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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

Ontario government says the pilot project areas where speed limit will rise to 110 km/h are Hwy. 402 between London and Sarnia, QEW between St. Catharines and Hamilton, Hwy. 417 between Ottawa and the Quebec border.
 
tiffer24 said:
Ontario government says the pilot project areas where speed limit will rise to 110 km/h are Hwy. 402 between London and Sarnia, QEW between St. Catharines and Hamilton, Hwy. 417 between Ottawa and the Quebec border.
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Interesting combination. 402 has high truck density (I don't think as high as the western 401), relatively straight and level but sees some nasty winter weather. QEW can get really high volumes by times. I don't know much about 417 other than it probably has a significant concentration of Montreal drivers o_O
I see they are thinking of adding a northern test stretch. I would be interesting to see which one if they choose; Hwy 11 south of North Bay and the 400 section south of Sudbury are the only two that I can think of that are grade-separated. I still think full paved shoulders is an important element for any higher speeds but I might be alone on this.
I doubt we will see other items such as variable limits, photo radar, at least not at this point
 
lenaitch said:
Interesting combination. 402 has high truck density (I don't think as high as the western 401), relatively straight and level but sees some nasty winter weather. QEW can get really high volumes by times. I don't know much about 417 other than it probably has a significant concentration of Montreal drivers o_O
I see they are thinking of adding a northern test stretch. I would be interesting to see which one if they choose; Hwy 11 south of North Bay and the 400 section south of Sudbury are the only two that I can think of that are grade-separated. I still think full paved shoulders is an important element for any higher speeds but I might be alone on this.
I doubt we will see other items such as variable limits, photo radar, at least not at this point
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17 heading west from Sudbury is a freeway for about 30km as well.

The northern pilot also may just be raising the speed limit to 100km/h on 11/17 outside of Thunder Bay, which is a similar highway to Highway 11 north of Gravenhurst, but has a 90 limit.
 
I think one of the issues with many of the divided highways in the north is that they still have level intersections and, in many cases, are the only routes, which introduces the potential for greater speed conflicts. Going to 110 seems like a bridge too far. The divided sections east of The Soo and west of Sudbury might be too short for a proper test.
 
lenaitch said:
I think one of the issues with many of the divided highways in the north is that they still have level intersections and, in many cases, are the only routes, which introduces the potential for greater speed conflicts. Going to 110 seems like a bridge too far. The divided sections east of The Soo and west of Sudbury might be too short for a proper test.
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Saskatchewan's stretch of Highway 1 is full of those intersection and allows 110 km/h. In Alberta, there's a few at-grade crossings on Highway 2 with 110 km/h. That highway is way busier than another in Northern Ontario
 
TransitBart said:
120 would be realistic. But since I am wired to drive 20 over the limit on the 400 series, do I want people driving at 140 km / h?
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I share that concern.

Deadpool X said:
You are wired to drive 20 over the limit because 100 feels slow. You may not have the same feeling when the limit is 120.
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On a recent drive to London, Ontario, the low traffic volumes and long straight highway made 120 feel slow ?
 
Deadpool X said:
You are wired to drive 20 over the limit because 100 feels slow. You may not have the same feeling when the limit is 120.
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I think engineering studies have found that you (or at least the 85th percentile) drive at the safe speed for which the road was designed.
 
In my experience, on highways where the speed limit is 120-130, you rarely see traffic speeding, or even hitting the limit. I've noticed this most recently in the Netherlands, and in the UAE, where on a 120 km/h highway, it was rare to see anyone exceed it, and many people drove slower at 100-110 km/h. Both locations have speed radar, which I imagine does a good job of enforcing speeds. A speeding ticket I got mailed from the Netherlands clocked me doing 84 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. Aside from having to pay the fine, I was more impressed at the efficiency of the system, and I'm definitely going to watch my speeds the next time I'm driving there.

I believe the MTO designs modern 400-series highways with a 130 km/h design speed, which means people are comfortable driving at 110-120. I generally support a 120 km/h (though I personally drive around 100, because otherwise your mostly wasting fuel) mainly because I like laws to be in line with what most people do. However I would also love to see photo radar that would automatically ticket anyone that hits maybe 125 km/h. That would also free up expensive and important police resources.

Other things I've seen are lower speed limits for trucks, adjustable speed limits, and narrower passing lanes (3ish metre lanes restricted to vehicles max 2 m wide, tended to keep the left passing lane clear). I think in Ontario, keeping the speed limits at 100 km/h for trucks is reasonable (they're already governed at 110 km/h), and having adjustable speed limits makes sense, especially for the type of weather we get sometimes, and if there's construction, or emergency lane reductions.

My thoughts
 
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