[waterloowarrior]

http://www.peterborohwy7studies.ca/index.htm

The Ministry of Transportation is conducting a multi-modal, strategic transportation study of the Peterborough Area and of the Highway 7 Corridor from Peterborough to Carleton Place. The purpose is to provide a long-term perspective on the movement of people and goods in these areas, and to assess the current and future transportation system needs and issues.

These studies will include:

Traffic engineering to collect traffic data and travel patterns in the study areas using an Origin-Destination Survey to be conducted in July/August, 2010;
Public consultation including stakeholder sessions, newsletters and public meetings held within each of the study areas; and
Transportation systems planning to establish transportation goals, objectives, outlooks, needs and forecasts

 

[ShonTron]

Interesting. Highway 7 is a very useful back-way to Ottawa from Toronto, indeed signage at Peterborough and points west recommends it as the route to Ottawa. It has steady, but not usually congested, traffic, except between Highway 417 and Carleton Place (which is being twinned and turned into a freeway anyway) and west of Peterborough.

Here's what I'd do: extend the 115 freeway to beyond the 28 North (former Highway 134), then upgrade Highway 7 (four lanes perhaps, at least longer and more passing lanes) and definitely widen or twin the Carleton Place-Perth stretch.

 

[unimaginative2]

I often drive Highway 7 home from Toronto. It's a little more scenic and interesting, and it saves on gas.

 

[lead82]

Keep it simple: Build out the 407 all the way to Ottawa. 401 is beyond congested and needs to be widened as well. Make 407 a toll road but government owned and just build it already. What a waste of money doing these studies. Why is it that the only thing we do here in Ontario is study things but never actually build anything. Do we really need consultants to tell us we need to build a 400 series highway from Toronto area to Ottawa which can help reduce 401 traffic. To me this is a no brained.

 

[Justin10000]

Extend the 407 to Ottawa....

That would win the award for the most insane transportation idea in Ontario! That road would not be well traveled at all.

 

[adma]

Except that the USA was prone to building such insanty on behalf of the Interstate network...

 

[unimaginative2]

And Michigan has all kinds of comparable highways that aren't even part of the Interstate network.
I'd much rather see a twinned Highway 17 than another expressway to Ottawa.

 

[ShonTron]

I'd like to see parts of Highway 7 twinned as well (not necessarily a full-scale freeway between Highway 134/28N and Carleton Place). Highway 417 should be extended to Pembroke or even Deep River, and the twinning complete between Sudbury and Sault and between North Bay and Sudbury. Highway 17 between North Bay and Deep River needs improvements, at the very least more passing lanes, but I wouldn't be against twinning it either, with a proper bypass of Mattawa.

I also want to see Highway 10 widened between Shelburne and Owen Sound (at the very least, put at least three northbound and three southbound passing lanes) and a bypass of Shelburne; I would also like to see the completion of the Highway 7/8 to Stratford, with a by-pass swung around to Highway 8 near Sebringville and a complete by-pass of Shakespeare, rather than the locally-opposed simple Caledon Village-style widening.

Michigan has a lot of high-quality non-interstate expressways: US 131 and US 23 are perfect examples. Another example is US 61/SR 27 between St. Louis and St. Paul (the "Avenue of the Saints") - a high-quality four lane highway with interchanges when needed, it was a great drive between St. Louis and Iowa City when I did that last year.

 

[Swarley]

Do we really need consultants to tell us we need to build a 400 series highway from Toronto area to Ottawa which can help reduce 401 traffic. To me this is a no brained.

Yeah, why bother thinking? Just shell out a couple billion for a massive highway we don't need. Who needs high speed rail...

 

[waterloowarrior]

How about something like Highway 11 ... combination of four-laning, bypasses, RIRO, and interchanges where needed/easy to do.

There's also the 2+1 road... basically a three lane highway with a cable or concrete barrier and consistent (alternating every 2KM or so) passing lanes.
SSC thread on the subject (SSC has lots of great threads on European roadways)

Sweden has apparently had good success with these. Imagine something like this for the area near Silver Lake

At the very least, more passing lanes west of Perth would be great

 

[andrewpmk]

Highway 401 is rarely congested east of Cobourg. At most, it needs 3 laning, 407 from Peterborough to Ottawa is insane overkill.

 

[EnviroTO]

How are the hoards going to get to Havelock, Marmora, Madoc, and Kaladar without a 407 extension to those metropolitan areas?

 

[nfitz]

Highway 401 is rarely congested east of Cobourg. At most, it needs 3 laning, 407 from Peterborough to Ottawa is insane overkill.

... right ... that's why I've often gotten off at Colborne, Brighton, Grafton, and on one occasion in Belleville, and driven on Highway 2.

They are slowly 3-laning to Kingston though. If you look at any structure they've built recently, they've all been 3 lanes wide, and they've steadily widened from Bowmanville to Cobourg in the last 15 -20 years or so.

I can't say I've driven Highway 7 much though ... the big question is how busy is it. Given that they are building the piece from Carleton Place to 417 as an expressway right now, presumably traffic on this road is only going to grow; particularly with the proposed growth in the northeast corner of the GTA.

 

[adma]

How are the hoards going to get to Havelock, Marmora, Madoc, and Kaladar without a 407 extension to those metropolitan areas?

Remember: a lot of the primary "hoards" re these boondock expressways (including US Interstates and pseudo-Interstates) are long-distance truckers, who can appreciate the added elbow-room and safety...

 

[waterloowarrior]

.I can't say I've driven Highway 7 much though ... the big question is how busy is it. Given that they are building the piece from Carleton Place to 417 as an expressway right now, presumably traffic on this road is only going to grow; particularly with the proposed growth in the northeast corner of the GTA.

In terms of AADT it's comparable to something like 17 from Sudbury to SSM or 11/17 on either side of Thunder Bay. But usually volume (aside from summer weekends) is not the main factor for these type of rural four lanings... the big reasons would be things like improved travel times, improved safety, network redundancy, improved driver experience (especially if there are lots of recreational vehicles and truckers as noted by adma), fewer road closures, improved access to recreational/tourism opportunities, economic development etc.

I agree that with the 407 East extension and 7 to Carleton Place, traffic on 7 will be growing... I would assume that a full Toronto-Ottawa 407 would divert most traffic between those two centres away from the 416/401 route.