Highways in Canada

[Airboy]

on a different note.
Anyone wanting a Porche or Volkswagen are going to have to wait quite a while.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/tech/ship-fire-luxury-cars/index.html

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by jamincan

I don't understand why this is being prioritized, while the bypass of Hwy 6 south of the 401 still sits on the back burner.

Probably based on need ... for seats this next election.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by jamincan

I don't understand why this is being prioritized, while the bypass of Hwy 6 south of the 401 still sits on the back burner.

The first part of that project is starting construction this year… it’s happening, slowly.

The Hamilton highway 6 project will not start construction for years as they need to update the design for it. It’s welll behind the Morriston Bypass in the process.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Probably based on need ... for seats this next election.

There’s that, and Hamilton Airport does get quite a bit of use. It’s tourists’ favourite for cheap flights out of GTA. I used it in 2017 and my friends used it in 2019 (and I drove them there!).

[Innsertnamehere]

Ontario Government Removing Tolls on Highways 412 and 418

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Ontario Government Removing Tolls on Highways 412 and 418

Sounds like a great election platform item.

[JHikka]

Are they that worried about the Durham region ridings?

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Are they that worried about the Durham region ridings?

They were causing a stink earlier, so this may be Dougie placating them.

[Innsertnamehere]

This will have the largest impact on Ajax and Whitby specifically, both of which are swing PC ridings.

Same with the Highway 6 upgrade in Hamilton, Ancaster is a potential pickup for the PCs given the expected resurgence of the Liberals this year which will even out the vote splitting there a bit and give them a chance of eking out a new seat.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Probably based on need ... for seats this next election.

True.

But freight activity at Hamilton Airport has been growing steadily and with all the new distribution facilities going up around it, that 2-lane highway is no longer adequate. So this is about demand, and a project that the city has been asking the province to do for a long time (when originally built the overpasses were designed to accommodate a second carriageway)

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

There’s that, and Hamilton Airport does get quite a bit of use. It’s tourists’ favourite for cheap flights out of GTA. I used it in 2017 and my friends used it in 2019 (and I drove them there!).

This is largely about trucks accessing the airport industrial lands and the distribution centres that are growing fast. Ultimately improvement to Hwy 6 south into Haldimand and Norfolk will happen and this is a key piece, but that is probably still decades away.

Passenger traffic has been climbing too, but it seems every time the airport is on the cusp of being relatively important for that, airlines leave or leap for Pearson and YHM has to start over.

If Swoop ever kills off the other low-cost airlines, that may happen again. But the local market is also growing so maybe it would not be the same routine.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

True.

But freight activity at Hamilton Airport has been growing steadily and with all the new distribution facilities going up around it, that 2-lane highway is no longer adequate. So this is about demand, and a project that the city has been asking the province to do for a long time (when originally built the overpasses were designed to accommodate a second carriageway)

I am not saying the highway shouldn't be upgraded. I am saying that the timing of the announcement is suspicious.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I am not saying the highway shouldn't be upgraded. I am saying that the timing of the announcement is suspicious.

Suspicious? Buckle up... You're going to see a lot of that in the coming months.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

True.

But freight activity at Hamilton Airport has been growing steadily and with all the new distribution facilities going up around it, that 2-lane highway is no longer adequate. So this is about demand, and a project that the city has been asking the province to do for a long time (when originally built the overpasses were designed to accommodate a second carriageway)

You aren't wrong, but there are dozens of highways across the province that desperately need work, and honestly as someone who uses that stretch of 6 fairly regularly I've never had a real problem with it.

Ontario in general far underinvests in it's highway network proportionately to it's population growth, so there is a long backlog of badly needed projects across the province.

Which ones get prioritized is entirely political. The province has spent billions on projects like the 400 extension and is now planning to spend billions to widen the 401 to six lanes down to Windsor, both of which projects aren't really justified. Spending in these locations means less money going to the places that actually need it and would have a far larger impact on mobility in the province.

Expect a ton of shiny new infrastructure announcements in the next 3 months though, for sure.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

You aren't wrong, but there are dozens of highways across the province that desperately need work, and honestly as someone who uses that stretch of 6 fairly regularly I've never had a real problem with it.

Ontario in general far underinvests in it's highway network proportionately to it's population growth, so there is a long backlog of badly needed projects across the province.

Which ones get prioritized is entirely political. The province has spent billions on projects like the 400 extension and is now planning to spend billions to widen the 401 to six lanes down to Windsor, both of which projects aren't really justified. Spending in these locations means less money going to the places that actually need it and would have a far larger impact on mobility in the province.

Expect a ton of shiny new infrastructure announcements in the next 3 months though, for sure.

Who knows, that list may contain some of the badly needed ones that you’re thinking.
At this point, I’m basically telling M.T.O., “Keep surprising me”.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

.Ontario Government Removing Tolls on Highways 412 and 418

Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up creating new revenue from the 407, maybe even matching the lost 412/418 revenue. I can see a decent number of people will see traffic ahead, see this wide open freeway ramp and take it, and then end up unwittingly on the 407

[MolsonExport]

407 is by some measures, the most expensive road tolls on the planet.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Sounds like a great election platform item.

You mean better than 'buck a beer'. Now that was one to drive the economy

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up creating new revenue from the 407, maybe even matching the lost 412/418 revenue. I can see a decent number of people will see traffic ahead, see this wide open freeway ramp and take it, and then end up unwittingly on the 407

I was gonna say, that’d be hell of a trap.
Meanwhile the off-ramps to Highway 7 (from 412) would be backed up.

[srperrycgy]

A quick video from last October of the completed SW Calgary Ring Road (Alberta Highway 201).

• Video Link