Highways in Canada

[vid]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

One easy step Ontario could take to help create a sense of unity and consistency with the TCH would be to renumber Highway 417 & Highway 17 to Highway 1. Ontario doesn't currently have a Highway 1, so it works.

Highway 401.

Although it would make sense for Highway 17 to be renumbered as Highway 1, since it connects to Western Canada's Highway 1.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

traffic volumes would probably NEVER justify such a fixed link across extremely sparsely populated areas.

I'm not sure what would be required to justify it but surely all trucks would choose that route for almost every good entering the island, especially fresh produce (they waste a fortune each year that spoils in North Sydney due to ferry delays).

It'd reduce the cost slightly on most things brought to the island as well. If it's worthwhile for PEI, we could probably blow their numbers out of the water.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by vid

Highway 401.

Although it would make sense for Highway 17 to be renumbered as Highway 1, since it connects to Western Canada's Highway 1.

It wouldn't work to be consistent farther east, since Highway 1 is already assigned to non-TCH routes in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and although there is no Highway 1 in Quebec, if it existed it would be a north-south Autoroute in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region (which will almost certainly never be built).

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I'm not sure what would be required to justify it but surely all trucks would choose that route for almost every good entering the island, especially fresh produce (they waste a fortune each year that spoils in North Sydney due to ferry delays).

And speaking of North Sydney.....here’s the end of TCH 105



...... and the Marine Atlantic Fleet Yesterday, May 21. All ferries were in port except the Leif Ericson which was just getting underway from the Newfoundland side.

https://www.marineatlantic.ca/en/

Left to Right: Highlanders, Atlantic Vision and Blue Puttees.






The Highlanders reverses out at 1145.....turns and is underway for Port-aux-Basques NL.....6 hours away. The Highlanders along with its twin the Blue Puttees have about 2.8 km of lane length each for a capacity of 500+ cars or in combination with trucks

[SignalHillHiker]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks.... looking forward to taking the Vision to Argentia this summer and heading for St John’s.....a favorite destination!

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Canada is the only country I know that doesn't have a national highway system.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/policy/acg-acgd-menu-highways-2149.htm

[milomilo]

That doesn't really count! France has Autoroutes, USA has interstates, UK has Motorways, Germany has Autobahns... and Canada has a few rural roads that can be severed by a single bridge. Outside of Ontario and Quebec there is no body overseeing major roads being built to good standards.

Canada could do with some national infrastructure projects.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by milomilo

That doesn't really count! France has Autoroutes, USA has interstates, UK has Motorways, Germany has Autobahns... and Canada has a few rural roads that can be severed by a single bridge.

Canada is a large sparsely populated country. There's no way we should be paying for multi lane freeways in the middle of nowhere, when there is better use for that money in corridors that actually need the money.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by craner

IMO the TCH should be a highway "system" rather than a single designated route. Similar to the Interstate system in the US, but on a smaller scale of course. The #1 & #16 in wetern Canada is a start but I think all major (200K+) cities in the country should be connected by 4 lane divided highways given a TCH designation. I believe there are at least 2 different TCH routes through Ontario but from what I'm hearing neither of them service Toronto. This seems rddiculous.

Canada does have a National Highway System, but it is not signed anywhere.

In Ontario it includes all of the Trans-Canada routes, the QEW, all of the 400-series highways except the 406 and 407, and a few other highways such as 6 from Guelph to Hamilton and 7/8 to Stratford.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

One easy step Ontario could take to help create a sense of unity and consistency with the TCH would be to renumber Highway 417 & Highway 17 to Highway 1. Ontario doesn't currently have a Highway 1, so it works.

It would help reduce confusion, as the Trans-Canada Highway is considered interchangeable with Highway 1 in Western Canada, and the Trans-Canada Highway through Northern Ontario is sometimes called Highway 1 by national media. Most notably during the closure of the Nipigon River Bridge earlier this year, several national media outlets reported the closure as being on Highway 1 and not 11/17.

