Atlantic Highways Thread

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by theshark

Who drives 110 on a 4 lane???

Most of the drivers on the Vanier in Freddy every morning

Originally Posted by OliverD

Where is this coming from? The Marysville Bypass is 3 km shorter and has a higher speed limit. It definitely saves time. Google Maps is not always accurate for travel time, but it says the bypass saves 7 minutes.

I haven't driven the whole thing yet, but according to people who have it saves no time at on every route, is slower if anything and fuel savings are negligible. I posted this a while ago and nobody noticed.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Most of the drivers on the Vanier in Freddy every morning



I haven't driven the whole thing yet, but according to people who have it saves no time at on every route, is slower if anything and fuel savings are negligible. I posted this a while ago and nobody noticed.

The point is is that it's controlled access now so it's much safer. That was the whole point, to get the traffic out of the villages. Also EVERY controlled access highway I've ever driven is faster then going through the little towns so I don't really know how anyone could say its not faster lol.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Franco401

I haven't driven the whole thing yet, but according to people who have it saves no time at on every route, is slower if anything and fuel savings are negligible.

I don't believe those people. That math simply doesn't add up.

[stephan.richard]

I hope with a new Liberal government they will not stop the twinning of Route 11. If they decide to continue it I hope they do it in a responsible way. And I think after route 11 I think route 7 between Fredericton and Saint John should be the next priority.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

I hope with a new Liberal government they will not stop the twinning of Route 11. If they decide to continue it I hope they do it in a responsible way. And I think after route 11 I think route 7 between Fredericton and Saint John should be the next priority.

The twerp Gallant has decided to bankrupt the province by spending a billion dollars on roadwork. So, never fear that the highway gets twinned. It's just a matter of how it will get paid for now that shale gas is off the table……

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The twerp Gallant has decided to bankrupt the province by spending a billion dollars on roadwork. So, never fear that the highway gets twinned. It's just a matter of how it will get paid for now that shale gas is off the table……

LOL, shale gas is hardly off the table.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by OliverD

I don't believe those people. That math simply doesn't add up.

I have a feeling a lot of the people claiming the MVille Bypass doesn't save any time are people whose homes and businesses are no longer on the primary North-South route between Fredericton and Miramichi.

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

I hope with a new Liberal government they will not stop the twinning of Route 11. If they decide to continue it I hope they do it in a responsible way. And I think after route 11 I think route 7 between Fredericton and Saint John should be the next priority.

The responsible thing to do would be to not twin Route 11, frankly.

[josh_cat_eyes]

I wasn't jusy Gallant that spent a billion on road work. The Moncton-Fredericton highway cost close to a billion, and from Fredericton to the Quebec border cost another billion.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I wasn't jusy Gallant that spent a billion on road work. The Moncton-Fredericton highway cost close to a billion, and from Fredericton to the Quebec border cost another billion.

Some of that was paid for by the feds, no? Regardless, I think that twinning the TCH was absolutely necessary while doing the same to any other highways in the province is more debatable.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Some of that was paid for by the feds, no? Regardless, I think that twinning the TCH was absolutely necessary while doing the same to any other highways in the province is more debatable.

Agree. The TCH was absolutely necessary, as was Route 1 from Salisbury to Saint John.

I think Route 1 from Saint John to the US border was more debatable, especially since the road reverts to cow path on the American side. If there had been a major highway in Maine connecting Bangor and Calais, then yes this would have made sense as a connector. Personally, I think it might have made more sense to divide Route 7 between SJ and Freddy before dividing Route 1 to the border.

As for Route 11, I think a case can be made to divide the highway from Shediac to Bouctouche because of local traffic volumes (a lot of commuter traffic), but north of Bouctouche, the need is only relative.

