[jamincan]

The MTO does seem to be warming to intermediate forms like that, maybe not to the same degree, but still vastly superior to the old two-lane highway. I know that both Highway 6 and 10 now have regular passing lanes. They only started putting them in on Hwy 6 north of Guelph a few years ago and I imagine they will extend them to other highways as well. I do get the feeling that 4-lane highways of the style of Hwy 6 south of Guelph are a thing of the past. By that point, I think the MTO would prefer at the very least separate carriageways.

 

[Haljackey]

I would like to see many of the 2 lanes highways like 7 west of Perth and perhaps 15 upgraded to Swedish-style 2+1 roads with medians and frequent passing lanes. The biggest problem with 2 lane roads is head on collisions and these types of design can really limit that danger. Intersections can also be upgraded to reduce potential conflict points. I can see significant cost savings over the traditional Ontario method of 100m wide Highway 7 to Carleton Place style roads - Existing alignments can generally be used and upgrading roads could be timed along with regular refurbishment/reconstruction.

I think with all the work put into that road you may as well make it a 4 lane highway.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I Made A Autumn Timelapse Drive From London To Kitchener

[video=youtube;NJ5wqSFzwRk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5wqSFzwRk[/video]

 

[waterloowarrior]

I think with all the work put into that road you may as well make it a 4 lane highway.

Much less work is needed needed because it uses the existing 13m cross-section (some widened to 14m).

Average cost to rebuild a regular 13m wide road to 2+1 at grade is 1.43 million SEK ($0.23 million CAD) per km.
Average cost to rebuild 13m wide road to 2+1 limited access road is 2.22 million SEK ($0.36 million CAD) per km. Roads that also need widening from 8m to 13m limited access 2+1 cost 6.85 million($1.1 million CAD) - 8.96 million($1.44 million CAD) per KM .

I'm not sure of the cost of building expressways there, but in Canada upgrading roads like 69 and 17 to expressway costs $5-10 million per KM.

There is a 75-90% reduction in fatalities.

http://www.vti.se/en/publications/pdf/evaluation-of-21-roads-with-cable-barrier--final-report.pdf
http://www.ruralsafety.umn.edu/profiles/sweden/
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rrd_275.pdf

 

[innsertnamehere]

do speed limits get bumped?

 

[timio]

I Made A Autumn Timelapse Drive From London To Kitchener

I always find the drive from KW to Sarnia through this stretch quite lovely around this time of year. The leaves are usually stunning and make the 402 seem much less boring than it is the other 51 weeks of the year.

 

[waterloowarrior]

^ speed limit is increased. 90-110 depending on design/grade separation etc.

We have also adapted two-lane roads—real killers—into roads with two lanes in one direction and one lane in the opposite direction, the 2+1 system. But the real trick was a crash barrier between the lanes, which saves approximately 50 to 60 fatalities per year.

How much does this cost?
It costs around one twentieth of the investment in a new freeway, less than 200 Euros per meter compared to about 7000 Euros per meter to construct a new road. We have retrofitted about 2000 kilometers of road, covering about 20 percent of Sweden’s traffic flow.

The new safety principle, to control kinetic energy, is by itself cheaper than accident prevention. And once that investment is made it produces benefits every year.
Furthermore, 2+1 roads have higher speed limits today than they did before modification, so by creating better safety we have also improved mobility.

http://knowledge.allianz.com/mobility/?451/road-safety-swedens-vision-zero

The project is so successful they are even building 1+1 roads

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=62027545&postcount=173

 

[waterloowarrior]

In other news... Highway 17 update. Lots of PIC materials from the last year to go over.

