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Author Topic: Ontario's Highways  (Read 584745 times)

SignGeek101

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #350 on: May 30, 2015, 12:12:40 AM »

The temporary HOV lane markings that are being added for the PanAm games have been added to the 401 through Scarborough and Durham Region:



The HOV lanes will be in effect from June 29, and require three occupants for travel.

I wonder how much the PamAm games will affect the traffic on the 401. I guess the MTO decided to install HOV lanes there just in case.

AsphaltPlanet

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #351 on: May 30, 2015, 12:12:04 PM »

^ I expect the PanAm games to have a significant effect on traffic on the 401 as well as other GTA highways.  In addition to sections on the 401, various other highways within the GTA will also get temporary HOV lanes, including both the DVP and Gardiner/QEW.  The MTO is hoping to see a 20% reduction in travel within the GTA this summer during the PanAm games.
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mrsman

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #352 on: May 31, 2015, 01:58:47 PM »

The temporary HOV lane markings that are being added for the PanAm games have been added to the 401 through Scarborough and Durham Region:


The HOV lanes will be in effect from June 29, and require three occupants for travel.

Why only temporary?  To me, HOV seems like a good idea on any corridor with significant carpooling potential, especially a corridor as wide as 401.
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cl94

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #353 on: May 31, 2015, 02:05:14 PM »

Long-term HOV probably wouldn't work on 401 due to the nature of the beast. The QEW, for example, gets a lot of long-distance HOV traffic, so the HOV lanes makes sense. With how 401 is set up, you'd need to construct additional ramps to allow HOV vehicles to exit at their destinations, as few travel the length of the corridor.
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vdeane

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #354 on: May 31, 2015, 03:19:41 PM »

Plus the HOV lanes are not new - the are converted from existing lanes.  Thus, the overall capacity of the road is going DOWN so that free-flow can be guaranteed for carpools.  They're essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul in terms of congestion.
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AsphaltPlanet

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #355 on: May 31, 2015, 04:29:28 PM »

Some pictures of the 417 construction related to the LRT construction in eastern Ottawa:










Easterly view from the Belfast Road overpass


Easterly view along the 417 towards the new pedestrian overpass from the Vanier Parkway overpass


Westerly view towards the Rideau River bridge from the Vanier Parkway overpass



I've also uploaded some new photos of Hwy 400 north of Barrie:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_400_images/Hwy400_p3_images.htm
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SignGeek101

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #356 on: May 31, 2015, 05:28:13 PM »

Some pictures of the 417 construction related to the LRT construction in eastern Ottawa:



If this sign is new, I'm not impressed with the series B and the compressed Em usage.   :angry:

Also, I think Ontario should try out APL's. They have been proven to be clearer than diagrammatics. Can't blame anyone for this sign though, the traffic manual hasn't been updated since 2005 I think.

Some pictures of the 417 construction related to the LRT construction in eastern Ottawa:



The new VMS that Ontario is now using has really grown on me. The pictogram and bilingualism made it more difficult to understand. But this one is really clear and easy to understand.

This construction has been going on awhile now, even since I lived there. I'm hoping it's completed soon. Great pics as always.

cl94

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #357 on: May 31, 2015, 05:34:40 PM »

Ontario uses modified APLs for option lanes in quite a few locations. Not full width, but there's a pictogram showing how many lanes exit.
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AsphaltPlanet

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #358 on: May 31, 2015, 05:45:33 PM »

The new signage along the 417 through eastern Ottawa is a little bit of mis-mash right now.  The extra lane on the 417 will initially be opened as a transit lane to facilitate construction of Ottawa's LRT.  Once the LRT has been completed, the new lane will be converted to a general purpose highway lane, which will necessitate fairly significant changes to the current highway signing plan.
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mrsman

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #359 on: June 01, 2015, 07:00:14 PM »

Plus the HOV lanes are not new - the are converted from existing lanes.  Thus, the overall capacity of the road is going DOWN so that free-flow can be guaranteed for carpools.  They're essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul in terms of congestion.

I know that in most of the US, it's politically infeasible to convert existing general lanes to HOV, but I've always wondered why.  If a roadway has enough traffic that can benefit from carpooling, why not make it harder for general traffic in the hopes that more would take a bus or carpool.

