Ontario Highways

[Dengler Avenue]

I wonder if there’s political will to take tolls off 412 once 407 extension to 115 & 35 and 418 are completed. As I mentioned before,
(1) Traffic on the 401 east of 412 is bad nowadays, so it’s not that meaningful to pay $$ to use 412 to try to bypass traffic;
(2) <IMO> 905 East residents are right in saying that 905E has no toll-free north-south freeways unlike 905 North and they have every right to demand one;
(3) A toll-free 412 paves way for extension towards Beaverton (or even Orillia if MTO doesn’t mind taking down a few properties here and there by the lakes), which may also siphon traffic off downloaded highways like Highway 47 (though it may also mean more traffic on Highway 7A through Port Perry...)

I wonder if the current 407&412 interchange will need substantial reconfiguration to allow for the northward extension though. Prima facie, there are already challenges in connecting 412 southbound lanes to any direction of 407 wherever we put it; 412 northbound lanes don’t seem too hard to work with, surprisingly. (For this, I blame the previous liberal government for not requiring a configuration that would have allowed 412 to be extended northward.)

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I wonder if there’s political will to take tolls off 412 once 407 extension to 115 & 35 and 418 are completed. As I mentioned before,
(1) Traffic on the 401 east of 412 is bad nowadays, so it’s not that meaningful to pay $$ to use 412 to try to bypass traffic;
(2) <IMO> 905 East residents are right in saying that 905E has no toll-free north-south freeways unlike 905 North and they have every right to demand one;
(3) A toll-free 412 paves way for extension towards Beaverton (or even Orillia if MTO doesn’t mind taking down a few properties here and there by the lakes), which may also siphon traffic off downloaded highways like Highway 47 (though it may also mean more traffic on Highway 7A through Port Perry...)

I wonder if the current 407&412 interchange will need substantial reconfiguration to allow for the northward extension though. Prima facie, there are already challenges in connecting 412 southbound lanes to any direction of 407 wherever we put it; 412 northbound lanes don’t seem too hard to work with, surprisingly. (For this, I blame the previous liberal government for not requiring a configuration that would have allowed 412 to be extended northward.)

I doubt it. The 905ers want a fast, clear highway for their big expensive SUVs. That portion is fully government owned, so the government doesn't want to give up that revenue.

[Dengler Avenue]

I heard 412’s pretty empty though, or maybe just empty by Durham’s standard.

[Djeffery]

I don't know if a free 412 drives more toll traffic to the 407, but I can't see any other reason the government would have to drop the tolls even if the road is lightly travelled. Lighter than expected toll revenue (if that is actually the case) is still more than no toll revenue.

[Dengler Avenue]

Maybe Durham Region has to widen Lakeridge Road between 401 and 7 then.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I don't know if a free 412 drives more toll traffic to the 407, but I can't see any other reason the government would have to drop the tolls even if the road is lightly travelled. Lighter than expected toll revenue (if that is actually the case) is still more than no toll revenue.

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Maybe Durham Region has to widen Lakeridge Road between 401 and 7 then.

Maybe Lakeridge Rd will be widened. 412 likely will stay tolled till the need to extend 412 north. At that point, there might be an argument for it becoming toll free.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Maybe Lakeridge Rd will be widened. 412 likely will stay tolled till the need to extend 412 north. At that point, there might be an argument for it becoming toll free.

But that’s if MTO sees the need to and protect the land.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://twitter.com/opp_hsd/status/1...704925185?s=21

Highway 410 N has a jackknifed truck, so maybe drivers turned around by going wrong way on the right shoulder. Clearly Sgt Kerry Schmidt wasn’t impressed.

[Djeffery]

Looks like it's the 401E express that has the truck blocking it, and the drivers are attempting to get to the 410 or 403 to get around it. Not sure what he's trying to accomplish by driving in circles around the split while the cars behind the first couple are turning back on to the 401. Maybe he should try blocking one or the other lanes and getting these cars out of there.

[Dengler Avenue]

Yea at first I thought he was gonna block off the express lanes completely to let them turn around, not that it’s a safe manoeuvre in this kind of weather though.

[Djeffery]

I had to laugh when he apologized for swearing. If they had live streaming back when Cam Wooley was the face of the OPP, I suspect he would have constantly been swearing on there lol

I also don't know why that piece of the 401 is only 2 lanes wide either. The physical concrete is there for 3 lanes of express through the whole Hurontario-410 stretch, and yet it's been 2 lanes for years.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I had to laugh when he apologized for swearing. If they had live streaming back when Cam Wooley was the face of the OPP, I suspect he would have constantly been swearing on there lol

I also don't know why that piece of the 401 is only 2 lanes wide either. The physical concrete is there for 3 lanes of express through the whole Hurontario-410 stretch, and yet it's been 2 lanes for years.

I did ‘t watch the entire 36 minutes so I wouldn’t even catch him swearing.
That’s a good question. I don’t know either, especially now it seems that the future 3rd lane in the express will be HOV-only.

Edit: I just looked up Cam Wooley. He’s a traffic reporter with CP24 now. How fitting.

[Djeffery]

It's fairly early that he lets the F bomb go. He gets out of the car, comes back and a few cars start to U turn back on to the 401.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

It's fairly early that he lets the F bomb go. He gets out of the car, comes back and a few cars start to U turn back on to the 401.

Huh I saw that part but didn’t notice. Maybe it was because I didn’t turn up the volume. But yea I could see him get out and throw his arms up in the air, clearly upset.

[Dengler Avenue]

It seemed that the sergeant deleted the entire periscope video just because of that 1 F bomb.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/globalne...s-ontario/amp/

School- and community-zone speed cameras to come for certain (we don’t know which ones yet) municipalities

No speed camera on roads with speed limit > 80 km/h

[Innsertnamehere]

They can only be in school zones as well I believe.

While I believe 80% of locations will be perfectly fine and reasonable, I’m still not looking forward to a few spots. Bloomington Road at Warden is a 60km/h school zone on a rural high traffic arterial that I’m almost certain will be rigged with a camera despite there being a large fence between the school and the road and literally 0 pedestrian traffic at any time of day.

The school zone requirement means the fines are going to be massive too - since fines are doubled in school zones.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...12233/page-248 #3710 through #3713

New sections of tolled roads are to be opened next Monday, slightly ahead of the projected 2020 opening.

[Djeffery]

Cool, just in time for me to never need to go up that way again lol

[Dengler Avenue]

I’m wondering:
Suppose you’re already on the 407 heading east, wanting to go back to the 401 (during pm rush)...
If cost’s not an issue, which highway will you go down on: 412, 418 or 115?
I don’t wanna do 412 because 401’s no good through Oshawa during that time, but I’m undecided between 418 and 115.