[Taeolas]

A Divided Highway between NB's Big 3 (Freddy, SJ and Moncton) is long overdue. Though I wonder a bit if instead of a triangle of 3 highways, it would have been better to route the TCH to Sussex and have it share the SJ to Moncton highway (Route 1) the rest of the way. At least that would mostly remove the long Coles Island to Salisbury gap. Was the cost of a TCH bridge over Cambridge Narrows that much to make the route through the woods cheaper/more direct?

Of course we'd still have Route 7 to twin between SJ and Freddy; that should have been twinned long ago, especially before the Route 1 to Maine.

SJ to Calais could probably have been held off until the Northern Maine Highway is green lit.

As for the rest of NB's major highways, I don't think we need much more twinned (beyond the section near Moncton). But we should be doing some upgrades to the city connections to get them to modern standards. Routes 8, 11, and 17 I believe should be upgraded to Highway standards if they aren't already (To be honest, I haven't been up that way in decades and so I don't know what the roads are like as is).

I'm not sure what the right terminology is, but it seems to me those routes should basically be one road of a 4-Lane highway, with the Right of Ways prepared to upgrade to 4 lane if the traffic ever warrants it.

[Ire Narissis]

I'm just going to be here in my corner, waving my "twin Route 7" cheerleader pom-poms.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

A Divided Highway between NB's Big 3 (Freddy, SJ and Moncton) is long overdue. Though I wonder a bit if instead of a triangle of 3 highways, it would have been better to route the TCH to Sussex and have it share the SJ to Moncton highway (Route 1) the rest of the way. At least that would mostly remove the long Coles Island to Salisbury gap. Was the cost of a TCH bridge over Cambridge Narrows that much to make the route through the woods cheaper/more direct?

Of course we'd still have Route 7 to twin between SJ and Freddy; that should have been twinned long ago, especially before the Route 1 to Maine.

SJ to Calais could probably have been held off until the Northern Maine Highway is green lit.

As for the rest of NB's major highways, I don't think we need much more twinned (beyond the section near Moncton). But we should be doing some upgrades to the city connections to get them to modern standards. Routes 8, 11, and 17 I believe should be upgraded to Highway standards if they aren't already (To be honest, I haven't been up that way in decades and so I don't know what the roads are like as is).

I'm not sure what the right terminology is, but it seems to me those routes should basically be one road of a 4-Lane highway, with the Right of Ways prepared to upgrade to 4 lane if the traffic ever warrants it.

I agree. That not reallly many other highways need to be twinned, but there should be a two lane controlled access highway connecting Miramachi with existing controlled access highways. Route 8 to the southwest and north and 11 to the Acadian peninsula and to the south. Twinning could take place in the areas of Bathurst, Miramichi and Campbellton. Controlled access would also be nice from Cap-Pele to the Bridge.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

A Divided Highway between NB's Big 3 (Freddy, SJ and Moncton) is long overdue. Though I wonder a bit if instead of a triangle of 3 highways, it would have been better to route the TCH to Sussex and have it share the SJ to Moncton highway (Route 1) the rest of the way. At least that would mostly remove the long Coles Island to Salisbury gap. Was the cost of a TCH bridge over Cambridge Narrows that much to make the route through the woods cheaper/more direct?

Looking at Google Maps it's a much more direct route.

I would guess that the reason that Route 1 was twinned before Route 7 is because it has a lot more truck traffic.

Now that the Welsford Bypass is in place, I don't see much need to twin the rest of Route 7. It's a safe highway with lots of passing zones.

I'd much rather see that money go towards improving provincial routes within the larger cities. For example, we'd get a lot more value out of completing the Ring Road/2 Nations Crossing intersection or realigning Route 8 with the Princess Margaret Bridge here in Fredericton.

[mylesmalley]

I'm still not entirely clear on what the reason behind twinning Route 1 to St Stephen was, other than 'stimulus spending'. It'll be 20 years before we ever see a highway built across northern Maine - if ever. Maine will never twin the Air Line.

