Highways in Canada

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

And the other is when I was... I think 19, when I moved to Kenora to work at the newspaper there. My father drove out with me. And it took us I think three days to reach Sudbury and both of us thought - okay, we're basically there. We weren't. Fucking torture. VERY similar to driving across Newfoundland (as in you LITERALLY have to be mindful of how much gas you have because there might not be another gas station). And it felt even more boonies than Newfoundland, oddly. Maybe it's because our boonies are in between our capital and second city? Whereas that drive from Sudbury to Kenora is just irrelevant for Ontario (If Ottawa was where Kenora is, it'd feel different, right? Am I crazy? lol)

But anyhow, yeah. I will never do it again. Never.

Heh.

It is 16 hours from Sudbury to Kenora versus 9 from St. John's to Port-aux-Basques. Northern Ontario (once north of the Sault) is extremely patchy for settlements. Newfoundland at least seemingly has moderate-sized towns at regular intervals.

You are right about the drive being irrelevant to most of Ontario.

[Dengler Avenue]

Also, NWO and NEO are pretty different too.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Also, NWO and NEO are pretty different too.

Oh, I don't know.

Rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees....

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[Denscity]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Oh, I don't know.

Rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees....

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Ha that's what I thought when I took the train across Canada. Dreading the Prairie portion of the trip it was actually the 22 hours of rocks and gnarly pines through Ontario that was the worst part.

[SignalHillHiker]

I drove down to St. Vincent's this morning (about two hours south of St. John's) to see the whales. A few views along the Irish Loop (Route 90):







Always amazes me how "Canadian" Newfoundland's interior, lakeside communities look. I guess they're just modern, but everything about them just strikes me as super Canadian.





And then back along the coast...













Heading back into the city...



This time I took the Kenmount Road exit. Town of Paradise on the left, City of Mount Pearl on the right, and St. John's directly behind the hill. There's actually no disconnect between these three, it's just that development at the highest elevations was illegal in St. John's until recently, so the city wraps around these little peaks.

[biguc]

St. John's isn't very big. Anyone who wants to live a car-dependent lifestyle should be able to live like this:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I don't understand why this exists:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by biguc

St. John's isn't very big. Anyone who wants to live a car-dependent lifestyle should be able to live like this:




I don't understand why this exists:

The same reason someone is buying a +$1 million condo in Toronto or Vancouver. I own about half an acre on a lake with cell service, cable internet, paved road and garbage pick up all for under half of that. People have been brainwashed into thinking the big city is where you need to be. There are lots of jobs available locally, and if you are someone who can work remotely, why would you ever live in the city ever again?

[Denscity]

Because we love skyscrapers!

[craner]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Because we love skyscrapers!

So true. And some of us love freeways too.
And cities in general.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

The same reason someone is buying a +$1 million condo in Toronto or Vancouver. I own about half an acre on a lake with cell service, cable internet, paved road and garbage pick up all for under half of that. People have been brainwashed into thinking the big city is where you need to be. There are lots of jobs available locally, and if you are someone who can work remotely, why would you ever live in the city ever again?

I think it’s about time that we start a forum on rural/remote Canada.
My lifestyle will only get more suburban (or even exurban) from here on.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I think it’s about time that we start a forum on rural/remote Canada.
My lifestyle will only get more suburban (or even exurban) from here on.

Why? Reality is this pandemic has helped everyone see that their former lifestyle may not be what they want anymore.

[srperrycgy]

Out for a drive on the SW Calgary Ring Road last evening.

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[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

The same reason someone is buying a +$1 million condo in Toronto or Vancouver. I own about half an acre on a lake with cell service, cable internet, paved road and garbage pick up all for under half of that. People have been brainwashed into thinking the big city is where you need to be. There are lots of jobs available locally, and if you are someone who can work remotely, why would you ever live in the city ever again?

Rural living is different from living in car-dependent suburbia, and appeals to different people.

Suburbia features things that rural locations don't have: water/sewage is the city's responsibility, high-speed internet, natural gas connections, the city picks up your garbage, rapid access to medical and emergency services, easy access to shopping, easy access to municipal recreational and educational services. Then there are other things that ought not be the way they are but are: suburbs have better performing schools than rural areas, better jobs, higher likelihood of having friends and family nearby, etc.

