has been in most of Europe and the US.

Unless I'm mistaken, only the Trans Canada highway is under federal (centralized) jurisdiction.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Great idea, and the Gardiner would not be like the Ville-Marie tunnel. A-720 passes under the CBD. Therefore, the costs to bury the Gardiner should not be very high.

costs are pegged at $5 billion right now. Very Expensive.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

costs are pegged at $5 billion right now. Very Expensive.

Would likely end up costing way more than that. The Big Dig had an estimated cost of something like $6 billion, and ended up costing over $14 billion and was almost 10 years behind schedule.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Procrastinational

It never was centralized in Canada. At least not in the same way it has been in most of Europe and the US.

Unless I'm mistaken, only the Trans Canada highway is under federal (centralized) jurisdiction.

Even the TCH is not under federal jurisdiction. They just give money for it from time to time if they can come to an agreement with a province re: maintenance and upgrades.

Pretty much the only federal roads are in national parks, some parkways in Ottawa and Gatineau, and I guess the bridges on the St. Lawrence in Montreal.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Procrastinational

Would likely end up costing way more than that. The Big Dig had an estimated cost of something like $6 billion, and ended up costing over $14 billion and was almost 10 years behind schedule.

So, lets figure about 15$ billion.

The Gardnier is needed. Anyone who thinks that removing it and not having anything else will reduce traffic is in a dream world.

Rebuild it above or bury it? Both ways are going to cost billions. Most likely, it will cost 2-3 times as much and be over time. The Spadina extension is already over budget and behind schedule.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by bulliver

The Alaska Highway was originally built by the US Army as quickly as possible to supply landing strips for the 'Northwest Staging Route'. The team of cat-skinners would often be felling trees on the route a day, or even mere hours behind the surveyors. It twisted and turned around obstacles to minimize time consuming rock cuts, earthworks, and drainage for the extensive muskeg which the highway travels through. The highway was so twisty that there was a rumour floating around, apocryphal, that it was built that way intentionally so that the Japanese could not use it as an ersatz landing strip.

Almost immediately upon handover from the US Army to the Canadian Government civilian contractors were brought in to realign some of the more notorious sections, replace temporary bridges, and bring the highway up to modern standards. This practice continues right up to today: during the summer of 2015 there were two sections of approximately 5km each being straightened out and realigned.

The crux of this is that the highway today is some 500km shorter than it was originally, and it gets shorter every year. Some former sections have been downgraded to local roads. Some have had the surface removed, and are recognizable only by the unnatural cut through the trees. Other sections, like the one pictured here near Scoby Creek on the 60th parallel were left somewhat intact, slowly crumbling and getting reclaimed by nature.

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

[Airboy]

Another interesting road is the old Canol Highway originally from Whitehorse to Norman Well NWT. Now only from Whitehorse to Ross River Yukon. the eastern half is more a hiking trail. I the western half is a bit upgraded but there are sections you drive along a beach of some of the lakes. Definitely have to use a High wheel base vehicle.