We are not talking about a freeway with two or three lanes here.  From the picture, there appears to be 7 lanes in each direction, plus transition lanes to exits.  The idea is to reserve 1/7 of the capacity for the HOVs.

Now, if it won't be adequately utilized because of lack of ingress/egress ramps, then maybe it doesn't work here.  But I don't think HOV conversion should be ruled out unless new lanes are constructed.
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vdeane

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #360 on: June 01, 2015, 09:03:26 PM »

Most of ON 401 in Toronto is six lanes each direction (three express, three collector); this photo appears to be in the middle of a transfer, which is why there are four shown in the express.  The express lanes have very few direct exits/entrances; almost all access is from the periodic transfers every few km.

As far as making commuting more painful to encourage carpooling/transit... why should I have my life become harder just because I'm an introvert who doesn't like to live according to anyone else's schedule?
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mrsman

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #361 on: June 01, 2015, 11:27:55 PM »

Most of ON 401 in Toronto is six lanes each direction (three express, three collector); this photo appears to be in the middle of a transfer, which is why there are four shown in the express.  The express lanes have very few direct exits/entrances; almost all access is from the periodic transfers every few km.

As far as making commuting more painful to encourage carpooling/transit... why should I have my life become harder just because I'm an introvert who doesn't like to live according to anyone else's schedule?

And at the same time, why should the public be forced to shoulder the expense of widening a road that is already very wide to handle even more traffic, when certain mitigation measures can be used to manage the resource more appropriately?

In my view, any limited access road that is at least 8 lanes wide should be subject to alteration without the necessity for widening.  Widening would be a huge expense.  But perhaps HOV, HOT or toll lanes are in order.  Maybe a reversible lane operation would also work.

It's just hard to believe that a highway this wide can't dedicate one lane to carpoolers and transit without the need to widen the highway even further.
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cbeach40

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #362 on: June 02, 2015, 10:51:17 AM »

1. The purpose of the temporary HOV is to provide access for games officials and participants, VIPs, etc as well as the 3+ HOV. It's a case where the needs of the games were determined to be of greater importance than the need to move traffic.

It's just hard to believe that a highway this wide can't dedicate one lane to carpoolers and transit without the need to widen the highway even further.

2. Well, believe it, because that road is incredibly busy. Just looking at the hourly volumes for the location in that picture, if one lane were converted the road would likely be overloaded for all but the hours of 9:00 pm to 6:00 am every weeknight. Weekends would get more time in the morning, but busier later into the evening. Further west it gets even worse.

There are many effective ways to manage traffic demand, but converting existing GPL to HOV is like trying to lose weight by hacking off a limb.

Long-term HOV probably wouldn't work on 401 due to the nature of the beast. The QEW, for example, gets a lot of long-distance HOV traffic, so the HOV lanes makes sense. With how 401 is set up, you'd need to construct additional ramps to allow HOV vehicles to exit at their destinations, as few travel the length of the corridor.

3. Travel patterns on Hwy 401 vs. the QEW tend to be more of the long distance type of travel. The reason why HOV is looked at for QEW and not 401 through Toronto has more to do with available real estate and less to do with traffic demand.
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1995hoo

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #363 on: June 02, 2015, 10:51:14 PM »

The text on that VMS is really sharp. Wish ours here could be so legible.
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SignGeek101

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #364 on: June 02, 2015, 11:02:45 PM »

The text on that VMS is really sharp. Wish ours here could be so legible.

Agreed. The new ones are much better than the ones on the roadways now (like the 401).

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/new-ontario-highway-signs-aim-to-show-not-tell-1.2919559

haljackey

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #365 on: June 11, 2015, 07:56:44 PM »

Toronto City Council has voted to replace the eastern Gardiner Expressway with a hybrid option.







First exciting thing to happen since Rob Ford. He was at the meeting in a track suit, and was as the only person who voted to maintain the existing structure. Everyone else wanted to demo it or go with the hybrid option
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SignGeek101

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #366 on: June 11, 2015, 09:18:51 PM »

Toronto City Council has voted to replace the eastern Gardiner Expressway with a hybrid option.







I'm a little confused. The hybrid option does what exactly?

