[gweed123]

Looks like Murray wants to Twin highway 17 past Arnprior.. hopefully they mean as a 400 series highway rather than just twinning, but still some progress. could the 417 be coming to Renfrew soon?

http://www.insideottawavalley.com/n...es-all-party-support-for-highway-17-twinning/

I would think that it would end up looking something like Highway 11 north of Gravenhurst. That is to say, interchanges at major roads, but at-grade intersections at smaller side roads where building interchanges or access roads would not be worth the expense.

As the article mentions, work to extend 417 to Scheel Drive is underway right now. The next logical terminus is Renfrew, followed by Cobden (where a bypass would be required), then Pembroke. To Pembroke by the end of the decade may be a stretch, but that's what needs to happen for the Ottawa Valley.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I would rather it be full 400 series personally, it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue for the 400 to sudbury project. Having those at grade intersections makes me uneasy, and are annoying as you constantly have to slow down for people turning or accelerating out of them.

 

[Kitsune]

speaking of Sudbury - the southeast bypass as well as the general upgrading of highway 17 to 400 standards on that side of Sudbury seems to have been deferred indefinitely as the PIC is now saying Long term plan.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I thought it was still on the Northern Highways PDF for 2013 stating "after 2017"?

 

[Mulder]

I would think that it would end up looking something like Highway 11 north of Gravenhurst. That is to say, interchanges at major roads, but at-grade intersections at smaller side roads where building interchanges or access roads would not be worth the expense.

As the article mentions, work to extend 417 to Scheel Drive is underway right now. The next logical terminus is Renfrew, followed by Cobden (where a bypass would be required), then Pembroke. To Pembroke by the end of the decade may be a stretch, but that's what needs to happen for the Ottawa Valley.

I drove by the stretch from arnprior to renfrew Friday. They've already started the clearing & grubbing.

 

[gweed123]

I drove by the stretch from arnprior to renfrew Friday. They've already started the clearing & grubbing.

Yup, the section to Scheel Drive is already under construction, it's the rest of the stretch to Renfrew that's in limbo.

 

[nfitz]

Ethanol content might be a factor - regular fuel can have up to 10% Ethanol content, which would translate to a 3-5% drop in mileage.

I wonder if some of the "bad gas" I've noticed has simply been a higher ethanol mix.

I'd happily pay a bit more to have 0% ethanol. And it would be more environmentally friendly as well, given the amount of diesel fuel and herbicides they have to use to grow the corn.

 

[UWGrad09]

Looks like the new Highway 7 won't actually start in 2015. Pushed back to 2016/2017 - what a shocker
http://www.therecord.com/news-story...-t-start-until-2016-leaked-document-suggests/

 

[innsertnamehere]

last year the southern highways document had it "beyond 2017"... so no, I'm not surprised as this has been known for a while now.

 

[ShonTron]

Press Secretary for Glen Murray tweeted this:

Patrick Searle ‏@Patrick4ONT 11h
.@Kathleen_Wynne promises $29B for transit, transportation over 10 years. 4-laning across ON!

http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/10...for-transit-and-transportation-over-10-years/ … pic.twitter.com/rKmM3RrvFX

To which I replied:

@Patrick4ONT Four-leaning across Ontario? Are referring to the Trans-Canada Hwy?

Patrick replied:

Patrick Searle ‏@Patrick4ONT 10m
@Sean_YYZ part of @Kathleen_Wynne's #MovingOntForward plan includes border-to-border-to-border highway four-laning from Manitoba to Quebec.

Take it as you will.

 

[Kitsune]

I doubt they could do it for 29 billion - lot alone any less. Some portions of the 400 extension have run close to a billion for a km .. four laning the entire 17? Not believable - I almost wonder if they want to go with 11 instead.

 

[salsa]

In this day and age, the amount of money Ontario spends on roads is unreal. Imagine how much better transit would be if it got nearly the same amount of attention over the last few decades.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I doubt they could do it for 29 billion - lot alone any less. Some portions of the 400 extension have run close to a billion for a km .. four laning the entire 17? Not believable - I almost wonder if they want to go with 11 instead.

i absolutely do not believe the billion for a km.. thats triple the cost of a km of subway. No. absolutely not. $20 million per km or something maybe, that is more appropriate for an "expensive" 4 lane freeway.

The most recently completed portion of the 400, from Estaire to highway 637, cost $75 million for 10km of highway. Thats $7 million per km. I agree that the entire thing isn't realistic (at least without significant help from the feds) but building a large chunk of it, from say Sault Ste. Marie to the 417 is very possible. Besides, i would expect some form of Federal involvement as well. $35 million of the $75 million for the 400 project was federal money.

 

[MrsNesbitt]

In this day and age, the amount of money Ontario spends on roads is unreal. Imagine how much better transit would be if it got nearly the same amount of attention over the last few decades.

This. If the costs of highway widening are anywhere close to what's being discussed here it's outrageous to spend that much money on roads - something that we're supposed to be moving to use less of anyways.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Because transit options are viable in Northern Ontario? no.. Nobody is advocating for a widening of the 401 or something (even if Hudak is musing about widening the DVP), but building rural expressways isn't evil. The first link built between cities is always a freeway, no matter where you go in the world. Twinning 11 to North Bay (now finished), the 400 to Sudbury, 417 to Petawawa, etc. are perfectly reasonable projects.

If anything its one thing I appreciate in Harper. He has gone to great lengths to help build Canada's national highway network, building highways across the country that are helping traffic and freight movement everywhere. In a few years you will be able to drive from Halifax to Windsor on freeways, something that was unthinkable a decade ago.