Crosstown 401 photo tour

[wyliepoon]

I had the opportunity to drive much of the way across the GTA along the 401. My good friend miketoronto tagged along and took some photos of the roadside scenery...

Samsung Canada in Mississauga

Apartment slabs at Antrim Court (Kennedy Road in Scarborough)

Scarborough Centre

Tuxedo Court (Markham Road in Scarborough)

Bonus photos

Neilson Road and Military Trail

Ellesmere Road, west of Neilson Road

 

[tayser]

I can't wait to go to Toronto. I'm going to hire a car and drive down the 401. Just so I can go home and say that I drove down a 16 lane freeway on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Copper1212]

Awww the 401, the only highway I know that can bring an experienced driver to their knees...so has been my experience with jittery out-of-towners anyway. No talking allowed, turn the radio off. Funny stuff.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

Nice photos. Thanks.

 

[tayser]

Awww the 401, the only highway I know that can bring an experienced driver to their knees...so has been my experience with jittery out-of-towners anyway. No talking allowed, turn the radio off. Funny stuff.

I don't particularly like driving, but I reckon I'd have a ball fangen down both the express and collector lanes. Any permanent speed-cameras along there?

 

[unimaginative2]

Haha...not in Ontario, the land of lax speed enforcement! We used to have photo radar, but we got rid of it. Sure, there's a chance you might get pulled over, but chances are another guy will be going faster than you.

 

[billy corgan]

My in-laws panic when the enter Toronto on the 401. The radio goes off, they stick in the middle lane and no one in the car is allowed to talk. Sometimes they can’t take it and they pull off in Pickering and take the GO train in when they visit us.

 

[marcus_a_j]

I've never had a problem driving on the 401. It might be intimidating for out-of-towners but not as bad as other freeways like I-90/94 through Chicago or anything in Montreal.

 

[aofe11]

I would think any Toronto driver should have no problems with the 401. Most times top speed is only 80 km/hr. I can think of a few spots where you need to change many lanes that could be tough. Like the Westbound 401 express to get off at Dixie or 410 North requires a 6-7 lane change in about 1 km.

 

[interchange42]

Somehow you two missed getting a picture of the enchanting* MapArt design offices when you were entranced by the core/collector split near Kipling.

42

*caution: building not actually enchanting, hallucinogens required

 

[MisterF]

The 401 works just like any other freeway when it comes down to it, it's just bigger and busier. I find older people have more problems with it. When I first got my licence my mom would go into a panic every time I drove to Toronto lol.

 

[doady]

This is interesting, I never realized some people have problems driving on the 401. I always thought it the same as other highways.

 

[gbelan]

the only difficulty i find with the 401 is the endless traffic.

 

[Hydrogen]

Once in a while I'll go a few days without shaving, borrow a friend's rusted-out beater-box of car, don a black eye patch and wrap a bandana around my head and then go for a slalom through the express lanes with my head out the window screaming at the top of my lungs. That's when you can really separate the locals from the visitors.

 

[ShonTron]

After driving in California, I am thankful for MTO's long acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes and good signage. CalTran's signage isn't bad, but there's no acceleration lanes at all - something that lacks in a lot of US Interstates. A lot of lanes in CA also end on the left. Plus busy freeways like Santa Monica, Hollywood, etc, don't have the express/collector setup that brings some sanity to the 401 by reducing the weaving. The famous CHiPs were hardly to be found (their cars look a lot like the new OPP scheme), and even there, the carpool lanes were badly enforced.

In rural areas, I find drivers are very good at merging to the left and letting cars in, and that is all over, but US drivers are if anything, more likely to speed on the highways.

Though I always hated going westbound 401 through the 427 and having to cut across all those lanes to get to northbound 410, which unlike the 403, doesn't have access from the express lanes.