Manitoba Border to Kenora
http://www.4lanehighway17kenora.ca/highway17/index.asp

Kakabeka Falls to Shabaqua Corners
http://www.hwy11-17kakabeka.ca/

Highway 527 to 1.0 km west of Mackenzie Station Road (12.6 km), within the Municipality of Shuniah (east of Thunder Bay
http://www.hwy11-17from527tomsr.ca/highway11-17-from527tomsr/index.asp

Red Rock and Nipigon
http://www.hwy11-17redrockandnipigon.ca/

Sudbury to Markstay
http://www.highway17sudburytomarkstay.ca/

Markstay to Sturgeon Falls
http://highway17passinglanes.com/ea-process/

North Bay to Bondfield
http://www.highway17routeplanning.ca/highway17routeplanning/bonfield/

Bonfield to East of Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park
http://www.hwy17corridorstudy.ca/index.html

East of Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park to Renfrew County Border
http://www.highway17routeplanning.ca/highway17routeplanning/mattawa/overview.asp

Renfrew County contruction Division Street to Scheel Drive west of Arnprior to be completed by Fall 2013. After that "The third and fourth phases of the 417 project - which total 17.2 kilometres of highway between Scheel Drive to five kilometres west of Renfrew - are currently "under an environmental assessment. However, Darren Waters, MTO senior project engineer, said preliminary design work for this phase has been completed. In addition, the province has commenced with purchasing property from Renfrew west to Storyland Road in Horton Township.

http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2013...-frustrated-by-slow-highway-17-expansion-pace

 

[BurlOak]

In other news... Highway 17 update. Lots of PIC materials from the last year to go over.

Kakabeka Falls to Shabaqua Corners
http://www.hwy11-17kakabeka.ca/

I always thought that using highway 102 would have been a better option for the Trans Canada. Either expanding it to 4 lanes or building a new alignment roughly parallel to it.

However, 3 or 4 years back they built a new stretch of highway 11/17 (north of Arthur Street) by extending the Harbour Expressway about 12km West - it is still another 30km to Shabaqua Corners. A highway 102 route would have been 30km total. Maybe they figured motorists would not mind driving the extra 15km to ensure that the "Niagara of the North" (Kakabeka Falls) would not be by-passed.

 

[gweed123]

One thing that I noticed after travelling out east is how Ontario is very much lacking in Super 2s. They seem to be all over New Brunswick, and even a couple in Quebec, but I honestly can't think of any in Ontario. It seems like it's either full freeway, RIRO, or a simple 2 lane highway with the occasional passing lanes.

In the case of something like Highway 7, it may be worth building it as a full freeway from Carleton Place to Perth, and then as a Super 2 from Perth to Peterborough, using a combination of the existing roadway, and new roadway (mainly around towns). I feel like Highway 7 could bear significantly more traffic (mainly taking some pressure off the 401), but people don't take it because it's too slow, especially if you get caught behind someone who insists of doing 80.

As for the upgrades to 17, glad to see those happening. It's kind of an embarrassment for Ontario that by far the largest section of 2 lane Trans-Canada is in Ontario. In fact, only a fraction of the Trans-Canada system in Ontario is actually 4-laned. Percentage-wise (total 4-laned vs total highway), I would bet that Ontario has the lowest percentage in Canada.

 

[innsertnamehere]

It's because there are so many roads in Ontario needing upgrading that by the time they receive attention they need to 4 laned. New Brunswick is so low population that even major routes such as St. John - Fredricton can be done using super 2s, the traffic levels simply don't demand anything else. One thing I would love to see is a lot more passing lanes however, there are very few on provincial highways.

as for the trans canada, Ontario's portion is also the least used and the longest portion in canada so it doesn't make sense to twin it the entire way. Some twinning works at the Manitoba border and from Thunder Bay to Nipigon will help though. (that is 135km of twinning there alone) If they could bring the 417 to Petawawa, the Trans Canada would be getting quite well built out. Obviously still hundred of kilometres untwinned, but the busiest portions would be at that point.

 

[Haljackey]

Much less work is needed needed because it uses the existing 13m cross-section (some widened to 14m).

Average cost to rebuild a regular 13m wide road to 2+1 at grade is 1.43 million SEK ($0.23 million CAD) per km.
Average cost to rebuild 13m wide road to 2+1 limited access road is 2.22 million SEK ($0.36 million CAD) per km. Roads that also need widening from 8m to 13m limited access 2+1 cost 6.85 million($1.1 million CAD) - 8.96 million($1.44 million CAD) per KM .

