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Roads: GTA West Corridor—Highway 413

How long until Brampton hits the million mark in population?
At least a few decades, it seems.
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There is absolutely nothing practical in any way, shape, or form about a 100m ROW at-grade quasi-highway boulevard with high density residential development flanking it on both sides. That would be comparable to living directly on a 400-series highway and such a thing would never get past an environmental assessment, let alone be allowed by the province as a replacement for that segment of the 413. At least with a highway corridor, you can sink the highway below grade, use earthen mound noise barriers, and surround it with green space or industrial/office parks, while densifying the rest of the area to make up for the lost residential space.

I also love how this plan is supposed to be a more "progressive" option than the previous iteration of the plan, despite the fact that most of the land remains dedicated to low density housing.
 
I don't think the mere width of the ROW is as much of a problem for pedestrian crossing as the large number suggests. Most of crossing is over sidewalks, bike lanes, street parking, low speed local roads and BRT lanes which is relatively low stress for pedestrians. The bigger problem are the 8 lanes of traffic. Recall that crossing just 30m of Toronto suburban ROW can be harrowing because of the wide, high speed lanes. I think the boulevard proposal is much more viable if both truck lanes and one traffic lane in each direction are cut. Crossing four narrower lanes (3m) in two stages is quite palatable. On top of that, one row of parking on each side can be eliminated, and the access roads made one way + narrowed.
 
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a 6 lane arterial would never have the capacity to handle the projected traffic load. I'd be surprised if an 8 lane arterial could, to be honest.

The whole thing is just poorly planned. If you want more pedestrian friendly crossings of the highway corridor, push for bridges like they have in Windsor over the 401 or something.
 
^ Brampton staff have said that the boulevard could move a similar volume of traffic just at slightly lower speeds. Also, the argue that the boulevard proposal provides more at-grade choices for traffic to use through its grid pattern. In the Heritage Heights Study area, only two interchanges were proposed for the GTA West.

I believe this is a similar argument to the one City of Toronto staff made for the Gardiner East choice.
 
a 6 lane arterial would never have the capacity to handle the projected traffic load. I'd be surprised if an 8 lane arterial could, to be honest.

The whole thing is just poorly planned. If you want more pedestrian friendly crossings of the highway corridor, push for bridges like they have in Windsor over the 401 or something.

Those overbuilt crossings in Windsor were a waste of money, considering it's only the fringes of Windsor. I think they were a bone thrown at Nimbys who opposed the extension outright.
 
^ Brampton staff have said that the boulevard could move a similar volume of traffic just at slightly lower speeds. Also, the argue that the boulevard proposal provides more at-grade choices for traffic to use through its grid pattern. In the Heritage Heights Study area, only two interchanges were proposed for the GTA West.

I believe this is a similar argument to the one City of Toronto staff made for the Gardiner East choice.
I doubt an 8 lane arterial could handle 100,000+ vehicles a day. Plus it wouldn't have long term potential for widening to handle traffic volumes beyond the planning horizon.

Those minor travel delays for through traffic would be offset by savings by local traffic - but I get the feeling that the amount of time lost by the through traffic would dwarf the time gains of the easier access to the area development.

It also has the potential to set off further negative externalities - like reducing the amount of through traffic using the roadway to bypass the more central part of the GTA. Those time penalties means that many vehicles would continue on the 401 through central Toronto to the 400 or 427 now, instead of using the bypass as intended.

The whole scheme just reeks of a local-focused plan which forgets about the regional implications in exchange for a few marginal improvements on the local level.
 
The amount of traffic lights in that city, makes me want to bang my head into a wall. These stupid morons at city hall only care about building goddamn houses and give no shits about its clogged up road network.

This plan the city is moving forward with defeats the whole purpose of this highway, and it pisses me off.

let me know what you think.
 
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