Leo_Chan
Senior Member
Back when dual cores were unavailable and processors ran at 3 GHz. Now we have quad/6 cores at 4 GHz.
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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion
- Thread starter Haljackey
- Start date
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
I ended up making the interchange in Cities Skylines in the end:
I think I did very well considering the fact that it only took me 2 hours.
LINK TO MORE IMAGES
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Personally I think that any renumbering needs to take place on a national level, not just a Provincial level. The scheme that I prefer takes elements of Germany's and Australia's systems. Germany's route hierarchy would be perfect for Canada: Highways 1-9 are routes of national importance, 10-99 of Provincial importance, and 100-999 of local importance. Australia affixes a prefix in front of each route, signifying what its operating level is (expressway, single lane highway, etc).
In the Canadian context, 400-series highways and other expressways could have an E prefix, and all non-expressways could have an H prefix (and what's more Canadian than having our national highway system spell out "EH"?). This means that the number can remain consistent on a route, even if it switches back and forth between controlled access highway and single lane highway. The main Trans-Canada route switches back and forth between controlled access expressway and single lane highway about a dozen times from coast to coast, so the 1 would remain consistent, with the E or H just being an additional descriptor.
For the double and triple digit routes, each Province would be assigned a specific set of numbers. BC would be the 10s, Alberta 20s, Sask 30s, Manitoba 40s, Ontario 50s & 60s, Quebec 70s & 80s, and the Atlantic Provinces the 90s. Like with the US interstate system, numbers ending in 0 or 5 would be the main non-national route.
In order to have the main Trans-Canada route continue to be signed as E1 or H1, E-W routes can be odd numbers, and N-S routes even numbers. So under this scenario, the 401 would become E5, while highways like the Yellowhead would become E3/H3.
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BurlOak
Senior Member
I don't think Canada's definition of national highway matches yours . highway 7 from 400 to McMillen yards (Jane/Keele) is on the list.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/images/ctareview/ctar-discussion-highway-system.png
http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/images/ctareview/ctar-discussion-highway-system.png
There would need to be some redefinition in terms of what constitutes "national importance". To me, that means either a) the primary route between two major population centres, or b) a major trade route between Canada and the US. So here's what I propose for E1-E9:
E1/H1: BC/AB/SK/MB Hwy 1 (5 for a short stretch through BC), ON Hwy 17, Hwy 417, QC Aut 40, Aut 30 (to bypass Mtl), Aut 20, Aut 85, Hwy 185, NB Hwy 2, NS Hwy 104, Hwy 105, NFLD Hwy 1
E2/H2: BC Hwy 99 (connection to I-5), Hwy 97, Yukon Hwy 1 (Alaska Highway)
E3/H3: BC/AB/SK/MB Hwy 16 (Yellowhead Hwy)
E4/H4: AB Hwy 4 (connecting to I-15), Hwy 3, Hwy 2, Hwy 216 (Edmonton bypass), Hwy 2, Hwy 35, NWT Hwy 1, NWT Hwy 3 (to Yellowknife)
E5/H5: ON Hwy 401, QC Aut 20, Aut 10, Aut 35, Hwy 133 (connection to I-89)
E6/H6: ON Hwy 69, Hwy 400, Hwy 401, Hwy 427, QEW (connection to I-190)
E7/H7: QC Aut 40, Hwy 138 (parts still under construction), NFLD Hwy 430
E8/H8: QC Aut 15 (connection to I-87), Hwy 117, ON Hwy 66
E9/H9: NB Hwy 1, Hwy 15, Hwy 16, PEI Hwy 1, NS Hwy 106
While many of these are combinations of existing routes, I think they form the most natural travel paths between major urban centres, and natural links to international trade routes.
nfitz
Superstar
Not sure fair to lump Toronto and Hamilton together. It's 150 km from Bowmanville to Stoney Creek - about the same distance from Montreal Island to Ottawa. How far do you take this?
Anyone can edit that. I note there is no reference for that information. Busiest is a no brainer. I'm not sure Toronto will win if you take the same land area.
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innsertnamehere
Superstar
the 401 between the 410 and 427 is the only highway on earth with 18 through lanes - others have more with merge lanes, etc., but that stretch of the 401 has 9 lanes in each direction. Nowhere else has that.
The 401 also has the busiest stretch of highway on the planet, though it is not that part of the highway. The busiest part is between the 400 and Weston Road.
Bowmanville to Stoney Creek is almost entirely urbanized. It's essentially one giant city.
The 401 also has the busiest stretch of highway on the planet, though it is not that part of the highway. The busiest part is between the 400 and Weston Road.
Bowmanville to Stoney Creek is almost entirely urbanized. It's essentially one giant city.
muller877
Senior Member
Houston has the Katy Freeway which is 26 lanes across (12 express, 8 feeder, 6 HOV)
innsertnamehere
Superstar
the 8 feeders aren't freeway lanes however, only arterial service roads with stoplights and at grade access to adjacent properties. Means its full "freeway" width is actually 16 lanes. There are also only 4 HOTs.
darth_freeman
Active Member
Well the GTA is much much larger and more populated than all those US cities' greater metropolitan areas, so why are you surprised? Per citizen though, many of those cities have more freeways per person, which is not surprising as the GTA public transit is excellent compared to all of those.
Did anyone really think Latin American cities would have more freeways than the GTA?
MisterF
Senior Member
While I agree that including Hamilton is a bit dubious, it's almost entirely urban between Bowmanville and Stoney Creek. Montreal and Ottawa have 120 km or so of countryside between them.
While it could be argued that Montreal has more km of freeways, Toronto definitely has more lane-km of freeways. Ontario seems to have a curious habit of constantly expanding one piece of infrastructure instead of building new. It's the same with subways - our trains and tunnels are bigger but Montreal has a longer system.
I think it's largely a fact of the MTO expropriating huge ROWs when they were planning the initial 400-series system (when it was through farmland mostly), so it was easier to expand within the ROW they already owned vs expropriating and demolishing to get a new ROW from scratch.
Nearly all of the GTA's highways, with the exception of the bit of the Spadina Expressway and the southern part of the 427, follow a path of least resistance. The 401 was a bypass built along the then suburban fringe. The DVP was plowed through a valley instead of through neighbourhoods. The Gardiner was put through industrial lands and along the lake front. The QEW was a gradual upgrade of an existing concession road. Compare that with the Decarie, which was plowed through an existing neighbourhood.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
They did rip down half of Parkdale for the Gardiner..
darth_freeman
Active Member
Bit of an exaggeration there.
It was about 50 homes that were sandwiched between the railway and Lake Shore.
1956:
1961:
Attachments
innsertnamehere
Superstar
A lot of them were demolished for Lake Shore in the 1940's as well. It was a two hit blow.