Trans Canada Highway Twinning: Segments U/C

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff wants Canadians to think big.

High-speed rail links between major cities. An east-west electricity corridor. Completion of a coast-to-coast, four-lane national highway system.

Even a national energy strategy (Not to be confused with the hated National Energy Program, he stresses).

The Canadian Press

Sounds like he's thinking big ... taxes.

Wouldn't completion of a coast-to-coast four-lane national highway system overwhelmingly involve improvements in Ontario and B.C.? Is he saying he'd tax all of Canada to improve highways in two of the wealthiest provinces? Will he have Danny Williams to contend with if his project doesn't also involve four-laning the TCH across the entire Island of Newfoundland?

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Sounds like he's thinking big ... taxes.

Wouldn't completion of a coast-to-coast four-lane national highway system overwhelmingly involve improvements in Ontario and B.C.? Is he saying he'd tax all of Canada to improve highways in two of the wealthiest provinces?

Improving the national highway system would benefit all Canadians. We can't forget that fact. No matter what province we live in, We're all Canadians. This would improve travel links increasing our self sufficiency and our productivity. It would be a great idea in my opinion.

[vid]

God forbid commerce is possible!

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Improving the national highway system would benefit all Canadians. We can't forget that fact. No matter what province we live in, We're all Canadians. This would improve travel links increasing our self sufficiency and our productivity. It would be a great idea in my opinion.

Do other provinces that have used their own taxpayers' money to four-lane the TCH get compensated? Why does Ontario get a big reward for having dragged its feet on Highway 17 for the last 50 years?

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by vid

God forbid commerce is possible!

Vid, it's not as though you can't drive on a two-lane highway. It can be done. Maybe it's harder to text, talk on the phone and bop around to your iTunes (or whatever other things the junior generation seems to need to do while driving a car) but I can recollect numerous lengthy trips on two-lane roads (even gravel ones!) that went just fine.

[bulliver]

Maybe it's harder to text, talk on the phone and bop around to your iTunes (or whatever other things the junior generation seems to need to do while driving a car)

Strawman. No one is arguing these reasons to fourlane the highway. You've clearly never been stuck for hours behind a convoy of semis that can only do 30-40kph on the steep grades in Yoho NP and Roger's pass.

Vid mentioned commerce. If goods can be shipped quicker, cheaper and more efficiently then we all win, whether consumers or suppliers.

Plus there is the issue of national image. TCH in its current form is a joke. We should ask for, and achieve better.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Do other provinces that have used their own taxpayers' money to four-lane the TCH get compensated? Why does Ontario get a big reward for having dragged its feet on Highway 17 for the last 50 years?

Ontario probably has about the hardest job possible when it comes to highway building across the Canadian shield. An upgraded Trans Canada will help the entire country. It will become cheaper and easier to ship good and it will act as a way to support tourism. Even more than that, it becomes a new version of the iron ribbon that was used to bind the country in the late 1800s and early 1900. It's also important to point out that much of the work on the Trans Canada highway has been done with the help of federal dollars.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Maybe it's harder to text, talk on the phone and bop around to your iTunes (or whatever other things the junior generation seems to need to do while driving a car)

I blame the generation that raised us.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Vid, it's not as though you can't drive on a two-lane highway. It can be done. Maybe it's harder to text, talk on the phone and bop around to your iTunes (or whatever other things the junior generation seems to need to do while driving a car) but I can recollect numerous lengthy trips on two-lane roads (even gravel ones!) that went just fine.

Haha, so true. Back in my day all I needed was to have a bottle of beer of in one hand, and to make a raised open palm with my other hand (just in case the wife decided to start yapping). I used my brain waves to steer the car. Kids these days.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Ontario probably has about the hardest job possible when it comes to highway building across the Canadian shield. An upgraded Trans Canada will help the entire country. It will become cheaper and easier to ship good and it will act as a way to support tourism. Even more than that, it becomes a new version of the iron ribbon that was used to bind the country in the late 1800s and early 1900. It's also important to point out that much of the work on the Trans Canada highway has been done with the help of federal dollars.

Not just that, the part in Ontario serves its backwater, while the other provinces all have the TCH in their main population and industrial areas. I don't think there is much will to spend $20 billion on something that only runs through nine ridings.

If Northern Ontario became a separate province, then it would likely be accelerated to a much greater rate.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by theman23

Haha, so true. Back in my day all I needed was to have a bottle of beer of in one hand, and to make a raised open palm with my other hand (just in case the wife decided to start yapping). I used my brain waves to steer the car. Kids these days.

Remember when Dads would let sons sit on their lap and steer? I mean, really steer while they fished around under the seat for their next beer. Nowadays we'd be stuck in the back, duct-taped to some infantile-looking car seat facing backward. The way this country is going is not what people fought wars for.

