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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

The thing about this article is that it doesn't discuss that much about the traffic effects or transit implications, instead focusing on the effects to neighborhoods, and especially downtowns, of those cities. In that regard, the only highway that's guilty of those effects is the Allen, and I don't think "fixing it" is worth the money it would take to deck over. The DVP is tucked away in the valley, and there were never any neighborhoods south of the Gardiner downtown. Of course, that doesn't mean that the Gardiner shouldn't be torn down, simply due to maintenance cost and accessibility to the waterfront, but the article's reasons aren't quite the same as the ones in Toronto. Plus we'd have to deck over the USRC for any of the waterfront benefits to really present themselves.
 
@Northern Light isn't wrong, at least based on 2010 data:


Richmond ramp handled 40% of DVP southbound volume.

The Gardiner/DVP is basically a highway analogue of the YUS. Anyways, I think the Gardiner East (Phase 1 of the overall plan) is worth $300M.


AoD

.


Refer to p. 17.

View attachment 323079

18% of SB traffic on the DVP goes to the WB Gardiner in the AM Peak. (through traffic)

35% exits at one of DT off-ramps

40% exits at Richmond.

*****

In PM peak, only 14% of traffic from Gardiner EB flows to the DVP.

That is statistically insignificant and easily absorbable by LSB.
You've both been intentionally misled by groups like Waterfront Toronto when they use Origin/Destination statistics. Refer to my attachment (Insert B) to grasp just how much traffic the DVP and Gardiner carry in the average day.

The Gardiner (12 years ago) carries over 80,000 vehicles per direction (160,000 total) west of Bathurst. So while 14% of SB DVP traffic carries through the Gardiner west of Downtown, many more hop on the Gardiner on-ramps in that stretch. 14% + 10% + 25% = 49% take the DVP to Gardiner WB ramp, which is what people wanted to convert to a Boulevard.

In PM peak, 14% of Gardiner EB flows to DVP. But wait a minute, this section has over 110,000 vehicles per day. Waterfront Toronto conveniently ignores all traffic using the Gardiner EB on-ramps downtown when trying to justify its removal.

The busiest sections of Lake Shore Boulevard can only accommodate about 40,000 vehicles per day and they are at capacity.

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Attachments

  • Toronto Traffic Volumes.pdf
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You've both been intentionally misled by groups like Waterfront Toronto when they use Origin/Destination statistics. Refer to my attachment (Insert B) to grasp just how much traffic the DVP and Gardiner carry in the average day.

The Gardiner (12 years ago) carries over 80,000 vehicles per direction (160,000 total) west of Bathurst. So while 14% of SB DVP traffic carries through the Gardiner west of Downtown, many more hop on the Gardiner on-ramps in that stretch. 14% + 10% + 25% = 49% take the DVP to Gardiner WB ramp, which is what people wanted to convert to a Boulevard.

In PM peak, 14% of Gardiner EB flows to DVP. But wait a minute, this section has over 110,000 vehicles per day. Waterfront Toronto conveniently ignores all traffic using the Gardiner EB on-ramps downtown when trying to justify its removal.

The busiest sections of Lake Shore Boulevard can only accommodate about 40,000 vehicles per day and they are at capacity.

View attachment 323394

I haven't been mislead by anyone.

I know exactly what I'm reading, thank you.

The discussion here was not about turning the Gardiner at Bay Street into a boulevard.

The discussion was about turning the Gardiner at points east of Jarvis into a boulevard.

Nothing you stated changes the traffic volumes I indicated over the applicable section.

Lakeshore blvd is NOT at capacity in the applicable section either.
 
How cheap.

3x shorter than the 413, yet allegedly 1/6th the price?

Methinks the numbers people are throwing around for the 413 are a bit inflated.

Or the bypass is low.

Neither has gone to tender; and Ontario has a history of projects ending up costing more than the winning bid too.
 
Or the bypass is low.