I'm not sure of the cost of building expressways there, but in Canada upgrading roads like 69 and 17 to expressway costs $5-10 million per KM.

There is a 75-90% reduction in fatalities.

I'm talking about a 4 lane undivided highway... Divided / grade-separated highways cost much more.

One thing that I noticed after travelling out east is how Ontario is very much lacking in Super 2s. They seem to be all over New Brunswick, and even a couple in Quebec, but I honestly can't think of any in Ontario. It seems like it's either full freeway, RIRO, or a simple 2 lane highway with the occasional passing lanes.

Highway 3 in St. Thomas is a super-2.

It has right of way for a twin but freeway plans were shelved.

More pics http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_3-9_images/Hwy3_images.htm

 

[MisterF]

One thing that I noticed after travelling out east is how Ontario is very much lacking in Super 2s. They seem to be all over New Brunswick, and even a couple in Quebec, but I honestly can't think of any in Ontario. It seems like it's either full freeway, RIRO, or a simple 2 lane highway with the occasional passing lanes.

In the case of something like Highway 7, it may be worth building it as a full freeway from Carleton Place to Perth, and then as a Super 2 from Perth to Peterborough, using a combination of the existing roadway, and new roadway (mainly around towns). I feel like Highway 7 could bear significantly more traffic (mainly taking some pressure off the 401), but people don't take it because it's too slow, especially if you get caught behind someone who insists of doing 80.

As for the upgrades to 17, glad to see those happening. It's kind of an embarrassment for Ontario that by far the largest section of 2 lane Trans-Canada is in Ontario. In fact, only a fraction of the Trans-Canada system in Ontario is actually 4-laned. Percentage-wise (total 4-laned vs total highway), I would bet that Ontario has the lowest percentage in Canada.

I wouldn't call it an embarassment. There are very few places in the world with 4 lane highways serving such a sparse population. Everywhere else on the Trans-Canada route - the Prairies, the Maritimes, even the BC interior - has more people and traffic. For most of northern Ontario the 2+1 setup on those roads in Sweden seems like a better solution. The Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler is like that, although a lot of it is undivided.

 

[waterloowarrior]

I don't really see the benefit of Super 2's for most Ontario highways. There aren't a lot of intersections to slow people down. For 7, create by-passes of Norwood, Marmora, and Havelock and you are pretty much set. I believe between Perth and Madoc there is only one traffic light at Glen Tay and traffic generally travels at 100 km/hr, and you only have to put your foot off the gas for 30 seconds around maybe Sharbot Lake and Kaladar.

With Super-2's there is still the dangerous risk of a head on collision. 60+% of fatal collisions in Ontario are non-intersection. Approaching vehicles are 1% of MVCs for property damage and personal injuries but 40% of MVC fatalities in Ontario.

If we do go with four-laning, building reasonably sized expressways could also help. Why are we building 110 metre ROWs with 30m+ medians? To me all these EAs are just designing massively over-built highways that will never see the light of day in our lifetimes.

 

[ShonTron]

One thing that I noticed after travelling out east is how Ontario is very much lacking in Super 2s. They seem to be all over New Brunswick, and even a couple in Quebec, but I honestly can't think of any in Ontario. It seems like it's either full freeway, RIRO, or a simple 2 lane highway with the occasional passing lanes.

In the case of something like Highway 7, it may be worth building it as a full freeway from Carleton Place to Perth, and then as a Super 2 from Perth to Peterborough, using a combination of the existing roadway, and new roadway (mainly around towns). I feel like Highway 7 could bear significantly more traffic (mainly taking some pressure off the 401), but people don't take it because it's too slow, especially if you get caught behind someone who insists of doing 80.

