The 401

[MolsonExport]

will there eventually be 4 lanes each way from the GTA to London? And 3 lanes each way from London to Windsor?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

will there eventually be 4 lanes each way from the GTA to London? And 3 lanes each way from London to Windsor?

In our lifetimes? lol. I can see 4 lanes from K-W to Toronto, and 3 from London to Windsor, but who knows when we will ever see 4 from London to Kitchener.

[MolsonExport]

Honestly I would prefer that there was more than one option..The 401 regularly gets shut (accidents) and it is a real pain to take alternative routes (aside from the 403, but that peters out in Woodstock). It would be great to have the 403 go north of Woodstock, to loop over the north side of London, and then join up with the 402 at about Strathroy.

[JHikka]

It would probably be wiser to connect KW-Guelph-Brampton via highway than to continue expanding the 401. IIRC there's proposals for expanding the 7 between Waterloo and Guelph and it would make logical sense to continue that eastward to connect to the 410 in Brampton. Providing that option would certainly alleviate some of the current issues of the 401 between KW & Toronto.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Honestly I would prefer that there was more than one option..The 401 regularly gets shut (accidents) and it is a real pain to take alternative routes (aside from the 403, but that peters out in Woodstock). It would be great to have the 403 go north of Woodstock, to loop over the north side of London, and then join up with the 402 at about Strathroy.

I think the original plan was the 402 was going to go north of London and tie into the 403 at Woodstock, or at least be close to it (maybe join the 401 east of Ingersoll so it was only a short trip to the 403 from there). That would have been nice, but I think the city fucked that plan up 50 or so years ago. Would have been a lot easier to have done north/south express routes knowing there were highways on both ends of the city to connect to.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by JHikka

It would probably be wiser to connect KW-Guelph-Brampton via highway than to continue expanding the 401. IIRC there's proposals for expanding the 7 between Waterloo and Guelph and it would make logical sense to continue that eastward to connect to the 410 in Brampton. Providing that option would certainly alleviate some of the current issues of the 401 between KW & Toronto.

Ford recently trotted out the new Hwy 7 between KW and Guelph again. It's been a perennial election carrot for the incumbent government for going-on 30-40 years now. The truth is that the business case for the highway is tenuous at best which means it is usually one of the first things to be deferred by a new government. Unfortunately, because it is always lurking on the back-burner, it has meant that the government hasn't invested in necessary improvements to Hwy 7. I honestly think we're more likely to see KW and Stratford connected by a fully grade-separated highway before KW and Guelph.

A Guelph-Brampton connection has an even weaker justification and much larger barrier of where/how to cross the Niagara Escarpment.

[Dengler Avenue]

In Kingston, 401 now has 6 lanes between Montreal Street (Exit 619) to Highway 15 (Exit 623).

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

will there eventually be 4 lanes each way from the GTA to London? And 3 lanes each way from London to Windsor?

I sincerely hope not. What a waste of money. If there's that much traffic, invest in rail infrastructure.

[Dengler Avenue]

I don't know how many of these commuters are factory/hospital/(you name it) workers. If there are lots of them, it may be harder to get them to use public transit. Case in point is commuters between Kitchener and Guelph.
Otherwise, if there are ways to get these commuters off their cars, that will be great.

=====
By the way, since 401 plays such a critical role, do the feds ever chip in for its maintenance?

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I think the original plan was the 402 was going to go north of London and tie into the 403 at Woodstock, or at least be close to it (maybe join the 401 east of Ingersoll so it was only a short trip to the 403 from there). That would have been nice, but I think the city fucked that plan up 50 or so years ago. Would have been a lot easier to have done north/south express routes knowing there were highways on both ends of the city to connect to.

The 402 was supposed to tie into Highbury.

And the section through London would have been a municipal road with a freeway connecting link agreement similar to how the EC Row was funded before the Harris highway downloads.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

will there eventually be 4 lanes each way from the GTA to London? And 3 lanes each way from London to Windsor?

