[St. John's] Transport development (Highways, Airport, and Public Transit)

[rthomasd]

There's "loop" construction work ongoing for the Gushue Highway extension at kenmount road. Here's a view from the kelsey drive canadian tire.
Sorry for the poor stitching and reduced image resolution.



A closer shot of the kenmount road overpass -

[SignalHillHiker]

AWESOME pics! Thank you. LOVE the one of the loop.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by Townie709

I heard on the news that property values in municipalities outside St. John's (mount pearl, CBS, paradise, ect) skyrocketed. Some as much as 40%. That will probably increase taxes in places around St. John's and may even tone down the opposition of amalgamation due to "increased St. John's taxes".

I think amalgamation is inevitable.. It's just a matter of time!

Meh I say put up a toll highway going in and out of the city. If they want in the city they should have to pay to come in.

[Copes]

Originally Posted by Stryker

Meh I say put up a toll highway going in and out of the city. If they want in the city they should have to pay to come in.

I am actually in 100% support of this.

[J_Murphy]

Interesting question on the VOCM website today:

http://www.vocm.com/qotd.asp?mn=6

Thoughts?

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

Interesting question on the VOCM website today:

http://www.vocm.com/qotd.asp?mn=6

Thoughts?

I honestly think we could however that infrastructure money could be used to add bus infrastructre such as seperate lanes and an overhaul of the system

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Stryker

Meh I say put up a toll highway going in and out of the city. If they want in the city they should have to pay to come in.

St. John's, meet Saint John.

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by Stryker

Meh I say put up a toll highway going in and out of the city. If they want in the city they should have to pay to come in.

Well that would likely end up being the case in all the communities then.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

Well that would likely end up being the case in all the communities then.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the two main highways leading into St. John's, the Outer Ring (route 1) and Pitts Memorial (route 2), are maintained and operated by Federal and/or Provincial governments and I don't think St. John's has any jurisdiction to put up a toll booth. If a tooth both did go up I'm pretty sure revenue generated would go into provincial or federal coffers and St. John's wouldn't see any of it. On the other hand Gushue highway will be operated under the city - I don't see any issue with tolling that road if need be.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by statbass

Correct me if I'm wrong but the two main highways leading into St. John's, the Outer Ring (route 1) and Pitts Memorial (route 2), are maintained and operated by Federal and/or Provincial governments and I don't think St. John's has any jurisdiction to put up a toll booth. If a tooth both did go up I'm pretty sure revenue generated would go into provincial or federal coffers and St. John's wouldn't see any of it. On the other hand Gushue highway will be operated under the city - I don't see any issue with tolling that road if need be.

They already went over this idea and it died because there is some cost sharing with the provincial government (federal too i think) to build it therefore they are not allowed to toll because some of the tax money already came from them for the construction

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by statbass

Correct me if I'm wrong but the two main highways leading into St. John's, the Outer Ring (route 1) and Pitts Memorial (route 2), are maintained and operated by Federal and/or Provincial governments and I don't think St. John's has any jurisdiction to put up a toll booth. If a tooth both did go up I'm pretty sure revenue generated would go into provincial or federal coffers and St. John's wouldn't see any of it. On the other hand Gushue highway will be operated under the city - I don't see any issue with tolling that road if need be.

Gushue will still be considered a provincial highway, the city was just dumb enough to say they'll maintain it. The province has already said the city is not able to toll the road.

If the city were allow and did strt tolling I think it would just lead to other communities doing the same thing.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

If the city were allow and did strt tolling I think it would just lead to other communities doing the same thing.

Truth. I think if we tolled people from Mount Pearl each time they entered our city, they'd do the same thing back ever time we entered their city. Even if it was simply driving up Kenmount road to reach the highway on-ramp

[Townie709]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

Interesting question on the VOCM website today:

http://www.vocm.com/qotd.asp?mn=6

Thoughts?

Very interesting question indeed! For those who didn't look, the question was whether or not we should look at expanding the outer ring road from four lanes to six lanes.

I think it's worth looking at. I don't know if we really need it at this moment, but it will definitely come up in the not too distant future if the city continues to grow. If the city continues to grow at the rate it is, than I believe the outer ring road, Pitts memorial drive, kenmount road and topsail road should all be upgraded to six lanes.

