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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

I would be really curious to see whether many people would start driving 140 if Ontario limits are raised to 120.
 
I'm not a traffic engineer but one problem I see with raising the speed limit too high is the differential between vehicles, particularly where this is only 2 lanes in each direction, and perhaps their chosen test sites are a good mix. 402 and 417 are only 2 lanes per; if I recall correctly QEW is three. Neither 402 or QEW deal in significant grades (can't speak for 417) which can be a big issue with large trucks. With only 2 lanes, the differential between somebody travelling 120, 130, 140 mixed in with vehicles doing significantly less (particularly if mandated lower limits for trucks) could be a problem. Once you get into areas where there are no other reasonable alternatives, such as the north, higher speeds get mixed in with transports, cars towing trailers and cautious locals, and many areas have noticeable grades.
Establishing widespread variable speed networks would likely be very costly. Although photo radar has a lousy 'fishing hole' history in Ontario, but might be a reasonable option to accompany higher limits.
 
brainfreezed said:
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,
Click to expand...
I can't speak for the UAE, but for the Netherlands and other European nations, (Germany has no set limit on some autobahn), the ability of drivers appears to be much greater than Ontario. And by 'ability' I mean that it's rare (but not unheard of) for drivers to abuse the rules of the road. That being said, Germany's non-regulated autobahns show a higher accident rate. Note the term "rate" and not "degree" of accident or the consequences. Roundabouts also show a high degree of accidents, but the injury and damage rate is a fraction of lighted intersections.
Btw: The poll linked in article is in German
[...]
A recent poll by YouGov found that 56% of the German public is now in favor of a nationwide speed limit of 150 km/h (93 miles per hour) on German highways. Forty-eight percent believed a nationwide speed limit would make the Autobahn safer—but 45% percent disagreed.

When the upper limit was suggested at 130 km/h or 100 km/h, the level of support dropped. Only 11% of Germans would be in favor of implementing a speed limit similar to the UK’s, which is 112 km/h, while 40% of respondents were interested in implementing France’s current limit of 130.
[...]
Road deaths on highways have been steadily decreasing across Germany, but are still higher when compared to France and the UK. This could be simply down to the differences in standards of driving, number of highways, or quality vehicles between these countries—but of the 645 road deaths on German highways in 2006, the ETSC found 67% of these deaths occurred on motorway sections without speed limits. [...]
Click to expand...
https://qz.com/525160/the-autobahn-doesnt-have-speed-limits-germans-think-its-time-to-change-that/
 
Neutrino said:
I would be really curious to see whether many people would start driving 140 if Ontario limits are raised to 120.
Click to expand...
In BC, the highway on which they raised speed limit to 120 (BC 5) did not see any increase in traffic speed. The 85th percentile of traffic was still moving at around 125. Having driven on that highway myself, I did not see anyone exceeding 130.
 
On a different note regarding 401 expansion from Credit river to Regional road 25, why is the highway being expanded to only 10 lanes for a 2-odd km distance between Winston Churchill Blvd and 401-407 interchange? While it is planned to be a 12-lane express collector on both ends of this section. I don't a reason why traffic will be lower in this section. There is no highway taking away traffic from 401 in that section like 409 does.
 
Deadpool X said:
On a different note regarding 401 expansion from Credit river to Regional road 25, why is the highway being expanded to only 10 lanes for a 2-odd km distance between Winston Churchill Blvd and 401-407 interchange?
Click to expand...

Because some bozos didn't have the foresight to make the overpasses long enough on Winston Churchill and 407ETR to accomidate a collector-express system on the 401.

These are 'relatively' new overpasses. You'd think they would have learned from the 401-427 junction but nope.
 
Haljackey said:
Because some bozos didn't have the foresight to make the overpasses long enough on Winston Churchill and 407ETR to accomidate a collector-express system on the 401.

These are 'relatively' new overpasses. You'd think they would have learned from the 401-427 junction but nope.
Click to expand...
To be fair the AADT on the highway does actually drop noticeably along that stretch of the highway. A lot of vehicles coming from Milton get off at the 407 and that traffic isn't picked up again until Winston Churchill. AADT is 132,000 between Winston Churchill and the 407, while it is 149,000 between the 407 and Trafalgar. I imagine the stretch of highway directly underneath the 407 between the two sets of 407 ramps is even lower.
 