As for the upgrades to 17, glad to see those happening. It's kind of an embarrassment for Ontario that by far the largest section of 2 lane Trans-Canada is in Ontario. In fact, only a fraction of the Trans-Canada system in Ontario is actually 4-laned. Percentage-wise (total 4-laned vs total highway), I would bet that Ontario has the lowest percentage in Canada.

Newfoundland and Labrador - only on parts of Avalon Peninsula and around Corner Brook is the TCH four-laned (not counting the route through PEI).

I think Thunder Bay to Nipigon and Highway 71 to the Manitoba Border should be twinned (the sections where there isn't an alternate route). I might add Thunder Bay west to the 11/17 split (via Highway 102) only because of the similar no alternative route issue. Maybe extend Highway 417 to Pembroke/Petawawa and some improvements/extensions of the network around Sudbury and a North Bay bypass upgrade, but that's pretty much it. No need to four-lane 17 between Nipigon and Sault Ste. Marie or North Bay to Deep River.

It's because there are so many roads in Ontario needing upgrading that by the time they receive attention they need to 4 laned. New Brunswick is so low population that even major routes such as St. John - Fredricton can be done using super 2s, the traffic levels simply don't demand anything else. One thing I would love to see is a lot more passing lanes however, there are very few on provincial highways.

Nova Scotia is the one full of Super-2s (the 100-series highways). New Brunswick's main routes - 1 and 2 - connecting Quebec, Nova Scotia and Maine with Moncton and Saint John, are four-laned. (Strange how Bangor to St. Stephen - Maine Route 9 - is still a primitive 2 lane rural highway). There are some Super 2s in NB, but NS is where these are most prominent.

I'm talking about a 4 lane undivided highway... Divided / grade-separated highways cost much more.

Highway 3 in St. Thomas is a super-2.

It has right of way for a twin but freeway plans were shelved.

More pics http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_3-9_images/Hwy3_images.htm

Highway 3 in St. Thomas is a very strange case. A bypass made sense, but I imagine most traffic is headed west to the 401, north to 401 and London. That Super-2 didn't make that much sense, unless there were predictions of great things for that city and a need for an upgraded southern route through Tillsonburg and Simcoe that the new Highway 3 was supposed to feed into. It doesn't serve traffic patterns that well. Airport Parkway in Ottawa (and much of Autoroute 50 across the river) are good super-2 examples as well.

I don't really see the benefit of Super 2's for most Ontario highways. There aren't a lot of intersections to slow people down. For 7, create by-passes of Norwood, Marmora, and Havelock and you are pretty much set. I believe between Perth and Madoc there is only one traffic light at Glen Tay and traffic generally travels at 100 km/hr, and you only have to put your foot off the gas for 30 seconds around maybe Sharbot Lake and Kaladar.

With Super-2's there is still the dangerous risk of a head on collision. 60+% of fatal collisions in Ontario are non-intersection. Approaching vehicles are 1% of MVCs for property damage and personal injuries but 40% of MVC fatalities in Ontario.

If we do go with four-laning, building reasonably sized expressways could also help. Why are we building 110 metre ROWs with 30m+ medians? To me all these EAs are just designing massively over-built highways that will never see the light of day in our lifetimes.

Yeah. I'm all for a new Smiths Falls-Perth alignment (and four-lane that, and connect Highway 15 to it at a new interchange), but between Norwood and Glen Tay, just some upgrades are needed. The Norwood bypass makes the most sense.

 

[Kitsune]

I think something needs to be done with 17 as a whole in North Ontario. Most of the highway was designed in 30's with a few area's bypassed or built in the 50's. At the very least - the alignment needs to be updated. I think I also heard plans to twin / rebuild the Sudbury bypass has been shelved for now, but I haven't been able to find confirmation. But - looking at the 17 plan's east of North Bay, it seems like there is no plan to bypass North Bay. I personally think in the ultimate dream land 17 should be rebuilt south of Lake Nippising on a new alignment starting about 50km North of Deep River... and continue well south of Sudbury before meeting the old alignment somewhere near Spanish.