First exciting thing to happen since Rob Ford. He was at the meeting in a track suit, and was as the only person who voted to maintain the existing structure. Everyone else wanted to demo it or go with the hybrid option


Good old Rob Ford.

cl94

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #367 on: June 11, 2015, 09:54:03 PM »

Hybrid removes all connections except for the Gardiner-DVP movement and builds a ground-level boulevard. While the Star doesn't like it, it's better than removing everything because the freeway-freeway connection is retained.
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cbeach40

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #368 on: June 12, 2015, 10:56:22 AM »

MTO has called the contract to realign Hwy 66 around Virginiatown.

The highway is being realigned due to stability issues from the abandoned mine underneath the town and highway.
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mgk920

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #369 on: June 12, 2015, 12:08:10 PM »

Hybrid removes all connections except for the Gardiner-DVP movement and builds a ground-level boulevard. While the Star doesn't like it, it's better than removing everything because the freeway-freeway connection is retained.

I agree, the Hybrid looks far and away best to me - especially with all of the development that is expected in that former industrial wasteland area within the foreseeable future.  That area reminds me a LOT of the area around Lake Shore Drive (US 41) and Wacker Drive in Chicago.

Since the Gardner is not going to be extended eastward as originally planned, in light of that expected development, I would have also opposed the 'rebuild as is' option.

Mike
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Stephane Dumas

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #370 on: June 14, 2015, 10:15:37 AM »

Also, I remember a old discussion on the mailing list Canroads https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/canroads/conversations/topics/3330 about an upgrade of Hwy-11 between Barrie and Orillia into a 6-lanes freeway on the current alignement or using a new corridor to replace the current RIRO setup. I wonder how's the MTO study of this highway gap goes?
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haljackey

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #371 on: June 14, 2015, 11:45:44 AM »

Interesting photos of when Toronto demolished the eastern Gardiner.



More pics
http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/06/that_time_when_toronto_demolished_the_gardiner/
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MisterSG1

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #372 on: June 14, 2015, 09:42:28 PM »

The Pan Am games wouldn't have created any traffic really. I mean there is practically ZERO interest in this event from the citizens of this city and region. Just like that awful event 5 years ago in a couple of weeks, the Pan Am games are nothing more than a burden on Toronto with how the government is treating this. I've supported an Olympic Bid in the past for Toronto because I think it's the only thing that can be a wake up call to this entire region in terms of transportation infrastructure. Hosting the winter games is child's play compared to the summer games, but Vancouver got a freaking rapid transit line to the airport due to the Olympics.

So the government, especially since the turn over of the Liberals in 2003, have implemented more of their social engineering policies when it comes to how we commute. As I've said in the past, the QEW was supposed to have a 10-lane cross section in Halton Region....and well we know what we got.

Wasn't income tax supposed to be temporary, I don't believe a thing the government says, and I won't be surprised if these HOV lanes turn into a form of HOT lanes. On the 401 today, they had the nerve to display on the VMS "Avoid Rush Hour Traffic During Pan Am Games", excuse me? Who do you think you are? People work for a living, government, to pay for your disgusting nonsense that no one here wanted like the Pan Am games.

When not displaying traffic information, Ontario's VMSs in the GTA usually display political messages to take transit, or to ride your bike, excuse me, I like my freedom and I will not rely on a bunch of buses, with people who do disgusting behaviors, diseases, and what not. I will not spend 3 hours to get to the other side of the region on a bunch of extremely slow buses.
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AsphaltPlanet

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #373 on: June 16, 2015, 08:06:14 AM »

Some new pictures of Hwy 417 through Kanata.  Hwy 417 was widened through Kanata over two multi-year construction projects that were completed in 2014:

Some photos:














The full set of photos, including larger versions of the above photos can be found here:
http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_410-427_images/Hwy417_p5a_images.htm
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dcbjms

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Re: Ontario's Highways
« Reply #374 on: June 16, 2015, 08:36:55 AM »

Looking nice all 'round, even Scotiabank Place (don't ever ask me to call it Canadian Tire Centre - all I remember hearing it called back when I went to uni was either Scotiabank Place or the Corel Centre).  The 417 needed that widening, in any case - now if it could just be expanded past Arnprior.
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