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Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

ShonTron said:
The section of new Highway 69 at French River is progressing nicely. Traffic is temporarily routed on the new French River Road overpass while the southbound carriageway is prepped for traffic.

(French River Road will be the service road on the old highway, serving the provincial park, Hungry Bear, and other businesses. It will use the current truss bridge over the French River.)

Once traffic is shifted to the new alignment, the interchange ramps can be completed and part of the existing Highway 69 rebuilt for northbound traffic.
Click to expand...

I was wondering how the French River Trading Post/Hungry Bear was going to be accommodated. It's become a bit of a destination on an otherwise fairly sterile route. That and the French River rest stop/interpretation centre.
 
lenaitch said:
I was wondering how the French River Trading Post/Hungry Bear was going to be accommodated. It's become a bit of a destination on an otherwise fairly sterile route. That and the French River rest stop/interpretation centre.
Click to expand...

The Still River OPP detachment was recently closed. Watching the deterioration of the nearby old Long Branch Motel over the many trips up has been a rare point of interest on the section south of French River.
 
As I remember the Still River OPP station is one of two that was too be demolished for highway 69 (the other being in Sudbury). It makes me wonder if they are getting close to an agreement with the reserves.
 
Kitsune said:
As I remember the Still River OPP station is one of two that was too be demolished for highway 69 (the other being in Sudbury). It makes me wonder if they are getting close to an agreement with the reserves.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the proposed alignment. The construction project was no doubt part of the planning but the OPP has been consolidating many of its smaller detachments for a number of years. I would be surprised if any member has actually lived in the community and worked out of Still River for a few years. Sudbury - along with the 'mini Queens Park' surrounding it; however, would probably need replacement.
 
lenaitch said:
I haven't seen the proposed alignment. The construction project was no doubt part of the planning but the OPP has been consolidating many of its smaller detachments for a number of years. I would be surprised if any member has actually lived in the community and worked out of Still River for a few years. Sudbury - along with the 'mini Queens Park' surrounding it; however, would probably need replacement.
Click to expand...

And you would be appear to be right - going over the route maps Highway 69 will be on a new alignment in that area with the existing highway to become a service road: https://web.archive.org/web/2016042...rthto522/pdf/Section 6.0 Recommended Plan.pdf
 
ShonTron said:
The Still River detachment closed on September 11. Officers used to reside in nearby Britt.

www.thestar.com

Still River OPP detachment closes; Britt Residents mourn loss of facility

The Still River OPP detachment was a part of the remote communities along Hwy. 69 for over 67 years.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
Click to expand...

There was a residence attached to the detachment plus I believe an apartment residence over the garage. I don't know if there was any other government housing in the immediate area. Member could live in Britt, but they could also live anywhere else. So long as they showed up to work on time the Force stopped caring (and being able to enforce) where they lived. I obviously don't know the recent residency status but if it is consistent with the trend occurring elsewhere, I would be surprised if any member has lived in the local area for a while.

It's really not the mandate of any public service to be responsible for a local economy but it has been a death by multiple cuts in many small communities, particularly in the north. Whether it is police, MNRF, school, etc., as stable, year-round well-paying income families start migrating to larger centres, slowly the local school, grocer, bank, etc. become less viable and eventually many close. While the article is correct that formal services can easily continue, there is a significant loss of informal community connection which can be equally, if not more, important.

Edit: I suspect the closure would have happened with or without the proposed highway construction. It was likely timed to coincide with the opening of the new faciliteis in Parry Sound.
 
TORONTO — Today, Stan Cho, MPP for Willowdale, announced the Ontario government has given Stage 1 Planning Approval to improve the Highway 401 and Yonge Street interchange and will fund up to 50 per cent of the cost for the City of Toronto to conduct an Environmental Assessment. The Environmental Assessment will look at options to improve both the municipal and provincial road networks in the area in order to increase capacity, improve safety and reduce traffic delays.

This section of Highway 401 has a high-volume of commercial and commuter traffic with approximately 340,000 vehicles, including 27,000 trucks, using this highway daily.
The interchange project includes improved access to highway ramps from Yonge Street to eastbound highway 401 and enhancements to the municipal network along the Yonge Street Corridor.
The Yonge Street-Highway 401 interchange, located in Toronto’s second largest high-density area, currently experiences high levels of congestion and traffic volumes due to significant growth in the area.
 
There are only two westbound collector lanes on the 401 over Yonge Street. I wonder if the project will include the addition of an extra lane or two to eliminate this bottleneck.

www.google.ca

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.ca www.google.ca
 
That would involve some pretty extensive construction on the Hoggs Hollow bridge, but would be a good thing to have.

The City pushed for this to deal with southbound Yonge St to eastbound 401 access specifically, as it's far underbuilt right now and causes huge traffic issues.
 
Hmm interesting.

It doesn't look like the 401 overpasses and flyover were built long enough to widen Younge Street below. If you took out the median maybe you could squeeze a dual left turn in as a short term fix.

...Could another flyover fit in this area without much rework? It would solve the problem and if Toronto is contributing 50% of the funding, Ontario might go along with it... especially if they can secure some federal dollars to make the province's share of the funding low.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with here.
 
I just hope they keep the direct access to Yonge Street North from the Eastbound direction to not make GO busses travelling to Finch worse.
 
Found this doc-

Some wild interchange designs proposed, including diverging diamond variants. Those are not good for pedestrians at all.


...But it might be better than this absurd proposal from that document

Screenshot_2020-10-20 Test Page - backgroundfile-62308 pdf.png
 
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