Trans Canada Highway Twinning: Segments U/C - Page 22

srperrycgy · #**421** Posted **Aug 30, 2009, 3:23 AM**

I went through the same section a few weeks back and the speed limit on the new section was 70. A pain for sure.

The Jabroni · #**422** Posted **Aug 30, 2009, 4:57 AM**

Same here. I was there 3 weeks ago, driving from Canmore to Lake Louise. Lots of construction, but at least they're working on twinning that area, which is good.

mersar · #**423** Posted **Aug 30, 2009, 5:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by srperrycgy

I went through the same section a few weeks back and the speed limit on the new section was 70. A pain for sure.

I hit just about every speed limit possible from 30 through 110. The 30 was a short piece just in BC east of the new Kicking Horse bridge where the highway is essentially a 2 lane gravel road currently. I think the most common was 70 but there were a lot of sections of 50 as well

amor de cosmos · #**424** Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 12:08 AM**

I kind of wondered why there isn't a thread just for this but I guess updates go in here:

Quote:

August 31, 2009
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
MORE IMPROVEMENTS UNDERWAY FOR KICKING HORSE CANYON

GOLDEN – Paving preparation work is now underway for a section of the Trans-Canada Highway outside Golden, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Shirley Bond announced today.

“These improvements will help to improve safety for motorists along this stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway,” said Bond. “It’s another segment of the larger Kicking Horse Canyon project (KHCP), which is being delivered ahead of schedule and is creating hundreds of local jobs.”

Grade construction of the Golden Hill fourth-lane extension was completed in July 2009, with 99 per cent of the crew hired locally. Construction on the remaining Golden Hill to West Portal section will begin this fall under a design-build agreement, currently in the tender process. A $1.1-million paving contract was awarded to Dawson Construction Ltd., of Kamloops. Work will include gravelling as well as drainage construction, paving, signing and the installation of concrete barriers over approximately 1.2 km of the Trans-Canada Highway east of the Highway 95 junction at Golden. The fourth lane extension is expected to open to traffic this October.

On Nov. 6, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell announced a $64.2-million federal and a $70.1-million provincial contribution for the Phase 3 upgrades and improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway in the Kicking Horse Pass. This contribution was announced as a broader joint commitment to fund major infrastructure projects in British Columbia. The project is funded under the Province’s three-year, $14-billion capital infrastructure program that will create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.

The $64-million Phase 1 of the KHCP was completed in November 2006, and involved the replacement of the Yoho Bridge and 3.2 km of highway upgrades. The new Park Bridge (10-Mile Bridge) was the main feature of Phase 2, the upgrading of 5.8 km of the Trans-Canada Highway. The Phase 2 expenditure was $143 million and was completed in August 2007.

More information is available on the Kicking Horse Canyon project website at www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca.

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_rele...010-000271.htm

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/kickinghorse/index.htm

craner · #**425** Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 6:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersar

Just drove the #1 from Canmore to Sicamous today, and I must say the amount of construction is amazing. The newly opened part through Banff was a very nice improvement, and the sheer amount of work that the BC government has started (plus all its planned, noticable due to the signage everywhere) was quite a nice thing to see. I grabbed a number of photo's as I drove through that I'll post when I get a chance.

. . . anxiously awaiting photos.

I'm looking forward to my upcoming drive from Calgary to the Okanagan.

rrskylar · #**426** Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 3:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersar

Just drove the #1 from Canmore to Sicamous today, and I must say the amount of construction is amazing. The newly opened part through Banff was a very nice improvement, and the sheer amount of work that the BC government has started (plus all its planned, noticable due to the signage everywhere) was quite a nice thing to see. I grabbed a number of photo's as I drove through that I'll post when I get a chance.

The newly twinned section through Banff is finally open? It seemed like they were working on that section for 3-4 years.

Witty Nickname · #**427** Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 6:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The newly twinned section through Banff is finally open, it seemed like they were working on that section for 3-4 years.

That's great news!

jmt18325 · #**428** Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 7:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The newly twinned section through Banff is finally open, it seemed like they were working on that section for 3-4 years.

They were. You can't just lay down a road in a National Park the same way you can in other places.

mbeaumont · #**429** Posted **Sep 27, 2009, 2:40 PM**

I was in Pembroke this weekend, and noticed that they have started the twinning of 417 through Arnprior to around Campbell Drive

Quote:

Roadbuilding

In Hwy 17 widening job, bridges are the biggest challenge

IAN HARVEY

correspondent

Officially, Highway 17 is Ontario’s longest highway but for those living in and around the Arnprior area, the longest part seemed to be waiting for the province to issue the $63 million contract to widen it to four lanes.

The project was kicked around back in 2000 and again under the former Ernie Eves government but work didn’t start on the expansion until this year when it was awarded to local contractor, Thomas Cavanagh Construction.

The highway spans nearly 2,000 kilometres of Ontario from the Quebec border to the Manitoba border and the section being widened is about 10 kilometres from Arnprior to Highway 417 which will absorb the roadway under its designation at completion in 2012.

