Highways in Canada

[lubicon]

That is a stunningly beautiful highway to drive. Stereotypical Alberta foothills scenery right out of a movie set.

[Airboy]

Cowboy Trail is still one of the nicest drives in the province.

Just got back from a week on the island. Will upload a few shots from along the way. Drove the Pacific Marine Highway this trip from Port Renfrew to Duncan BC. great drive, would be more fun on a bike. This used to be an old logging road that has since been paved and is an excellent side trip if you are on the island.

Trip from YEG was 2 south to #1 and Banff then 93 to Radium Hot springs for a soak. then up 95 to Golden then on to Revelstoke, next day all the way to Victoria. Side trips aside, back along the Koke to Kamloops then North East on #5 to Valemont, ( where 3 separate mountain ranges meet) east to Edmonton. Not a bad road trip. Trip from Vancouver was so nice we had the sun roof open the whole way. Not a cloud in the sky and the views were spectacular.

Mount Robson May 1. Heading east on the Yellowhead.
[IMG]Robson by Tim Taylor-Smith, on Flickr[/IMG]

[srperrycgy]

Originally Posted by lubicon

That is a stunningly beautiful highway to drive. Stereotypical Alberta foothills scenery right out of a movie set.

Some of this area was used for Brokeback Mountain and more recently, Interstellar.

Would love to drive Hwy 16 someday too. Great shot of Mt. Robson.

[Boris2k7]

Love taking Hwy 22. My family used that all the time when we were going to and from Montana when I was growing up. Thanks for the vid.

I also kinda like taking Hwy 2A between Edmonton and Red Deer, although it's by no means scenic or quick.

[sonysnob]

That Hwy 22 vid is awesome. I really like the scenery on that highway. The fact that the highway doesn't look like it's clogged with traffic is a nice bonus as well.

[eternallyme]

After the catastrophic wildfire and evacuation challenges from Fort McMurray, one thing I will say: the city needs a second road in and out of it.

Most logical would be to extend Highway 986 east to Fort McMurray, then extend either Highway 69 or a new highway to Highway 155 in Saskatchewan. That would allow access from the east/southeast as well as the west.

[MalcolmTucker]

A Highway 881 to the airport link meets all the same objectives. 881 connects to 956 which connects to 155.

Twinning 63 cost enough. There just isn't gravel up there apparently, and it is all pretty swampy land.

The evacuation went very well. The debate becomes: people love living right next to the forest; how big of a fire break does there need to be? The province tries really hard to convince communities to put in 70m-100m fire smart policies (which doesn't mean bare ground, but you do need to actively manage the forest) and has faced huge pushback.

[Loco101]

I can't believe that people were driving on Hwy 63 right as the fire was at the edge of the road and was passing over. A VERY risky thing to do while in a vehicle. The winds could have caused a car or truck to become engulfed in flames in seconds.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I can't believe that people were driving on Hwy 63 right as the fire was at the edge of the road and was passing over. A VERY risky thing to do while in a vehicle. The winds could have caused a car or truck to become engulfed in flames in seconds.

That was my greatest concern too. I know a lot of people went north on 63 to the work camps (it is a 4 lane divided highway up to Mildred Lake, about 40 km farther north in the heart of the oil sands), and I have to say the oil sands companies did an excellent job as well. Given the limited opportunities to evacuate, it was well executed. I just think an east-west route would provide additional opportunities (as well as industrial access to the Peace River region and onward to Prince Rupert or Alaska).

[hipster duck]

Regardless of how remote it is, a city of 120,000 people should have more than 1 road out of town. Particularly one that is of such economic and strategic importance.

I see that there is a Provincial Highway 881 that ends just 15 km shy of Fort Mac and connects all the way south to Lac LaBiche. What would it take for them to upgrade this to a reasonable highway standard (just a two lane, undivided highway that's paved to a certain quality), and to extend this north to connect directly into Fort Mac?

[Xelebes]

Here is 881 as it intersects Highway 63.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/AB-881,...5ca01d6f!8m2!3d54.4850027!4d-111.2995625

Edit: Taking a look. Extending from Wabasca on Highway 813 to the heart of Fort McMurray would provide a necessary outlet.

However due to the lack of provincial wildland on the east end, a road to La Loche (via Highway 955) in Saskatchewan would also work from the north side of Lac La Loche.

[MalcolmTucker]

The twinning project for Highway 63 was $5 million per km, building up from forest to a road.

If your goal is to provide a second route, the same rational can be used to build another bridge across the river. The river is pretty wide.

If you are building a bypass - you'd likely need to make it high and wide compatible to get much use, which is one reason the current bridges were so expensive at $236 million. http://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=35533A3B30DD1-030C-DB2F-58B0F949CC51A842

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Here is 881 as it intersects Highway 63.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/AB-881,...5ca01d6f!8m2!3d54.4850027!4d-111.2995625

Edit: Taking a look. Extending from Wabasca on Highway 813 to the heart of Fort McMurray would provide a necessary outlet.

However due to the lack of provincial wildland on the east end, a road to La Loche (via Highway 955) in Saskatchewan would also work from the north side of Lac La Loche.

I think a La Loche highway would be really benificial. It was proposed in 2005 and then shelved in 2008 (http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=db277a2e-6ce7-4d5b-85ae-35c51363934a). Saying that, if it were constructed it would require the use of Hwy 881.

The province also has plans to construct an east-west highway located north of Wabasca via Hwy 686 (see: http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/projects/assets/Area_2_North_East/East_West_Connector_Map.pdf). The new Parsons Road interchange (located north of Confederation Way) would be the eastern terminus. It would be a great connection to Fort McMurray, but traffic would still have to use Hwy 63 to access it and cross the Athabasca River.

[haljackey]

Couple dashcam vids leaving Fort McMurray

• Video Link

• Video Link

[swimmer_spe]

Remember this winter when the bridge on Highway 17 near Thunder Bay separated and that closed the highway? There was no other route around it.

The highway into/out of the Fort Mack area is about the same.

I hope federal infrastructure money is used to fix these single route accesses.

[swimmer_spe]

Remember this winter when the bridge on Highway 17 near Thunder Bay separated and that closed the highway? There was no other route around it.

The highway into/out of the Fort Mack area is about the same.

I hope federal infrastructure money is used to fix these single route accesses.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Remember this winter when the bridge on Highway 17 near Thunder Bay separated and that closed the highway? There was no other route around it.

The highway into/out of the Fort Mack area is about the same.

I hope federal infrastructure money is used to fix these single route accesses.

The bridge on Highway 17 that broke was made to fix that exact problem.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

The bridge on Highway 17 that broke was made to fix that exact problem.

Lets say that instead of a broken bridge, something like what is happening in Fort Mack, like a forest fire happened that shut down that highway.

What then?

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Lets say that instead of a broken bridge, something like what is happening in Fort Mack, like a forest fire happened that shut down that highway.

What then?

It's a bit of a different situation, since you can always go the other way in a case like that. Not so in Fort Mac.

[libtard]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

It's a bit of a different situation, since you can always go the other way in a case like that. Not so in Fort Mac.

You can go north there's just nothing there. But I work north of there and flying in/out and working isn't a problem. Finding a hotel is though. People are fleeing south to civilization