Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[Haljackey]

Just put a ton of weight on it, what could go wrong?

 

[MisterF]

Given this crapshoot, I think it just put Northern Highway redundancy further up the highway expansion agenda. It's even more unfortunate because, like what was mentioned earlier, this is a section where 11 and 17 are co-signed.

The twinning doesn't need to be a full expressway (controlled access). Highway 11 from Gravenhurst to North Bay should be a good template. It has interchanges at major roads, but has a whole bunch of at-grade intersections at minor roads that don't, and probably will never, warrant an interchange.

Twinning all the way across northern Ontario is unnecessary. We're talking about 1800 km of highway. That's more than twice as long as the 401 to serve an area of less than a million people and costing many billions. To put it in perspective, every other comparable region in the world has only undivided highways. Sweden uses the 2+1 model. Twinning the sections where there are no alternatives makes sense, but for the rest it's overkill.

 

[W. K. Lis]

This was worse, in 1940. No lives lost.

 

[Catenary]

That was it and yes, it was a major problem because I was north of the bridge; we had to go through Quebec and their winter roads aren't so great; if I remember correctly, it added about 3 hours on a trip to Toronto or to Sudbury, both places I drove to frequently for work.

The Latchford bridge was also replaced by a temporary bailey bridge in about 15 days. The approaches on the temporary alignment are still noticeable today. In this case, a Bailey Bridge would be a bit trickier to implement.

 

[Transportfan]

It would have been interesting if Canada had an interprovincial expressway system like the interstate expressway system in the United States.

I'd be happy if Canada had a genuine interprovincial highway system period.

 

[PinkLucy]

The Latchford bridge was also replaced by a temporary bailey bridge in about 15 days. The approaches on the temporary alignment are still noticeable today. In this case, a Bailey Bridge would be a bit trickier to implement.

Yup, and that bridge was scary. I don't think all transports were allowed to use it. And the time with no bridge seemed longer than 15 days, let me tell you.

 

[BurlOak]

They filled in 2/3 of Montreal River with a causeway and built a single span Bailey Bridge in 14 or 15 days. Due to spring run-off concerns and pickerel spawning, a three span, 2 lane bridge was installed and the single lane Bailey removed another month later. That two lane bridge had some issues and it was often reduced to 1 lane.

 

[innsertnamehere]

new aerial images of the 407 Extension have been posted on the projects website, dated from December. The highway looks almost complete:

The new pavement meets the existing 407 (which badly needs to be repaved)

bridge structures approaching the Brock Road interchange:

The new 407 / 412 interchange:

The Lakeridge Road interchange:

Lakeridge road and how it interacts with the 412 interchange:

looking west from the 412 interchange towards Brooklin:

Coronation Road overpasses:

Westney Road overpass looking west:

The Sideline 14, Highway 7, and Brock Road bridges, looking southwest towards downtown:

The new Brock Road interchange. Note the new Park and Ride lot to the south of the interchange (top of the image), which includes a new bus terminal as well:

 

[BurlOak]

Interesting article from the north.

The Nipigon River Bridge ‘an architectural masterpiece & engineering nightmare’

It seems that the north is following up on this story. Amazing that the Wawa press is more responsible than that in Toronto.

 

[Haljackey]

Some new aerials from the 401 extension in Windsor:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/hgparkway/

 

[Wrenkin]

Interesting article from the north.

The Nipigon River Bridge ‘an architectural masterpiece & engineering nightmare’

It seems that the north is following up on this story. Amazing that the Wawa press is more responsible than that in Toronto.

Not really amazing. It's their bridge.

 

[innsertnamehere]

https://whitby.civicweb.net/FileSto...EE37FDD5D291-Memorandum - Brooklin Bypass.pdf
interesting little pdf I found.. Looks like MTO is working with Whitby council to realign Highway 12 around Brooklin. Prelimary study seems to indicate using Brawley Road to connect to Lakeridge and then use Lakeridge to move south. Its a needed move anyway, and could allow MTO to bring 12 down to the 401 again if they wanted.

 

[gweed123]

https://whitby.civicweb.net/FileStorage/C1FB396BC00E4E2EAE05EE37FDD5D291-Memorandum - Brooklin Bypass.pdf
interesting little pdf I found.. Looks like MTO is working with Whitby council to realign Highway 12 around Brooklin. Prelimary study seems to indicate using Brawley Road to connect to Lakeridge and then use Lakeridge to move south. Its a needed move anyway, and could allow MTO to bring 12 down to the 401 again if they wanted.

They could even theoretically do something similar to what they did at the end of the 410, where it veers sideways and connects to 10. A seamless 12 to 412 would be pretty useful.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I really wish Ontario would change their 400 series of highway signs to something more pleasing to look at.

Compared to the US' Interstate signs, I find them much more better.

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

or just use a different colour between the 400 series and highways (i.e. 7, 12, etc). Why are all the highway and expressway symbols in Ontario black and white?