Project manager Craig Angus says work is underway in the greenfields bordering the active highway and the plan is to go 10 months of the year, shutting down when the severe winter cold and winds of the Ottawa Valley close in around January and February.

“The biggest challenges are going to be the bridges which are a combination of precast and steel, especially the one over the Madawaska River which has a pretty good elevation,” says Angus. “We’re also going to be bringing in a fair amount of rock materials for the ground around the massive interchange at White Lake Road.”

He said when the project moves to stage four, crews will be working in live lanes but in the early stages, will be insulated from traffic.

Skilled workers are in good supply in the region, he added, so labour isn’t expected to be an issue.

There are six new structures and two rehabs of bridges that will require a combination of rehabilitation and twinning, in addition to the Madawaska structure: White Lake Road, Division Street, Baskin Drive and a CPR overhead.

The expansion is both a blessing and burden for Arnprior itself since the 417 has brought an influx of new housing development for the small town which sits at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Madawaska River.

It has a population of less than 10,000, but that’s expected to double as the new highway brings in home-hungry commuters from Ottawa and the surrounding area.

However local authorities have been lobbying for many years to get the 417 extension on track because the economic benefits far outweigh any other issues

eternallyme · #**430** Posted **Sep 27, 2009, 8:55 PM**

Good start, but need a lot more work done in the Ottawa Valley. There is at least 100 km more to be twinned as soon as possible...

craner · #**431** Posted **Sep 27, 2009, 11:24 PM**

I had to laugh at the article how it explains the highway is 2000kms long and they are currently working on a section 10kms long

.
Talk about "spit-in-the-ocean". At this rate it should only take a couple 100 years.

MonctonRad · #**432** Posted **Sep 28, 2009, 3:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craner

I had to laugh at the article how it explains the highway is 2000kms long and they are currently working on a section 10kms long

.
Talk about "spit-in-the-ocean". At this rate it should only take a couple 100 years.

Yup, sounds like about 200 years to me......

We finished the whole 500 km of TCH here in NB in about 15 years.

Spocket · #**433** Posted **Sep 28, 2009, 3:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Yup, sounds like about 200 years to me......

We finished the whole 500 km of TCH here in NB in about 15 years.

Bah ! We have less than that here in Manitoba and we're STILL not finished after 50 years.
Take that progressives !!

Mininari · #**434** Posted **Sep 28, 2009, 11:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spocket

Bah ! We have less than that here in Manitoba and we're STILL not finished after 50 years.
Take that progressives !!

Awww comon! Theres only a "few" km left to the Ontario Border.
Then we can start the 200-year battle to upgrade the entire length of it to freeway standards.

eternallyme · #**435** Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 5:43 PM**

The worst part of all is that the most expensive part of Highway 17 is also the least travelled (the area north of Superior). Even in 2035, the AADT will likely be only around 4,000. Some of the most difficult sections could see shortcuts taken (i.e. a 100 km/h design speed).

From Thunder Bay to Nipigon, it isn't that difficult by Northern Ontario standards - typical rolling terrain that could easily sustain a Highway 69/400-like design. The other fairly easy section is between Marathon and Wawa where the highway shifts inland on the plateau. The sections along Lake Superior require extreme rock-cuts, realignments and careful planning. (Although I could only find one place where a tunnel would be necessary - near Haviland Beach, along Agawa Bay).

Mininari · #**436** Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 5:19 PM**

So, who else has noticed large "BC Highways Projects" signs along the TCH in interior BC proclaiming

"TCH 4-Laning from Kamloops to the Alberta Border."

What does this mean exactly?
I mean... obviously its great to see such signs up, but are they just signs? Is there a plan or a program behind them?

craner · #**437** Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 6:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mininari

So, who else has noticed large "BC Highways Projects" signs along the TCH in interior BC proclaiming

"TCH 4-Laning from Kamloops to the Alberta Border."

What does this mean exactly?
I mean... obviously its great to see such signs up, but are they just signs? Is there a plan or a program behind them?

I've wondered the same thing.

AirGuitarChampion · #**438** Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 8:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craner

I've wondered the same thing.

Sicamous to Kamloops would be a great start, whenever I drive to Vancouver that section seems to be the most tedious.

OR upgrade that section from Sicamous to Vernon (and Kelowna) so the "other way" to Vancouver is actually viable and splits the traffic better.

0773|=\ · #**439** Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 8:34 PM**

I thought there was talk about a Valleyview bypass in the more immediate term.

I think the biggest jog that should be eliminated with a new 4-lane bypass is the area around Salmon Arm.

eternallyme · #**440** Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 9:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0773|=\

I thought there was talk about a Valleyview bypass in the more immediate term.

I think the biggest jog that should be eliminated with a new 4-lane bypass is the area around Salmon Arm.

Perhaps a toll bridge across Shuswap Lake would be the best way to do it? It would be quite an impressive high-level bridge for sure though!