Highways in Canada

[Dengler Avenue]

My main beef with that interchange is that access between Bedford and Lower Sackville is via a controlled-access highway only.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by q12

Like Dengler Avenue said the 101/102 interchange is a mess and heavily congested in traffic (pre pandemic).

The Bedford Bypass regularly backs up 5 km or more in the morning (pre pandemic) from Akerley Blvd (stop lights) in Burnside.

I think they wanted to avoid the bypass traffic interfering with the flow of the new expressway, as well as leave the 101/102 interchange available for a long overdue overhaul. A flyover interchange on the Bedford bypass (near Highway 2) may have been difficult to construct due to extremely close residential neighborhoods and/or DND's Magazine hill (East coast Navy munitions storage).

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

My main beef with that interchange is that access between Bedford and Lower Sackville is via a controlled-access highway only.

The issue, it seems, is that NS does not understand how to build good highways. The mess there should be a 4 level stack. The also should take Sackville Rd and Bedford Highway and remove them from Highway 1.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1aefQgeZgymKcgXLID0AGxIlcgsRHh4Kx&usp=sharing

[Dengler Avenue]

@swimmer_spe Is that you doing highway design??? :,)

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

@swimmer_spe Is that you doing highway design??? :,)

I do, when boredom sets in.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I do, when boredom sets in.

Please do 417 from Petawawa to SSM. I wanna compare.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

The mess there should be a 4 level stack. The also should take Sackville Rd and Bedford Highway and remove them from Highway 1.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1aefQgeZgymKcgXLID0AGxIlcgsRHh4Kx&usp=sharing

A 4-level stack might be a bit overkill for suburban Halifax, but based on this "armchair civil engineer's" Google Streetview tour, that interchange looks like it's nearing the end of its structural life, and it should be completely redesigned anyway.

Beyond widening it and regrading everything, I'd probably eliminate the 102-NB to 101-EB cloverleaf in favour of a flyover, and separate southbound 102 traffic from the entrance/exits by a slip lane behind a Jersey barrier.

[Dengler Avenue]

Yep that direction definitely needs a flyover instead.
That said, can anything go wrong with expropriating the rifle range in the 3rd quadrant? What about adding roundabouts to Bedford Bypass?

I’m curious what everyone’s got: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9163826#post9163826

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Please do 417 from Petawawa to SSM. I wanna compare.

No. I am not that bored.

Originally Posted by hipster duck

A 4-level stack might be a bit overkill for suburban Halifax, but based on this "armchair civil engineer's" Google Streetview tour, that interchange looks like it's nearing the end of its structural life, and it should be completely redesigned anyway.

Beyond widening it and regrading everything, I'd probably eliminate the 102-NB to 101-EB cloverleaf in favour of a flyover, and separate southbound 102 traffic from the entrance/exits by a slip lane behind a Jersey barrier.

A good time to redesign the whole area, but they won't. They will just replace with the same as what they have now. If you look at my rough idea, you will see how it has flyovers.

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Yep that direction definitely needs a flyover instead.
That said, can anything go wrong with expropriating the rifle range in the 3rd quadrant? What about adding roundabouts to Bedford Bypass?

I’m curious what everyone’s got: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9163826#post9163826

Where would you move it to? It is needed. Mind you, everything can fit there, if they change things to what I suggest.

[Franco401]

Here's my take (sorry for the big image, open it up please):

Bedford Bypass runs directly into 101. The three houses sandwiched in on Memory Lane will now be fronting Bedford Highway, as they once did. The 102, which will be six lanes in the future anyway, would be a collector-express system (part of this is getting built as part of the connection to the 107). The existing cloverleaf is now a parclo, and ramps have been added from the 102 Collector lanes to the Bedford Bypass to really cement it as a more convenient route toward Dartmouth than the surface road in Bedford. The one part of the project that will really drive the cost up is the long flyover ramp from the 102 NB to 101 WB, which could prove unnecessary if it is decided that going through a traffic light is acceptable).

Thoughts? I think this solves all potential safety problems, and the only possible traffic movement not addressed is from Bedford Bypass to 102 SB, which is easily accomplished by the 107.

[Dengler Avenue]

I created a thread for that in Halifax. Wanna repost there?
Anyway, nicely done. Just need to make sure that 101E to 102N isn’t involved in the traffic lights (aka barricaded from them). My thoughts are much closer to yours.
I think the flyover from 102N to 101W is necessary, or else people from Sackville will fume.

Edit: @Franco401 I did it for you.

Now, the question is, will Burnside Connector take traffic off Bedford Bypass?

[Franco401]

The time I spent staring into the absolute horror of the 101/102/Bedford Bypass, I got to thinking:

What's Canada's worst interchange?