A surprisingly differing opinion from the Ford estate at the National Post:
Lorraine Explains: Raising speed limits isn't a clear-cut solution
[...]
Be careful what you wish for
When British Columbia raised their speed limits up to 120 km/h on 1,500 kilometres of their highways in 2014, all of the above arguments carried the day. By 2016, they rolled back a third of them. Why? This study found following the bump to the higher limits was a 118-per-cent increase in fatalities, a 43-per-cent increase in insurance claims, and a 30-per-cent jump in injuries. Higher speeds result in more damage than the same collison at lower speeds.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a study last month showing raised speed limits in the U.S “have cost nearly 37,000 lives, including more than 1,900 in 2017 alone.” It was during the OPEC crisis in the mid-1970s that speed limits were restricted in an aim to conserve fuel.

“Today, 41 states have maximum speed limits of 70 mph [112 km/r] or higher,” the study read. “Six states have 80 mph [129 km/hr] limits, and drivers in Texas can legally drive 85 mph [137 km/hr] on some roads.” That Texas toll road, by the way — highway 130, with the 85 mph rating — is also one of its most deadly. Why does it need to be that fast? Seems the Texas Department of Transportation took US$100 million from the private toll company to get the rating. Here enters the politics, and the public should be wary of motivations.
[...]
Click to expand...
https://driving.ca/column/lorraine/lorraine-explains-raising-speed-limits-isnt-a-clear-cut-solution
 
^
steveintoronto said:
A surprisingly differing opinion from the Ford estate at the National Post:
Click to expand...
And remarkably similar in today's Globe:
[...]
On the question of safety, the Minister responded to the undeniable fact that higher speeds raise the risk of fatalities – speed caused 83 of the 483 fatalities on Ontario’s highways in 2016, according to Ministry statistics – by emphasizing that the proposed increase is a minor one. “We’re not going to become the Autobahn,” Mr. Yurek said.

No, we are certainly not. But if the province is considering boosting highway speeds, a look to the land of the Autobahn wouldn’t hurt. Advocates for higher highways speeds often point to Germany as evidence that speed and safety are compatible: after all, fewer people die on German roads (4.1 per 100,000 in 2016 according to the WHO) – where vast stretches of the Autobahn have only an “advisory” limit of 130 km/h - than on Canadian ones (5.8 per 100,000).

But having had the dubious pleasure of getting a driver’s license in both Ontario and Germany, I would argue that the differences in driving culture between the two places run deep. Ontario’s certification felt like a beach holiday compared with the north-face ascent that is the German driver’s test.

From my first encounter with a German driving instructor – who wouldn’t allow me behind the wheel because I was wearing sandals – to the written test, which probed my knowledge of everything from brake booster mechanics to reaction times under varying conditions – to the practical test, which I nearly failed for not doing a shoulder check for cyclists at every right turn, it was a qualitatively different experience. As was driving on German highways, where – unlike in Ontario, drivers pass each other willy-nilly – passing a car on the right is a traffic offence that carries a fine of €100 ($150) and one demerit point.

The main takeaway from the land of the Autobahn is not speed, but driver education, enforcement and environmental performance. Owing to increasingly ambitious emissions standards for its vehicles and a growing number of municipalities that limit or ban higher-emitting ones, auto-loving Germany produces 40 per cent less carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion per capita than Canada, according to World Bank figures from 2014.[...]
Click to expand...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-whos-doug-ford-trying-to-please/
 
darth_freeman said:
Couldn't find this posted here yet but the QEW/Credit River bridge twinning project between Mississauga Rd and Hurontario St will now be an Infrastructure Ontario Design-Build project: https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/QEW-Credit-River-Bridge-Project/

Hopefully this gets the HOV extension to 427 moving as traffic is brutal through Mississauga.

Preliminary Design drawings/info can be found here: http://www.qewcreditriver.ca/Documents.html
Click to expand...
I'm confused by this - I thought that construction had already begun on this?
 
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