Highways in Canada

[sonysnob]

Night view of the 407 looking easterly towards the 400 interchange:


http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_407-409_images/407_cl_DSC05285_24x16.jpg

[sonysnob]

Video of Manitoba's Highway 100:

• Video Link

[sonysnob]

Not mine, but here is a video heading easterly through Kicking Horse Pass in BC from earlier in the summer:

• Video Link

[MonctonRad]

Great video, thank for posting!

BTW, I watched the perimeter highway video the day before you posted it here. I'm subscribed to Asphalt Planet on Youtube.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Not mine, but here is a video heading easterly through Kicking Horse Pass in BC from earlier in the summer:

• Video Link

Thanks sony that was eye candy and kinda mybpart of the country cheers.

[craner]

Thanks for posting those two videos sonysnob - really enjoyed those.
At the end of the Perimeter Highway video it is dated July 24, 2022 but shouldn’t it be 2023 ?

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by craner

Thanks for posting those two videos sonysnob - really enjoyed those.
At the end of the Perimeter Highway video it is dated July 24, 2022 but shouldn’t it be 2023 ?

It should be dated 2023, you're right.

[J.OT13]

Autoroute Guy Lafleur, the A50, between Gatineau and Mirabel and slowly being widened. The highway was promised in 1962, with only a short section built in the 70s and 80s from Hull to Buckingham (today the east end of the City of Gatineau). But they did have the signs that said "Montreal" up from the very beginning.

In 2012, the Liberal Government completed the highway, but at two lanes only. "Better half than nothing" said the Mayor of Gatineau. This semi-highway caused many deaths due to head-on collisions.

When the CAQ was elected, they built a few kilometers of tension cables between the east and west bound lanes, which proved successful, preventing multiple head-on collisions. The Liberals, who did nothing for 6 years, protested the lack of consultation or some dumb thing. Even with that success, the CAQ never bothered adding more of these cable separations.

The highway was named in honour of Montreal Canadians legend, and Thurso's own Guy Lafleur, one year after his death, earlier this year.

The promise is now a full widening by 2032. The next segment is a 10 km stretch from Buckingham, east. It was supposed to open this Fall, but has been delayed to early 2024, which isn't terrible.

Par Daniel LeBlanc, Le Droit
24 juillet 2023





[/QUOTE]

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/actua...largissement-VYTZ74NCKBCYLB2JPNXBCSBIOQ/

[Innsertnamehere]

I have to say that I respect Quebec for continuously upgrading it's motorway network, even to smaller centres. Every couple of years they are opening another major freeway connection which plays well to the total provincial network.

Ontario loves to talk about adding to it's freeway network but I feel like it's very slow in actually implementing improvements. Projects like the Guelph to Waterloo freeway have been sitting for over a decade. It's frustrating.

[1overcosc]

I also like how Quebec has redundant corridors connecting its major cities allowing multiple different smaller centres to be connected.

Highway 7 should be a 400 series freeway to provide a second link between Toronto and Ottawa. This would have worked better in an alternate scenario where the province had built the Ottawa-401 freeway along the Highway 15 corridor instead of the 416. That was another missed opportunity.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I have to say that I respect Quebec for continuously upgrading it's motorway network, even to smaller centres. Every couple of years they are opening another major freeway connection which plays well to the total provincial network.

Ontario loves to talk about adding to it's freeway network but I feel like it's very slow in actually implementing improvements. Projects like the Guelph to Waterloo freeway have been sitting for over a decade. It's frustrating.

The KW - Guelph freeway link is indeed a particularly frustrating dossier. I feel that both provinces have its fair share of all-talk-no-action though.
In Quebec, the twinning of Rte 175 had probably been hotly debated for at least 10 years. Extension of A25 beyond Saint Esprit is dubious and environmentally contentious. Then there’s the extension of A50 east of Mirabel (which is also dubious).
Of course, how can we forget the infamous A35…

Highway 7 should be a 400 series freeway to provide a second link between Toronto and Ottawa. This would have worked better in an alternate scenario where the province had built the Ottawa-401 freeway along the Highway 15 corridor instead of the 416. That was another missed opportunity.

Back then, engineers picked 16 over 15 to avoid contending the metasedimentary rocks of Canadian Shield. (IIRC, any rock cut on the 416 is sedimentary, never metamorphic or igneous, and sedimentary rocks are generally a lot easier to work with than the other two types, unless it’s shale.)
As for 7… let’s see what happens after 401 gets widened to 6 lanes at least to the eastern limit of Belleville first.

[MonctonRad]

There is hardly any population on the 7 between Peterborough and Carleton Place, but, your point about redundancy is well taken.

I suppose a divided Highway 7 might be a good way to stimulate growth along the corridor.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There is hardly any population on the 7 between Peterborough and Carleton Place, but, your point about redundancy is well taken.

I suppose a divided Highway 7 might be a good way to stimulate growth along the corridor.

Town of Perth is pretty much exurban Ottawa, like Renfrew, so traffic’s not that light.
On the west side, traffic coming out of Peterborough doesn’t peter out until Havelock.
Some people are concerned that upgrading even one piece of 7 requires upgrading the whole thing because people will start going that way instead of the 401.

Of course, widening 401 is much easier to do than to first designate a 110-m ROW for a new freeway 7, then actually build it and contend Canadian Shield (between east of Marmora and Lakes and Mississippi Mills) along the way.

Ps: That said, I am still curious why 110-m ROW when 90-m ROW seems to suffice even with rock cuts and a 30-m median…

[ScreamingViking]

"Redundancy" needs to make economic sense!

I know I'm going to get a response from particular individuals about this, but it's expensive to build new corridors or double up other highways and if the average travel demand doesn't support that need, it's wasteful.

[Innsertnamehere]

Highway 7 isn’t as much of an issue in my mind. Ontario under Quebecs model likely would see towns like Perth, Orangeville, Stratford, Collingwood, Petawawa, etc on the freeway network. And they just aren’t, and often don’t even have plans to be either.

We’d also probably see better regional connections, like a Brantford-Cambridge and Guelph/KWC - Hamilton freeway.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

When the CAQ was elected, they built a few kilometers of tension cables between the east and west bound lanes, which proved successful, preventing multiple head-on collisions. The Liberals, who did nothing for 6 years, protested the lack of consultation or some dumb thing. Even with that success, the CAQ never bothered adding more of these cable separations.

I've wondered why they haven't done this on the segments that are still super-2s.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There is hardly any population on the 7 between Peterborough and Carleton Place, but, your point about redundancy is well taken.

I suppose a divided Highway 7 might be a good way to stimulate growth along the corridor.

With a lack of population, there isn't as much to bulldoze to build it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There is hardly any population on the 7 between Peterborough and Carleton Place, but, your point about redundancy is well taken.

I suppose a divided Highway 7 might be a good way to stimulate growth along the corridor.

We don't do that in Canada any more.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We don't do that in Canada any more.

Sadly true.

Whatever happened to nation building????

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Sadly true.

Whatever happened to nation building????

"Opening up a region for development" sounds like a weird, alien concept.