I will maintain that the section of Route 8 in Fredericton, since it was built as New Brunswick's first freeway, has not one but two inexcusably bad interchanges that need to be completely fixed.

[Dengler Avenue]

I don’t like the cloverleaf between 2/15 either. A flyover from 2W to 15W seems logical in the future. Then there’s the need to eliminate those rail crossings (ahem).

[esquire]

Most if not all Manitoba interchanges built prior to 1980 are deficient in some way and could probably contend for that title.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Franco401

What's Canada's worst interchange?

I don't think it's Canada's worst, but here in Toronto I really don't like the Don Mills-DVP interchange. It's a tight cloverleaf at the bottom of several hills, and the City had to paint a solid line on one of the traffic lanes to serve as an unenforceable slip lane so people could weave in and out of the cloverleaf.

You can really tell the difference in the quality of the highway design between municipal freeways and provincial (MTO) 400-series highways. The DVP is a municipal freeway.

This one isn't dangerous, but it is confusing: the exit from Bridgeport Rd. in Richmond to Grant McConachie way and the Arthur Laing Bridge. It's effectively the northbound continuation of No. 3 road in Richmond into Vancouver. It's confusing because it's a very roundabout way to enter the Arthur Laing NB that involves twists, turns and a traffic light.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I don't think it's Canada's worst, but here in Toronto I really don't like the Don Mills-DVP interchange. It's a tight cloverleaf at the bottom of several hills, and the City had to paint a solid line on one of the traffic lanes to serve as an unenforceable slip lane so people could weave in and out of the cloverleaf.

You can really tell the difference in the quality of the highway design between municipal freeways and provincial (MTO) 400-series highways. The DVP is a municipal freeway.

This one isn't dangerous, but it is confusing: the exit from Bridgeport Rd. in Richmond to Grant McConachie way and the Arthur Laing Bridge. It's effectively the northbound continuation of No. 3 road in Richmond into Vancouver. It's confusing because it's a very roundabout way to enter the Arthur Laing NB that involves twists, turns and a traffic light.

It's more so that the city has never sunk major money into the DVP to upgrade it since it was built. MTO used to have tons of badly designed interchanges, they have simply replaced them over time.

The City is about to spend some money to fix substandard interchanges on the Gardiner though. Kipling and Islington will be rehabilitated in a few years and reconfigured to modern standards. They don't have any plans to do anything like that on the DVP though.

MTO and the city also partnered to rebuild the Lakeshore / Gardiner interchange at the Humber River in the mid 1990's. That's a lifetime ago now though.

Some municipal freeways are up to a generally fine standard, though not up to MTO standard. the Red Hill Valley Parkway and Lincoln Alexander in Hamilton are municipal freeways and have modern parclo interchanges, though they have some substandard features (the Linc has no median barrier for example, and the Red Hill has an 80km/h speed limit)

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Franco401

The time I spent staring into the absolute horror of the 101/102/Bedford Bypass, I got to thinking:

What's Canada's worst interchange?

I will maintain that the section of Route 8 in Fredericton, since it was built as New Brunswick's first freeway, has not one but two inexcusably bad interchanges that need to be completely fixed.

The worst interchange I have seen was not even on a freeway. It is where the end of Lions Gate Bridge hits Marine Drive. The reason? The signage to tell you what lane to be in is right where you need to be in that lane. Great if it is your regular route, but, if not, it really is annoying.

The worst in ON that is part of a freeway, is actually under construction. It's the 400 split. You might see nothing wrong with it. However, drive it when you can do the highway speed Only to have to brake going up hill for the ramp. Also, it is a left hand exit. Highway 11 north exits to the left, and then comes in on the left. And you have lanes of the thru highway;400 South, ending right where 11 is. Consider that this is always a bottleneck on long weekends.

[Dengler Avenue]

I don't think changing the direction helps much though. In that case, the bottleneck will be caused by cottage traffic returning from 11 SB instead.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I don't think changing the direction helps much though. In that case, the bottleneck will be caused by cottage traffic returning from 11 SB instead.

Which is where it should be. Just imagine backing up the 401 for the DVP to flow free?

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Which is where it should be. Just imagine backing up the 401 for the DVP to flow free?

Well in both cases, neither highway is free-flowing. After the “competition” on Bedford Interchange, I should start another one on 404/401. I tried looking stuff up and there’s none on how it will be redesigned.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Well in both cases, neither highway is free-flowing. After the “competition” on Bedford Interchange, I should start another one on 404/401. I tried looking stuff up and there’s none on how it will be redesigned.

It was rebuilt about 10 years ago. The problem is that it is expected to keep that area still operational. That means thru traffic must continue. That is a lot harder than just building a new interchange.