Several Western provinces actually have renumbered their sections of the TCH to "1". In Alberta the route that is now the TCH was designated as Highway 2 prior to 1941, and in Saskatchewan the TCH was originally known as Highway 4. It does seem the Western provinces has done more cross-border coordination of highway numbers, as in addition to Highway 1 and 16, Alberta and BC share Highway 3. Ontario has done that a little as well, with Highway 61 as a continuation of US Highway 61, and Highway 148 as a continuation of QC Route 148.

[GreaterMontréal]

even though Route 175 is not part of Quebec's Autoroute Network because it passes threw a ''réserve Faunique'', it should be counted as a true highway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Route_175

• Video Link

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Canada does have a National Highway System, but it is not signed anywhere.

In Ontario it includes all of the Trans-Canada routes, the QEW, all of the 400-series highways except the 406 and 407, and a few other highways such as 6 from Guelph to Hamilton and 7/8 to Stratford.

Here's the map:



I would like to see a northern "east-west connector" developed in western Canada. It would be excellent in promoting northern development and trade, and would be useful in providing an alternate route in times of crisis (as we saw in the recent Fort McMurray fires).

My proposed route route be to start in Fort Nelson BC (Alaska Highway), heading eastward to High Level AB then on to Fort McMurray AB, la Ronge SK and then Flin Flon MB.

The northern "road to progress" could end here, or alternatively could extend to the north of Lake Winnipeg and Lake Nipigon to connect to ON Highway 11 at Geraldton. This would help to alleviate the choke point on the TCH between Nipigon and Thunder Bay.........

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Canada is a large sparsely populated country. There's no way we should be paying for multi lane freeways in the middle of nowhere, when there is better use for that money in corridors that actually need the money.

I don't think you understand the reasoning behind why it's important to build the same quality of freeways in sparsely populated areas as it is in urban areas. One of the reasons our productivity and thus standard of living is so much lower than in the U.S. is because of our pathetic national highway system. If you can't get goods to market in a timely matter you can't be competitive. Time is money and that simple fact is a major reason why goods tend to cost so much here. In the western U.S. there are large stretches of multilane Interstates that go through the middle of nowhere so why should we be any different? Trucks shipping items to various destinations often have to go through such areas so why should we make the trip take longer than necessary and often more dangerous? You think we're saving money that way but that is dead wrong. We are wasting a ton of money being cheap and stupid. The best and most important national infrastructure project we could undertake right now would be to build a series of limited access freeways across this country. Not only would it do wonders for the economy it would actually help link us together.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I'm not sure what would be required to justify it but surely all trucks would choose that route for almost every good entering the island, especially fresh produce (they waste a fortune each year that spoils in North Sydney due to ferry delays).

It'd reduce the cost slightly on most things brought to the island as well. If it's worthwhile for PEI, we could probably blow their numbers out of the water.

There is a much stronger business case for a fixed link to Vancouver Island, with its larger population. But both Van Island and Newfoundland Island face extreme engineering challenges (depth, mostly, but also distance) for a fixed link, with the latter also facing the huge challenges of microscopic population density along the access, and a multi-province jurisdiction.

http://www.economist.com/node/2254532

It will never happen, say I. The bridge to PEI is child's play next to some fixed link (bridge/tunnel or both) across the straight of Belle Isle.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by milomilo

That doesn't really count! France has Autoroutes, USA has interstates, UK has Motorways, Germany has Autobahns... and Canada has a few rural roads that can be severed by a single bridge. Outside of Ontario and Quebec there is no body overseeing major roads being built to good standards.

Canada could do with some national infrastructure projects.