[vid]

Yes, they fought so that fathers could put their children in control of the vehicle while they fish for beer under the seat.

BUT LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE DRIVING IS WRONG! THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY DIED FOR!!

Do you ever read your posts before hitting submit?

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by vid

Yes, they fought so that fathers could put their children in control of the vehicle while they fish for beer under the seat.

BUT LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE DRIVING IS WRONG! THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY DIED FOR!!

Do you ever read your posts before hitting submit?

No. That spoils them.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Do other provinces that have used their own taxpayers' money to four-lane the TCH get compensated? Why does Ontario get a big reward for having dragged its feet on Highway 17 for the last 50 years?

Federal funding paid for a lot of that 4-laning in other provinces. Plus, there's a lot of traffic going east-west that goes through the States not because it's shorter (it's not) but because it's faster. That traffic would stay in Canada if the whole route were 4 lanes, and that benefits every province between Ontario and BC.

[Metro-One]

The stretch between Kamloops and Salmon Arm for sure should be twinned with interchanges. I believe they are starting some twinning on that section this year. I would love to be able to drive all the way to Calgary on a twinned/4 lane road with no traffic lights or stop signs. Currently as far as one can go from Vancouver doing so is to Kamloops.

[adriancanada]

How many kilometres in twinning are left in Saskatchewan? I know that there is work on-going, but is there a target date for when 4-laning should be completed on the entire length of Highway 1 in the province?
What about Manitoba? Is there more work to do than in Saskatchewan?

Once these two provinces finish their sections, and Quebec the missing link of Autoroute 85, only Ontario, BC and NS will have incomplete sections on the mainland. Speaking of which, I was very pleasantly surprised by the condition of HWY-1 in Newfoundland (on the west coast, at least), as it had an excellent smooth surface and very frequent passing lanes.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by adriancanada

How many kilometres in twinning are left in Saskatchewan? I know that there is work on-going, but is there a target date for when 4-laning should be completed on the entire length of Highway 1 in the province?

Completely finished....now they have to work on bypassing the growth that has occurred in Regina

What about Manitoba? Is there more work to do than in Saskatchewan?

Done except for about 16kms close to Ontario through the Canadian Shield. The 4 lanes also need to be split at Headingley (and there is supposed to be money in the federal budget for that). The 16kms next to Ontario needs study and it needs to wait for Ontario to decide if it wants to move Highway 17 after then finish their Manitoba border to Kenora twinning study.

[adriancanada]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Completely finished....now they have to work on bypassing the growth that has occurred in Regina

The 16kms next to Ontario needs study and it needs to wait for Ontario to decide if it wants to move Highway 17 after then finish their Manitoba border to Kenora twinning study.

Wow that's great on Saskatchewan's part! Alberta just has a little more to go before 4 lanes reach the BC border, and Manitoba should just finish the last 16 kms. Then the three prairie provinces will each have their respective sections of the TCH twinned. Ontario should really get its act together and complete the project from the Manitoba border to Kenora. Unlike the rest of (most) of Northern Ontario, the distance is quite small (approx 50kms) and actually connects a relatively populated place with the rest of the 4-laned network. I think once that will be done, it will be the last substantial twinning in Northern Ontario for a very long time, if you don't count the 400 and 11 extensions to Sudbury/North Bay.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by adriancanada

Ontario should really get its act together and complete the project from the Manitoba border to Kenora. Unlike the rest of (most) of Northern Ontario, the distance is quite small (approx 50kms) and actually connects a relatively populated place with the rest of the 4-laned network. I think once that will be done, it will be the last substantial twinning in Northern Ontario for a very long time, if you don't count the 400 and 11 extensions to Sudbury/North Bay.

Ontario says they have to look at the route and they may have to move some parts of it. Manitoba has the twinning of the section to Ontario as a candidate for provincial federal funding, but it hasn't come up yet. They are supposed to be commissioning a study dealing with routing, land acquisition, and cost.

Ontario actually has some other twinning planned. They have plans to extend the 417 to Renfew and they are supposed to start designing a route to Petewawa. The Sudbury bypass is going to be made into a freeway (work has already begun) and there is talk of extending the freeway west to Espanola. Twinning is supposed to begin this year between Nipigon and Shabaqua. Lastly, there is still some talk of more work around Sault Ste. Marie. there is a great deal of work going on, but there is much more to be done.

There is also talk of some bypasses of communities that may or may not be twinned at first. There have been large improvements to the Ontario Trans Canada....but more is always welcome.

[vid]

Twinning will be between Nipigon and Thunder Bay, not Nipigon and Shabaqua. It isn't beginning this year, it will be 2 or 3 years away. The project starts at the northeast corner of Thunder Bay, the only work on the Trans Canada in the city itself will be a couple turning lanes and some street lights.