Sure, the boonies have access to nature and things like that, but I think those things rate low for a lot of people. In fact, a lot of people for whom that ranks highly still choose to live in suburban or even urban environments.

[niwell]

I grew up primarily between two households (divorced parents) - one in what is now inner-suburban Calgary and the other on a 2 acre lot about a 5 minute drive west of the city limits. The latter is more connected now, but at the time there wasn't a whole lot there.

While neither are my preferred living locale there was actually a LOT more for me to do as a kid in the suburban location, and even moreso once I was old enough to be allowed to go out independently. I could walk to school, there was a small strip plaza with a corner store nearby, lots of cycling trails and once I was a teenager could catch the bus to the LRT station and go downtown (also cycled downtown a lot). In the more rural location you had to drive to do anything outside of our property - it was technically closer to nature but you also had to drive to that.

Not a fan of suburbia at all but actual rural locations aren't always that great for everyone either.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by niwell

I grew up primarily between two households (divorced parents) - one in what is now inner-suburban Calgary and the other on a 2 acre lot about a 5 minute drive west of the city limits. The latter is more connected now, but at the time there wasn't a whole lot there.

While neither are my preferred living locale there was actually a LOT more for me to do as a kid in the suburban location, and even moreso once I was old enough to be allowed to go out independently. I could walk to school, there was a small strip plaza with a corner store nearby, lots of cycling trails and once I was a teenager could catch the bus to the LRT station and go downtown (also cycled downtown a lot). In the more rural location you had to drive to do anything outside of our property - it was technically closer to nature but you also had to drive to that.

Not a fan of suburbia at all but actual rural locations aren't always that great for everyone either.

Which is why there is a need to do better with transportation modes. There is a dial a bus service here. I have never used it, but there is no reason to fear the rural areas. It makes you more self reliant and mindful of your actions.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Rural living is different from living in car-dependent suburbia, and appeals to different people.

Suburbia features things that rural locations don't have: water/sewage is the city's responsibility, high-speed internet, natural gas connections, the city picks up your garbage, rapid access to medical and emergency services, easy access to shopping, easy access to municipal recreational and educational services. Then there are other things that ought not be the way they are but are: suburbs have better performing schools than rural areas, better jobs, higher likelihood of having friends and family nearby, etc.

Sure, the boonies have access to nature and things like that, but I think those things rate low for a lot of people. In fact, a lot of people for whom that ranks highly still choose to live in suburban or even urban environments.

I went on a short trip on the weekend, and was in a rural area of BC, though not too far from a town.

There was no cell service, though there was high speed Internet where I was staying. No cell service is a dealbreaker for me.

[MolsonExport]

As much as I love the outdoors (Especially mountains, oceans, lakes, and old growth forests), at this age, unless I was nestled in a place of overwhelming beauty adjacent to both the coast and to mountains, I would die of boredom if I was not close to a major urban centre.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I went on a short trip on the weekend, and was in a rural area of BC, though not too far from a town.

There was no cell service, though there was high speed Internet where I was staying. No cell service is a dealbreaker for me.

That is relatively rare in rural locations, provided you aren't in a remote location (different than rural). Lack of high speed internet is more of the issue - many areas have to rely on expensive cell network data plans to provide service with limited data amounts.

Rural areas are far more limited and I really don't understand the desire to live in them, unless you can get 10+ acres. Anything less than that really and I'd rather live in a well amenitied suburban area or city.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I went on a short trip on the weekend, and was in a rural area of BC, though not too far from a town.

There was no cell service, though there was high speed Internet where I was staying. No cell service is a dealbreaker for me.

That is why we bought a $500 cell phone booster. It is very common to see one on the roofs of houses around here.

[biguc]

My point about St. John's isn't about living in the country or in suburbia, it's that people who want a suburban lifestyle could all live in villages and towns on lakes and coves. There could be a hundred places like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4643404,...V7wbL-y5G85yjCFRLrQnw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

and no places like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5620926,...a188.91557-ro1.06069-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

It wouldn't drastically change distribution of services or convenience or anything, just people would live in really nice places instead of really dumpy places.