I could one day see 8 lanes on the 401 between the 402 and 403- the overpasses are being replaced with this in mind.

Between the 403 and Highway 8, 6 lanes would remain. Traffic volumes are lower here.

Then from Highway 8 to Milton it would have 10 lanes (8+2 HOV) before widening into the collector-express system currently being built from Milton to Mississauga.

6-laning the 401 from London to Windsor is already approved.

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by haljackey

I could one day see 8 lanes on the 401 between the 402 and 403- the overpasses are being replaced with this in mind.
6-laning the 401 from London to Windsor is already approved.

Between the 402 and 403 the overpasses are being built with ten lanes in mind.

The concrete footings for the overhead signs that were erected at both Highway 73 and Highway 19 were set back for an eight lane cross-section. Not that that necessarily means that the highway widening is imminent mind you.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I don't know how many of these commuters are factory/hospital/(you name it) workers. If there are lots of them, it may be harder to get them to use public transit. Case in point is commuters between Kitchener and Guelph.
Otherwise, if there are ways to get these commuters off their cars, that will be great.

Cities elsewhere would be able to facilitate such a commute by transit. Shouldn't be impossible here.

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

By the way, since 401 plays such a critical role, do the feds ever chip in for its maintenance?

No. And the 401 isn't critical to moving around the country. Though it is understandably critical to the economy.

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

No. And the 401 isn't critical to moving around the country. Though it is understandably critical to the economy.

I really don't even know how to respond to that comment...

[jammer139]

401 is busiest highway in North America


https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...orth-america-2

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

I really don't even know how to respond to that comment...

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by jammer139

401 is busiest highway in North America


https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...orth-america-2

This really isn't that that spectacular a fact when you put it in context. The 401 is one of the longest freeways in North America and serves as the major freeway for the urban agglomeration that contains 20% of the country's population. There's nothing comparable in the US. There are several that are long and run thhrough several major cities en route. But none of those cities represent as large a proportion of the national population as Toronto does to Canada. Nor do those interstates have the same importance to local traffic flow in those major cities. The 401 being the busiest Highway in North America sort of speaks to how many fewer highways we have and how important it is to local travel in the GTA.

[jammer139]

401 is not even close to being one of the longest expressways in North America. https://www.insider.com/longest-road...2-2072-miles-9

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

This really isn't that that spectacular a fact when you put it in context. The 401 is one of the longest freeways in North America and serves as the major freeway for the urban agglomeration that contains 20% of the country's population. There's nothing comparable in the US. There are several that are long and run thhrough several major cities en route. But none of those cities represent as large a proportion of the national population as Toronto does to Canada. Nor do those interstates have the same importance to local traffic flow in those major cities. The 401 being the busiest Highway in North America sort of speaks to how many fewer highways we have and how important it is to local travel in the GTA.

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by jammer139

401 is not even close to being one of the longest expressways in North America. https://www.insider.com/longest-road...2-2072-miles-9

I've driven on US 52 many times in North Dakota. An expressway it is not. The only expressway/freeway sections in North Dakota are the sections that are concurrent with Interstate from Jamestown to Fargo, anda few km concurrent with US 2 through Minot.

[jamincan]

I think him linking to that particular entry was likely just a fluke. Every highway on that list is significantly longer than the 401 and a good chunk of them are Interstates.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by jamincan

I think him linking to that particular entry was likely just a fluke. Every highway on that list is significantly longer than the 401 and a good chunk of them are Interstates.

Sure. But none of them are as important to local commuting as the 401 is to the GTA. And there's no metro in the US that has 20% of the country's population. What would the 401's numbers look like, if it wasn't the main commuter expressway for the GTA?

As for length, our numbering terminates at provincial boundaries. The interstates don't. A more equivalent comparison might be adding up the 401 in Ontario and the 20 in Quebec.