[timio]

how bad was it?

This summer I commuted in from KW and came through that area around 6:30-7:00 every morning. I would say it was equivalent. Stopped at Mississauga Rd and then very slow going beyond. I expected to take 45 minutes - 1 hour to travel the next 6 km. I got off and was back on the 401 in 30 minutes at the airport.

 

[vebski]

This summer I commuted in from KW and came through that area around 6:30-7:00 every morning. I would say it was equivalent. Stopped at Mississauga Rd and then very slow going beyond. I expected to take 45 minutes - 1 hour to travel the next 6 km. I got off and was back on the 401 in 30 minutes at the airport.

I STILL do that drive every day from Kitchener. But I have given up all hope of it being clear in the morning until the construction is done. Or at least this phase of it anyway. So I go into work late/stay late, so I am in the area around 9:45 am now and it is usually fine.

 

[Paolo]

any updates?

 

[salmonz]

any updates?

Went by there today and they're making good progress:

1. They started paving the new westbound lanes near the new basketweave.

2. Old Hurontario column structures gone.

3. Eastbound lanes completely wripped up.

If they keep up this pace, they might make it paving the east/west lanes before winter. *let's hope*

 

[Dan416]

I'm not too optimistic about this finishing early. It's supposed to take till 2103.

Anyone know when the contract(s) for the next phase(s) (to Mavis? to the Credit River?) are being awarded or if they already have been awarded?

 

[timio]

I'm not too optimistic about this finishing early. It's supposed to take till 2103.

Anyone know when the contract(s) for the next phase(s) (to Mavis? to the Credit River?) are being awarded or if they already have been awarded?

Haven't heard anything of these lines, but I've been curious if they built the Mavis overpass with an eye to the future. It looks as though they just need to build the external span to cross the future collectors on both sides. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Dan416]

Haven't heard anything of these lines, but I've been curious if they built the Mavis overpass with an eye to the future. It looks as though they just need to build the external span to cross the future collectors on both sides. Can anyone confirm this?

They do have to do some work on the Mavis bridge, but it won't have to be completely replaced like Hurontario and McLaughlin were (and Second Line demolished). I read somewhere what they have to do at Mavis, but I can't remember. Certainly they'll have to realign the on- and off-ramps.

 

[gweed123]

Haven't heard anything of these lines, but I've been curious if they built the Mavis overpass with an eye to the future. It looks as though they just need to build the external span to cross the future collectors on both sides. Can anyone confirm this?

I noticed that too. It looks like they have support columns on either side, and then separate retaining walls outside of that. I would imagine that this wasn't done by accident, since I haven't seen very many other overpasses with this kind of design. It's almost as if those retaining walls are the overpass equivalent of knock-out walls.

 

[Paolo]

yeah the mavis bridge looks like it can be borred through, i think all new overpasses will be built like the mclaughlan overpass. its funny how they built mclaughlan with a collector express in mind before we knew the 401 was getting collector express in the west of highway 10

 

[timio]

I noticed that too. It looks like they have support columns on either side, and then separate retaining walls outside of that. I would imagine that this wasn't done by accident, since I haven't seen very many other overpasses with this kind of design. It's almost as if those retaining walls are the overpass equivalent of knock-out walls.

For those who are interested in a reference view: http://goo.gl/maps/zCmgT

 

[Paolo]

there going to have to do a lot more than just knock down the walls. the bridge deck itself is too short, it would still be a majour disruption to traffic to extend the deck level of the bridge and build new support colums to the left and right of the existing ones while maintaining exisitng traffic will be a majour headache, so i suspect they will do it in stages, or close lanes.

 

[Markster]

It's clear that the design allows them to dig out on either side, and add additional bridge sections with very little disruption to the existing bridge. (This is conjecture, but) They knew the Express/Collector system would eventually work its way out there, but it wasn't soon enough to warrant building a full size Hurontario/Mavis style span at the time. They've built something modular that can be expanded when necessary.

 

[vebski]

yeah the mavis bridge looks like it can be borred through, i think all new overpasses will be built like the mclaughlan overpass. its funny how they built mclaughlan with a collector express in mind before we knew the 401 was getting collector express in the west of highway 10

It seems to me the Mavis overpass will completely come down. Not that it is that old, but it will most definately be upgraded to the new standard with steel beams extended over the length of the bridge to support the weight of such a long structure. If you look at the McLaughlin overpass, it is a steel structure, ( http://goo.gl/maps/WOa4f ) and they DID build it in mind with putting in a collector/express system since I'm sure that was in the works for quite some time now.

 

[nfitz]

Haven't heard anything of these lines, but I've been curious if they built the Mavis overpass with an eye to the future. It looks as though they just need to build the external span to cross the future collectors on both sides. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes, that's exactly correct. I wrote to MTO while they were building Mavis, wondering why it wasn't wide enough for collectors, and they said that it was designed for the centre span to remain, and they'd build two additional spans on each side of the centre span, to cross the collectors. I wonder if I can find that old e-mail ...

It's almost as if those retaining walls are the overpass equivalent of knock-out walls.

Something like that.

 

[vebski]

Found this site that explains that in 2008 they built the new McLaughlin bridge to accomodate the new 12-lane system. Also, the site has a bit more information about the project, not alot though.

http://www.401expansion-mississauga.ca/background.html