Totally speculating, but I suspect Route 2 was routed the way it is because it saved on building a much longer bridge over Cambridge Narrows than the one they built with the current route. The topography around Sussex is a lot hillier too. Perhaps it just wasn't feasible to find a route north from there without having to move too many mountains.

[josh_cat_eyes]

So potential projects:
Highway 7:
Twinning full length
Realigning interchange with route 8
Highway 8:
Realigning northern end of princess Margret bridge
Extending controlled access highway through to Miramichi
2 Lane controlled access Northern Miramichi bypass
Highway 11:
Realigning interchange with route 15
Twinning through to Miramichi
2 lane controlled access highway from Caraquet to Tracadie-Shelia
Twinning Bathurst bypass
2 Lane controlled access highway from Bathurst to Caraquet
Highway 15:
Wheeler traffic light & traffic circle
Causeway/Traffic Circle
Twinning through to Cap-Pele
Extending 2 lane Controlled access highway through to Port Elgin
Third River Crossing

[Taeolas]

Considering how red northern NB is, I suspect turning the northern highways to controlled access routes will be a priority for most of the promised Infrastructure upgrades. Hopefully he won't push to twin them, but upgrading them will probably be announced next year or so.

On the other hand, with Freddy being mostly blue now, the Third Bridge and Route 8 reallignment will remain pipe dreams. (Then again the Route 8 Reallignment AND the Third Bridge would be in Horseman's riding so maybe that might happen, but not for many years I'm sure. ).

Well Third Bridge is barely a pipedream at this stage. We'll probably see a decision on Mactaquac long before the Third Bridge reaches the Tendering stage.

[Good2go]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

I'm still not entirely clear on what the reason behind twinning Route 1 to St Stephen was...

It was twinned in both directions.


Follow the money.

[MonctonRad]

Well, given the French/rural/northern face of the Liberal Party, I suspect very little of the infrastructure money will be spent on the English/urban/southern part of the province.

I expect twinning of 11 to Bouctouche to continue, as well as the realignment of the 11/15 interchange at Shediac. That's all in Gallant's backyard anyway.

There will definitely be upgrades to the remainder of 11 through to Bathurst, including making the route entirely limited access and adding passing lanes. The remainder of 11 through to Campbellton is limited access anyway (if I remember correctly).

Aside from the above, I imagine the rest of the magic billion (which will spring miraculously to life from thin air) will be spent on necessary upkeep of existing highways and bridge repair/replacement projects.

[Franco401]

My opinion on all of this:

Route 7: Twin the whole thing. We won't be able to use our 250-foot medians like we do on most divided highways in NB because of the Base, but a simple concrete divider should solve this. A new route from Geary to Welsford could be done if the economy magically gets better, but I'm not counting on it. Realign the Route 8 interchange, use roundabout on Route 8 since the speed limit will be shorter with the Smythe Roundabout anyway. Gives good access to College Hill Road, UNB/STU and the Hospital.

Route 8: Realigned PMB North interchange, controlled access at least to Doaktown, then to Miramichi, plus the Miramichi North Bypass.

Route 11: Twin to Richibucto, create a divided Super Two (like this section of Interstate 93 in NH) to Miramichi, as well as Route 8 to Bathurst.

Route 15: Controlled access to Port Elgin, plus 16 to the Bridge. Interchange at Wheeler and Lewisville Rd in Moncton.

In Freddy, Third Bridge (It won't be needed for at least 10 years and Gallant will probably be gone by then), freeway across Northside to Marysville Bypass, freeway from New Bridge (which IMO should run from the end of Ring Rd. to Prospect St. and Springhill Rd) to Route 8.

TOLLS: Reinstate tolls on Route 2, but west of Route 1, where it would make less money but cause less uproar than it did when the highway was built. Add tolls on Route 2 here for maximum efficiency. Tolls would also be an option on twinned Route 11.

That billion in Infrastructure ain't gonna pay for itself.