Canadian Highway Fantasy Thread

[micheal_can]

Who said anything about 4-laning?

AB/SK/MB all have most of highway 1 4 laned. Once it is decided the route of 4 laning between North Bay and Nipigon, that will determine which way most cross Canada traffic will travel. Till then, picking a main ON E/W route is pointless as the existing 17 and 11 are used for that. Adding one more won't make much of a difference to most people.

Another way to look at it is between Windsor and Ottawa there are many highways that more or less are about the same distance. Most traffic still use the divided highway route.

 

[Railrunner]

General question here, what is the future of Highway 26, adding lanes, speed limit increases (currently mostly 80km/h) to match the speed limit increases on 400 series highways we have seen?

 

[lenaitch]

General question here, what is the future of Highway 26, adding lanes, speed limit increases (currently mostly 80km/h) to match the speed limit increases on 400 series highways we have seen?

Others more closely connected to the machinations of the MTO but I'm not aware of much of anything since the Transportation Study in 2015 and the 4-laning between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood. That section was expedited because of the serious collision rate on the old alignment.

https://solutions.ca/BlueMountainsPIC2/resources/report.pdf

As far as can recall the speed limit on the divided portion 90 and I wouldn't expect that to increase. The only recent policy change is on the 400 series and divided Hwy 11 from 100 to 110. I don't recall any speed changes on 90kph highways. In this instance, it would be fairly pointless since, including the 'cool down' zones approaching the traffic circles, the 90kph sections are quite short.

 

[MuzikMachine]

The only reason it isn't the primary route traffic takes is because it hasn't been upgraded to provincial standards and designated a highway. It has been something many politicians and agencies have asked for but obviously if more traffic takes that route because it is more desirable, less traffic is taking the other route. Sault Ste Marie is Canada's Breezewood Pennsylvania for transportation efficiency and that is before winter closures on Highway 17 are factored in.

Sault Ste Marie (pop 73,000) isn't even the comparable to Breezewood, PA (pop 1000) on Highway 17, that might go to Mattawa. I think from a non-commercial transport perspective, Sault Ste Marie probably provides important tourist services that would otherwise be pretty sparse between Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The funds needed to improve the bypass via Sultan could be better used to have Hwy 17 twinned between Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury.

I was also say the true Breezewood, PA comparable in Canada (without the chain restaurants and traffic signals) is Chamberlain, SK, where SK-11 narrows to 2 lanes between Regina and Saskatoon so it can go through town.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Breezewood is a local oddity of American politics - there isn't a "canadian" version of it at all.

A Sault Ste Marie bypass is probably the lowest hanging fruit on the Trans Canada in terms of travel time savings, but Muzik is right in that many will probably be stopping for services in Sault Ste Marie anyway so it's a bit of a moot point.. but not everyone would.

 

[lenaitch]

Breezewood is a local oddity of American politics - there isn't a "canadian" version of it at all.

A Sault Ste Marie bypass is probably the lowest hanging fruit on the Trans Canada in terms of travel time savings, but Muzik is right in that many will probably be stopping for services in Sault Ste Marie anyway so it's a bit of a moot point.. but not everyone would.

One problem with a SSM bypass is land ownership to the east. The 'Garden River bypass' took years to negotiate and there is a reason it returned back to Hwy 17 instead of continuing west to 2nd Line East, or even 3rd or 4th Line East.

 

[lenaitch]

We have had a number of bottlenecks in primary or 'only' routes; A-20 through Dorion, A-85 towards New Brunswick, even Huronchurch Rd. All being solved, some slowly, but I can't think of anything that approaches the Coney Island at Breezewood.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Sault Ste Marie is the only real oddity with no real plans to fix. Well, outside of BC, which is chock full of in-town highway stretches with 0 plans to bypass.

Two of the three you listed will be fixed by the end of 2025. The other has long-range plans for fixing.

 

[lenaitch]

Sault Ste Marie is the only real oddity with no real plans to fix. Well, outside of BC, which is chock full of in-town highway stretches with 0 plans to bypass.

Two of the three you listed will be fixed by the end of 2025. The other has long-range plans for fixing.

The A-20 Dorion problem was solved (at least for my travels eastward) by A-30 to the south shore. It seems Quebec will expand A-85 as fast as the feds will give Quebec money.

