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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

The W-E Parkway will be part of the 401. It will just have a secondary name, like the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway or Highway of Heroes.


I have one more video to share with you guys. A (fast) timelapse drive on the 401 west of Tilbury showing the 6 lane cross-section and all those windmills.

Now when are they goona start working on the stretch towards London? I hate it when trucks are passing eachother and a huge que forms behind them.

[video=youtube;MQZEn6N79Io]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQZEn6N79Io[/video]
 
Not in the GTA, but an animation I made of the 400 near Parry Sound from Google Street View images.

[video=youtube;b9V_4MH_joU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9V_4MH_joU&feature=plcp[/video]
 
Not in the GTA, but at least in the GGH. Here's a Google map I made of what a more-streamlined Highway 7 could look like:

t9xl7b.jpg


In order to cut down on construction costs, the freeway portions would only be constructed between the Conestoga Parkway and Breslau, and in Guelph. The right-of-way would continue to follow the existing Highway 7 in the rural areas. It would be widened to 2 or 4 lanes with concrete barrier and paralell bikeway and include turbo roundabouts at major intersections:

xm8k1w.jpg


These kind of roundabout force spiralling of traffic flow and work best when most traffic is running primarily on one axis as it does on Highway 7.

Here's a close-up of the KW interchange:

BAk7La1CAAAJKq6.jpg


Pushpins are traffic lights, Placemarks are Roundabouts. This interchange is only 3 levels instead of the proposed 4 level stack and uses many of the existing ramps. There is one traffic light on the WB-SB ramp to allow for metering of traffic onto Conestoga Parkway, Encourage use of the Park and Ride at the GO station, and to reduce the interchange to three levels. If the water table permits, the SB-EB flyover could instead be built as a flyunder to remove visual obtrusiveness (not there would be much impact in that area anyways).
 
Full freeway construction is so rare these days that I say ditch the turbos and go for for the interchanges.

Eventually I'd like to see a alternative freeway to the 401 running from the 402 west of London through KW/Guelph on the 7/8 corridor and connecting to the proposed Bradford Bypass or Mid-Pen. This new corridor could also prove useful for HSR/commuter rail.

EDIT: something like this:
sD6lpAD.jpg


EDIT II: Came up in discussion elsewhere: pipe dream to Ottawa. (Bypasses 407E project but surely could take it's route and the 115)
GNLElcE.jpg
 
Last edited:
Haljackey said:
Full freeway construction is so rare these days that I say ditch the turbos and go for for the interchanges.

Eventually I'd like to see a alternative freeway to the 401 running from the 402 west of London through KW/Guelph on the 7/8 corridor and connecting to the proposed Bradford Bypass or Mid-Pen. This new corridor could also prove useful for HSR/commuter rail.
Click to expand...

I really don't think a full freeway is a wise expenditure of funds, especially when there is an existing rail corridor which is almost paralell to the proposed GTA west corridor which could use more investment and has the potential to become HSR in it's own right.
 
Haljackey said:
Full freeway construction is so rare these days that I say ditch the turbos and go for for the interchanges.

Eventually I'd like to see a alternative freeway to the 401 running from the 402 west of London through KW/Guelph on the 7/8 corridor and connecting to the proposed Bradford Bypass or Mid-Pen. This new corridor could also prove useful for HSR/commuter rail.

EDIT: something like this:
*snipped image*

EDIT II: Came up in discussion elsewhere: pipe dream to Ottawa. (Bypasses 407E project but surely could take it's route and the 115)
*snipped image*
Click to expand...

Are traffic volumes really that high between Cambridge and London to justify a brand new expressway?
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Are traffic volumes really that high between Cambridge and London to justify a brand new expressway?
Click to expand...

Traffic on highway 7 in the St. Mary's area seems to be in the 6000 vehicles per day range (AADT) - about the same as highway 69 north of Parry Sound.

So it is too low to justify a freeway.

Maybe eventually highway 4 going through downtown London would not be seen as desirable, and some type of connection to 402 would be proposed. Then it is 50km more between London and Stratford to join up with highway 7/8.
 
Haljackey said:
Full freeway construction is so rare these days that I say ditch the turbos and go for for the interchanges.

Eventually I'd like to see a alternative freeway to the 401 running from the 402 west of London through KW/Guelph on the 7/8 corridor and connecting to the proposed Bradford Bypass or Mid-Pen. This new corridor could also prove useful for HSR/commuter rail.
Click to expand...

I've always thought a Super 2 tolled expressway between Peterborough and Ottawa as an extension of the 407 would make sense in the long term. It would use the 115 alignment from the future end of the 407 to Peterborough, where it would become a tolled highway again. Ideally the highway would run continuously from K-W to Ottawa. Certain key sections can be twinned, but by and large it should be like Autoroute 50 between Buckingham and Mirabel: grade-separated expressway with only a single carriageway, with a posted speed limit of 100 km/h. Built to be expandable to a dual carriageway if demand warrants.

I know that if that option was available, it would be my preferred option from Ottawa to Toronto, as opposed to the 416-401 combo. Of course, the toll would need to be something reasonable, like $5 for the whole distance between Ottawa and Peterborough. Much like I-90 through NY State.
 
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