I am in favor of upgrading it now, but a lot of people will say we don't need it yet. If/when the outer ring road is upgraded it should be 6 lanes from paddys pond (dannyland) to logy bay road, and lights should be installed in the same area.

I brought up the issue of lights on the outer ring road in the Atlantic highway section not too long ago. People wonder why there are so many moose collisions on that stretch of road and how to stop it? Well it's kind of hard to see a moose, or anything really on a foggy night on a pitch black highway. I've never heard the possibility of lights on the outer ring road publicly brought up before and I think it is very important! Seeing where you are going would increase the safety of those driving on it at night and in less than perfect conditions (fog, snowstorm ect.) i know it would be expensive, but it would be well worth the money. it also just feels wrong driving on the main highway in the complete dark..

If the outer ring road is upgraded, I say we need lights before more lanes. What do you guys think about upgrading the road/ the possibility of lights.

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Truth. I think if we tolled people from Mount Pearl each time they entered our city, they'd do the same thing back ever time we entered their city. Even if it was simply driving up Kenmount road to reach the highway on-ramp

Exactly. People in St. John's like to complain about people from other communities coming into the city but residents of Southlands go to school in Mount Pearl and use their recreational facilities. People go to MP for work, and to get their licence. I remember there were complaints from people in Torbay that they couldn't use the new stadium in the community because people from St. John's have it booked up. People from all communities work in Paradise and CBS. As well imagine if we had to pay every time we went for a drive in the region.

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Townie709

Very interesting question indeed! For those who didn't look, the question was whether or not we should look at expanding the outer ring road from four lanes to six lanes.

I think it's worth looking at. I don't know if we really need it at this moment, but it will definitely come up in the not too distant future if the city continues to grow. If the city continues to grow at the rate it is, than I believe the outer ring road, Pitts memorial drive, kenmount road and topsail road should all be upgraded to six lanes.

I am in favor of upgrading it now, but a lot of people will say we don't need it yet. If/when the outer ring road is upgraded it should be 6 lanes from paddys pond (dannyland) to logy bay road, and lights should be installed in the same area. What do you guys think?

I'm not sure if the traffic volumes are there to warrant it. Yes, there are very high volumes during the morning and afternoon rush hours but three lanes might not be necessary during times outside of that. I would rather see streetlights on it before the addition of lanes.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

I'm not sure if the traffic volumes are there to warrant it. Yes, there are very high volumes during the morning and afternoon rush hours but three lanes might not be necessary during times outside of that. I would rather see streetlights on it before the addition of lanes.

Ditto

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

I'm not sure if the traffic volumes are there to warrant it. Yes, there are very high volumes during the morning and afternoon rush hours but three lanes might not be necessary during times outside of that. I would rather see streetlights on it before the addition of lanes.

Agreed. The rutting problem on the ORR needs to be solved before adding any lanes.

Better lighting, signs, and maybe replacing the grass median with a Tall Wall should be done first.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I think I agree. Work on getting some serious lights on the highway first. Then tackle the shotty paving work, maybe throw some photo radar up there. Once all of this is done, if traffic volumes still suggest adding another lane, then I say do it. It could help ease some of the problems during accidents on the highway during peak hour traffic.

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by ConundrumNL

Agreed. The rutting problem on the ORR needs to be solved before adding any lanes.

Better lighting, signs, and maybe replacing the grass median with a Tall Wall should be done first.

Yes. The ORR from Topsail Road to Logy Bay Road should look like Pitts Memorial from downtown to Kilbride. Speaking of that, does anyone know why that section of Pitts Memorial is lighted with a concrete divider? What warrants that and howcome the rest of it isn't like it.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

Yes. The ORR from Topsail Road to Logy Bay Road should look like Pitts Memorial from downtown to Kilbride. Speaking of that, does anyone know why that section of Pitts Memorial is lighted with a concrete divider? What warrants that and howcome the rest of it isn't like it.

I agree also .. they need to put lights on the outerring road ... no need to put it on all the TCH but at least on the major highways around the city. even the part of teh TCH through Grandfalls winsor has lights


Ideally I'd like to see the lights on the ORR as well as it fenced (just watch the number of moose accidents dramatically drop.. also then they can do work on the highway during the nights! ... solves a BUNCH of problems