[Transportfan]

I have long thought that Highway 7 should be rerouted to the north given how developed and congested it has become. One option I think would work would be to run it along King Road/Street, Stouffeville Road, bypassing the namesake town to the south, and then reconnecting back to the existing route at the Durham boundary. That would require building a bridge across the Credit River to connect it to the curve at the north leg of Trafalgar Road though, as well as a jog along Yonge.

 

[Leo_Chan]

I have long thought that Highway 7 should be rerouted to the north given how developed and congested it has become. One option I think would work would be to run it along King Road/Street, Stouffeville Road, bypassing the namesake town to the south, and then reconnecting back to the existing route at the Durham boundary. That would require building a bridge across the Credit River to connect it to the curve at the north leg of Trafalgar Road though, as well as a jog along Yonge.

View attachment 167838

The section east of Highway 404 wouldn't be necessary as Donald Cousens Parkway will be extended from Major Mackenzie Drive to Highway 404 at 19th Avenue, which should get an interchange some time in the future (or at least York Region and Markham wants one). I also don't know why Highway 407 ETR have some missing ramps at Ninth Line and Donald Cousens Parkway, as that reduces some connectivity from the south.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I would instead get rid of 7 through southern Durham entirely and re-route 7 onto 7A through Port Perry.. have it run along Goodwood Road, then Bloomington, cut down Dufferin, and across King Rd as shown in your graphic.

 

[ShonTron]

The narrowing actually takes place at queen but it does not diminish the point at all.

What they did was

• Take a 3 lane stretch of road and widen it to 5
• Return it to 3 in one spot (ie not narrow it to 4 and then 3 further up/down the road)
• One of the two new lanes is lightly used because of its hov status
• At queen two lanes disappear
• NB the hov lane does not dissapear it turns into the third live lane
• The two that disappear are the two right most lanes

The effect is that for people commuting home to Brampton in the evening (most of whom) live north of queen, the number of live “thru” lanes has actually been reduced to 2 from 3. I now get off at Derry and take Kennedy north and am saving 5-10 minutes per evening. We spent a lot of money here to make Kennedy the better route than 410?

Listen (as I do) to 680 ......every morning traffic report will tell you that the 410 is jammed from sandalwood/Mayfield to Queen and every evening report will tell you it is jammed from Steele’s/407 to Queen/Williams

I recently drove that section, on a weekend at least, and yes, it was planned poorly with the sudden drop of two lanes. Another pet peeve is Highway 401 East, where it drops from six to five lanes at Brock Road in Pickering, and again to just three lanes past Salem Road.

 

[TOareaFan]

I recently drove that section, on a weekend at least, and yes, it was planned poorly with the sudden drop of two lanes. Another pet peeve is Highway 401 East, where it drops from six to five lanes at Brock Road in Pickering, and again to just three lanes past Salem Road.

You are way better at diplomacy than I will ever be

 

[Leo_Chan]

I wish the 9th Line and Donald Cousens interchange is planned to be full interchanges. It's weird when they are partial interchanges.

There doesn't need to be any major reconfiguration to make it full, only need 1-2 ramps in places where nothing is in the way.

 

[Dan416]

I drive the 403 to the QEW to Burlington a lot these days, and it always makes me think about how the 407 was supposed to be the 403 in that section through Oakville/Burlington. If that section became part of the 403 as it was originally meant to be, could the 407 continue west to continue with the New Highway 7 I keep reading about? Could still toll it the way the 407 East is tolled.

 

[44 North]

A bit related to the area. Wonder if 4-8km east of the 407-403/QEW interchange we could put in an express-collector type system on the 403/QEW. The only real purpose would be to create an earlier physical separation for westbound traffic, and those heading south on QEW and west on 403. Right now in the pm peak it seems the Niagara-bound traffic overrules the 403 volume 2:1, and it creates a bottleneck that sullies all traffic. Separate that earlier (further east), and I think things should run more smoothly for all travelers.

 

[Isotack]

I recently drove that section, on a weekend at least, and yes, it was planned poorly with the sudden drop of two lanes. Another pet peeve is Highway 401 East, where it drops from six to five lanes at Brock Road in Pickering, and again to just three lanes past Salem Road.

You do realize that this transition used to occur at Markham road and that the increase in lane capacity has been moving east for over 30 years? It will continue to move east as the underpass issues preventing more lanes at first Henry street (finished) and now Brock Street are removed. Further to that, the three underpasses through Oshawa are the initial barrier to increasing lane capacity through that area. To say noting of the available space.

The 401 was only two lanes each way from Markham east in the early 80s, so the "sudden drop" is nothing compared to what it was.

 

[innsertnamehere]

yes, MTO has plans for a pretty large scale widening program through Durham, at least at some point in the future. They don't seem to be in any real rush to build it however. I think they are banking on the 407 extension slowing traffic growth on the highway for a while.

The planned "ultimate" configuration of the 401 will see the collector-express extended to the 412, then 10 lanes to the 418, and 8 lanes to Highway 35.

they seem to only be interested in building auxiliary lanes here and there to alleviate pinch points currently though, doesn't seem to be any real rush to get the highway fully widened.

 

[yyzhyd]

Has anyone has taken a trip up to Brampton/Vaughan border to see how the 427 extension work is coming along? I happened to drive though one evening and noticed what seems to be grading for on-ramps and overpass at Rutherford. Sadly Google Maps doesn't have very recent imagery.

 

[TOareaFan]

Has anyone has taken a trip up to Brampton/Vaughan border to see how the 427 extension work is coming along? I happened to drive though one evening and noticed what seems to be grading for on-ramps and overpass at Rutherford. Sadly Google Maps doesn't have very recent imagery.

I was gonna say "not to get too pedantic" but you know when someone says that they are going to do just that......I believe the 427 extension is something like 1.5km - 2km east of the Brampton/Vaughan border.

 

[Neutrino]

I was gonna say "not to get too pedantic" but you know when someone says that they are going to do just that......I believe the 427 extension is something like 1.5km - 2km east of the Brampton/Vaughan border.

Pedantic.

 

[yyzhyd]

I was gonna say "not to get too pedantic" but you know when someone says that they are going to do just that......I believe the 427 extension is something like 1.5km - 2km east of the Brampton/Vaughan border.

True, I wouldn't have been offended if you'd at least posted a pic or two from Vaughan. LOL

 

[darth_freeman]

Has anyone has taken a trip up to Brampton/Vaughan border to see how the 427 extension work is coming along? I happened to drive though one evening and noticed what seems to be grading for on-ramps and overpass at Rutherford. Sadly Google Maps doesn't have very recent imagery.

Drive along Major Mackenzie, Mcgillivray, Rutherford, Langstaff, and Zenway between Hwy 50 & Hwy 27 and you'll see a lot is going on.

Some is even on Streeview!