Neither has gone to tender; and Ontario has a history of projects ending up costing more than the winning bid too.
The bypass is the only number that was dropped by the province. The number for the 413 is just online speculation. I trust the government a lot more than op-eds from thestar.
 
The bypass is the only number that was dropped by the province. The number for the 413 is just online speculation. I trust the government a lot more than op-eds from thestar.

Given that this government has proven to be untrustworthy and inaccurate on multiple occasions, that seems like an odd choice.
 
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Or the bypass is low.

Neither has gone to tender; and Ontario has a history of projects ending up costing more than the winning bid too.
$50 million /km is very reasonable for the Bradford Bypass. MTO is building the Highway 400 extension for about $12 million/km (source).

Bradford bypass will be a similar project as a 4 lane rural cross section, but with two freeway-freeway interchanges, which will increase costs a bit.

MTO built the 404 extension for $99 million in 2014. That's as little as $8m/km! But that extenion only featured one actual interchange and a handful of new structures so it's about as cheap as it gets.

The 413 would be similar, it's mostly a 4 lane rural cross section as proposed with a small section of 6 lanes from the 427 to 400. It does have 4 freeway-freeway interchanges though, but two are greenfield (not connecting to an existing highway) which make them cheaper. The biggest cost will likely be the 401 interchange which will have to be quite complex to fit into the existing interchange there.

Land costs are of course more significant too, especially for the 413 which runs through a lot of designated development areas which means land values will be high. The Bradford Bypass mostly runs through areas that aren't designated for development, which keeps land values down.

Going off of MTO's experience with the 401 extension, which saw about 65km of freeway constructed for about $4 billion, including 5 freeway-freeway interchanges, I imagine the 413 will be in the $3-4 billion range to construct. Much of which may be able to be financed by tolls like the 407 east, which means the "debt" load placed on the province will likely be closer to $1-2 billion.
 
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How cheap.

3x shorter than the 413, yet allegedly 1/6th the price?

Methinks the numbers people are throwing around for the 413 are a bit inflated.
I thought that they'd acquired the land for the Bradford bypass years ago. So not in the costs, which is probably just construction.

413 would include land acquisition, and who knows what planning and design costs. Plus much further in the future, so it could include cost escalation as well.
 
$50 million /km is very reasonable for the Bradford Bypass. MTO is building the Highway 400 extension for about $12 million/km (source).

Bradford bypass will be a similar project as a 4 lane rural cross section, but with two freeway-freeway interchanges, which will increase costs a bit.

MTO built the 404 extension for $99 million in 2014. That's as little as $8m/km! But that extenion only featured one actual interchange and a handful of new structures so it's about as cheap as it gets.

The 413 would be similar, it's mostly a 4 lane rural cross section as proposed with a small section of 6 lanes from the 427 to 400. It does have 4 freeway-freeway interchanges though, but two are greenfield (not connecting to an existing highway) which make them cheaper. The biggest cost will likely be the 401 interchange which will have to be quite complex to fit into the existing interchange there.

Land costs are of course more significant too, especially for the 413 which runs through a lot of designated development areas which means land values will be high.

Going off of MTO's experience with the 401 extension, which saw about 65km of freeway constructed for about $4 billion, including 5 freeway-freeway interchanges, I imagine the 413 will be in the $3-4 billion range to construct. Much of which may be able to be financed by tolls like the 407 east.

It was already estimated to be in the 5B range back in 2011 (Option 4-2):


AoD
 
That includes all projects involved in Option 4-2 scope, which includes widening Highway 401 from Milton to the 410, Widening the 400 to 12 lanes, widening the 410, widening the 407, etc.

using the cost units identified in the report for cost estimating, it would be about $2.5 billion for the 413 itself in 2010 dollars (assumes $14.5m/km for 4 lane freeway, $19m/km for 6 lane freeway, $150m/feeway interchange, $25m/regular interchange, $10m/overpass, $100m/major river bridge), with some margin for error thrown in there because it's a back of the napkin calculation.
 

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