Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[CDL.TO]

I'm just like that, I'm all about consistency, categorization, and labelling, haha.

I think it's telling how your list doesn't include ease of navigation which, I think, is the actual #1 priority in a highway naming system.

 

[Transportfan]

In Canada, the provinces are responsible. Thus a numbering system like the USA won't happen, with the exception of the Trans-Canada highways which are labeled TCH... good enough for me.

And even the TCH in Western Canada where the number 1 is used across all four provinces, "roadgeeks" call it "BC Hwy. 1", "AB Hwy. 1" etc.

 

[Dan416]

I think it's telling how your list doesn't include ease of navigation which, I think, is the actual #1 priority in a highway naming system.

Very strange that you cut out the next part of his post which directly related to "ease of navigation".

I'm just like that, I'm all about consistency, categorization, and labelling, haha. I love the methodology and structure of the numbering of the US Interstate System. In a lot of ways it's like Manhattan's grid system: once you know how the system is numbered, finding your way is relatively consistent across the entire system. You know that if you're on I-481, that you're eventually going to end up back on I-81.

This speaks directly to "ease of navigation" as you say since it makes it...easy to navigate!

 

[CDL.TO]

Very strange that you cut out the next part of his post which directly related to "ease of navigation".

This speaks directly to "ease of navigation" as you say since it makes it...easy to navigate!

That's the thing. The argument makes some sense if we were redesigning the system as a whole. Instead obsessing about "categorization" would result in roads that frequently change names.

Knowing that following Hwy 6 will get you from Hamilton to Fergus is important. Renumbering sections so all those with medians are in the same "category" is not.

 

[Paolo]

And even the TCH in Western Canada where the number 1 is used across all four provinces, "roadgeeks" call it "BC Hwy. 1", "AB Hwy. 1" etc.

that wont work well out here, cus the tch is multiplexed with existing provincial hiways such as kings highway 7, and others so unless they build a new road, they can then call it TCH 1 / kings highway 1

 

[Transportfan]

That's not what I was saying. I was saying people still call the TCH in the West provincial highways despite all four provinces having a consistent number with TCH-only signage.

 

[BurlOak]

That's not what I was saying. I was saying people still call the TCH in the West provincial highways despite all four provinces having a consistent number with TCH-only signage.

The "Yellowhead" is also a Trans Canada and it share highway 16 across the 3 prairie provinces.

In Montreal, Highway 40 is called the "T-Can".

I agree that Canada essentially provides no funding so why change the existing numbering for just a few routes. Old habits die hard and I think people will still continue to use "old highway xx" instead of the new number.

 

[GTS]

I am fairly new to Ontario and for the first time I drove on the 400 highway to Barrie and back on the weekend. Alright highway except many of the overpasses are very old and not high enough. Hopefully these dangerously low overpasses are replaced with better ones soon. I could see on quite a few of these overpasses where overly high trucks have hit them. by the time this major highway got to Vaughn and Toronto the overpasses had much more clearances. Does anyone know if they are going to replace them?

 

[ShonTron]

The King Road overpass was recently replaced as part of a road widening and interchange modernization project. I was quite pleased that the Ontario Coat of Arms which adorn all the c1950 overpasses was incorporated into the new overpass.

I expect more overpasses will be replaced sooner or later, particuarly from Highway 9 south.

 

[adma]

The King Road overpass was recently replaced as part of a road widening and interchange modernization project. I was quite pleased that the Ontario Coat of Arms which adorn all the c1950 overpasses was incorporated into the new overpass.

Wow. Terrific.

(I wish they thought of that when they rebuilt the Highland Creek overpass a decade plus ago. Now, *there* was a needlessly clumsy replacement...)

 

[Haljackey]

I am fairly new to Ontario and for the first time I drove on the 400 highway to Barrie and back on the weekend. Alright highway except many of the overpasses are very old and not high enough. Hopefully these dangerously low overpasses are replaced with better ones soon. I could see on quite a few of these overpasses where overly high trucks have hit them. by the time this major highway got to Vaughn and Toronto the overpasses had much more clearances. Does anyone know if they are going to replace them?

The MTO is planning on widening Highway 400 to 10 lanes (8+2 HOV) up to Barrie. This will include replacing the overpasses which are old and in need of replacements anyway.

 

[Paolo]

The MTO is planning on widening Highway 400 to 10 lanes (8+2 HOV) up to Barrie. This will include replacing the overpasses which are old and in need of replacements anyway.

Its about time! just wondering how will the HOV lanes terminate to the south terminus? will they merge with the 401 east/west? those areas are already biggest bottle necks ever.

 

[ShonTron]

Ha! No, the MTO will build HOV lanes when they widen the road, which will likely turn into general traffic lanes when they hit the existing 8-10 lane section south of Major Mack.

 

[Markster]

Ha! No, the MTO will build HOV lanes when they widen the road, which will likely turn into general traffic lanes when they hit the existing 8-10 lane section south of Major Mack.

The MTO, in all of its flirting with HOV lanes, really knows how to put them in places where they have absolutely no effect!

Man, imagine if they put HOV lanes on the new Hurontario 401 strech! Carpools effectively would get a free pass through the crunch as it shrinks down at Mavis. Oh, but that's too useful, and might actually promote carpooling. Better add an HOV lane and a general widening to a rural stretch between Cambridge and Milton instead.

 

[Paolo]

the HOV lanes in the mississauga 403 corridor are a joke. i take the 403 to the 401 east every day. and vice-a-versa and those bloddy hov lanes are so useless. in the morning, people think they have the right to drive SLOWER in the morning on the 403 towards the 401, because they somehow think the hov lanes is the passing lane, yet because theyre slow, people are passing them in the right lane now which is dangerous, and every body waits for the hov lane to terminate into a normal lane at the 401 express ramp, everybody and their mother will cut into it once its a normal lane once again.

same goes for the westbound drive coming home, the 403 is rammed, people illegaly change into the hov lanes usually at the eastgate pkwy/cawathra bend or change from the hov into a live lane, they ALWAYS do it, there are never cops there to stop, then traffic in the LEFT LANE is suppost to be the fastest on the 403 west but ohh no, the idiots who are going 130-140 in the hov lane cut into the left live lane all the time and it makes the left lane slow to a crawl and speed up then slow, oh god its annoying. had they made the hov lane into a normal lane, this would be avoided, do u see how many people take the hov lane? one car here and there, its never full, that extra lane can ease congestion big time on the rest of the 3 live lanes. boy o boy they f'd up big time