I used to live near the Soo. For all that it and isn't, the current 'bypass' works. For long haul commercial traffic, there are few food/fuel options either north and east of the city for significant distances so, as mentioned, many stop anyway. People often forget that, absent local traffic, the AADT for Hwy 17 is not quite 2000 (2019, Montreal River Bridge reference).

 

[innsertnamehere]

A-85 is fully under construction at this point and scheduled for completion next year, FYI.

 

[2323]

General question here, what is the future of Highway 26, adding lanes, speed limit increases (currently mostly 80km/h) to match the speed limit increases on 400 series highways we have seen?

I take this highway relativley often in the winter. One thing it needs is a proper Stayner bypass. They installed a traffic signal at CR-96 to help people turn onto the current "bypass" but you still need to turn 3 times to get around. Ideally, 26 itself should be rerouted around and replace the little mess of backroads there. IIRC a Collingwood bypass was studied at some point, not sure if it was ever found to be worth it. As for the eastern Simcoe section, CR-90 is already (mostly) four laned (via CR-10) and often a much faster route towards Barrie than staying on the meandering 26 via Midhurst.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Right now my understanding is that MTO plans to eventually 4-lane 26, but construct a Stayner and Collingwood by-pass as well sort of how @2323 has sketched it.

The Collingwood Bypass was initially thought to reconnect to 26 around Blue Mountian, but MTO realized it probably really needs to be an entirely new alignment up the Niagara Escarpment and all the way past Thornbury.. which is a big project with significant environmental impacts. I think they've sort of put it on the backburner as a result.

More immediately I suspect we'll see a Stayner bypass constructed and 26 widened to 4 lanes down to the 400.

Personally I think the corridor is a good candidate for a new 400-series highway.. but that doesn't seem to be in MTO's cards. There are honestly so many roads projects overdue in Ontario too that I'm not sure how high any work on 26 is in MTO's priority lists. They are more focused on other front burning projects like Ford's political priorities (Bradford Bypass, 413), the 400 Widening which still languishes without full funding, ramping up to widen the 401 to Kitchener, etc.

 

[2323]

The Collingwood Bypass was initially thought to reconnect to 26 around Blue Mountian, but MTO realized it probably really needs to be an entirely new alignment up the Niagara Escarpment and all the way past Thornbury.. which is a big project with significant environmental impacts. I think they've sort of put it on the backburner as a result.

Oh wow. I knew there was a good reason why it got put on the backburner, but I didn't realize that it would be so massive in scope. That would probably only realistically be done if the 426 was built. At that point, you're already halfway to Owen Sound, and it's probably just worth it to realign the entire highway to bypass the remaining few towns.

More immediately I suspect we'll see a Stayner bypass constructed and 26 widened to 4 lanes down to the 400.

I suspect something along the lines of Hwy 3 in Essex. Although, the real bottleneck here is the interchange with the 400.

 

[MuzikMachine]

Sault Ste Marie (pop 73,000) isn't even the comparable to Breezewood, PA (pop 1000) on Highway 17, that might go to Mattawa. I think from a non-commercial transport perspective, Sault Ste Marie probably provides important tourist services that would otherwise be pretty sparse between Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The funds needed to improve the bypass via Sultan could be better used to have Hwy 17 twinned between Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury.

I was also say the true Breezewood, PA comparable in Canada (without the chain restaurants and traffic signals) is Chamberlain, SK, where SK-11 narrows to 2 lanes between Regina and Saskatoon so it can go through town.

Breezewood is a local oddity of American politics - there isn't a "canadian" version of it at all.

A Sault Ste Marie bypass is probably the lowest hanging fruit on the Trans Canada in terms of travel time savings, but Muzik is right in that many will probably be stopping for services in Sault Ste Marie anyway so it's a bit of a moot point.. but not everyone would.

I should clarify that the "bypass" I initially referenced was the series of highway upgrades that significantly bypassed SSM by 100+ km. A more traditional bypass on the edge of town would probably still be needed.

 

[crimson_moon]

Bypass Fantasy For North Bay and Timmins

Since getting through Timmins and North Bay is a time consuming and annoying process what if there’s a bypass for both. For North Bay it connects Northern Highway 11 to Highway 17 West and East of it. For Timmins and Porcupine it passes by it avoiding the hell that is downtown Timmins.