Are you claiming the major roads in AB aren't being built to high standards? I think that's the first time I've heard anyone make that claim when it comes to AB. If you had said we don't build them in a timely manner (I don't mean we take forever to construct them but that we take too long to actually start building them) I would totally agree with you. When it comes to building infrastructure in this country we're often worse than third-world countries. The sad thing is that it has nothing to do with being able to afford to do so but a lack of political will to do the right thing and spend the money. If we were just starting off now I swear we wouldn't even have electricity in the vast majority of the country let alone freeways.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

There is a much stronger business case for a fixed link to Vancouver Island, with its larger population. But both Van Island and Newfoundland Island face extreme engineering challenges (depth, mostly, but also distance) for a fixed link, with the latter also facing the huge challenges of microscopic population density along the access, and a multi-province jurisdiction.

The environmentalist armageddon that a fixed link across the Georgia Strait would trigger is almost unimaginable.

Considering that China is building a fixed link between Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, I'd think both George and Belle Isle crossings would stand a good chance of being technically feasible although there's no way there would be enough use made of either bridge to justify the immense expense that would inevitably result.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

I don't think you understand the reasoning behind why it's important to build the same quality of freeways in sparsely populated areas as it is in urban areas.

I don't think you understand what a truly massive waste of time that would be.

One of the reasons our productivity and thus standard of living is so much lower than in the U.S. is because of our pathetic national highway system.

I would need a citation on that. I'll also point on that our standard of living has gone from below the US to above the US to back below in recent years. Remember this?

http://www.carp.ca/2009/08/30/special-canada-day-report-how-canada-stole-the-american-dream/

Much of it is still true today.

If you can't get goods to market in a timely matter you can't be competitive.

It's not clear that roads with low AADT numbers are impeding us from getting goods to market.

Time is money and that simple fact is a major reason why goods tend to cost so much here.

Simple logistics (unavoidable logistics) caused by geography are the reason.

In the western U.S. there are large stretches of multilane Interstates that go through the middle of nowhere so why should we be any different?

As I said, it's a huge waste of resources. The US highway trust is basically bankrupt, and there is no solution in sight. The US now spends less as a percentage of GDP on infrastructure than we do. They're not spending enough to keep the interstates at their current quality.

Trucks shipping items to various destinations often have to go through such areas so why should we make the trip take longer than necessary and often more dangerous?

It doesn't have to be long or dangerous. Strategic investment is the answer, as is currently being done.

You think we're saving money that way but that is dead wrong.

Citation needed.

We are wasting a ton of money being cheap and stupid.

And again.

The best and most important national infrastructure project we could undertake right now would be to build a series of limited access freeways across this country. Not only would it do wonders for the economy it would actually help link us together.

I'm all for building limited access freeways. There are areas that we could improve the road connections. I'm not in favour of building a limited access freeway across Northern Ontario when highway 11 provides a perfectly reasonable connection, considering. Soon, the Nipigon bridge problem will be a thing of the past - that kind of investment, I'm all for.

[GreaterMontréal]

The only highways in Southern Quebec that are not considered ''limited access freeway'' are ;

A-955 from A-20 to Victoriaville, 100kmh speed limit even though it's not a true highway, and it has the Autoroute shield. 15km long
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Autoroute_955

A-55 between A-20 and Trois-Rivières. limited access freeway but not a true super-4 highway

A-955 AADT under 10k
A-55 AADT 15k

[craner]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Here's the map:



I would like to see a northern "east-west connector" developed in western Canada. It would be excellent in promoting northern development and trade, and would be useful in providing an alternate route in times of crisis (as we saw in the recent Fort McMurray fires).

My proposed route route be to start in Fort Nelson BC (Alaska Highway), heading eastward to High Level AB then on to Fort McMurray AB, la Ronge SK and then Flin Flon MB.

The northern "road to progress" could end here, or alternatively could extend to the north of Lake Winnipeg and Lake Nipigon to connect to ON Highway 11 at Geraldton. This would help to alleviate the choke point on the TCH between Nipigon and Thunder Bay.........

Thanks for posting the map, I have seen it before.
I agree with the routes designated , but it would be nice to organize things with consistent signage, numbering (TCH-1, TCH-2, TCH-3, etc.), and standards across the provincial/territorial borders.
I like your idea for a northern connector BTW.