Trans Canada Highway Twinning: Segments U/C

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Many places in the U.S. that didn't seem to have much going for them do seem to have derived some economic benefits from being located along Interstate highways.

The US has a three dimensional traffic network that Canada doesn't. The completion of sections of say Interstate 69 through Indiana or Texas, or say I-49 through Arkansas is going to draw traffic from other corridors that might be busy and probably will have a positive economic effect to the areas that the interstates pass through.

That just isn't true in Canada.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by wave46

I'd say improvements to Highway 1 between the BC border and Highway 5 in BC would be the greatest bang for the buck, along with grade-separating the high-volume intersections of Highway 1 in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The absolute biggest bang for the buck along the TCH would be twinning the Malahat between Goldstream and Mill Bay, which is the only road linking Victoria (population 400,000) to the rest of Vancouver Island (population 350,000), of which the majority live within a 2 hour drive of Victoria.

[Dengler Avenue]

And this is really one of the only 2 highways that truly feature a divided 2+1 configuration in all of Canada (the other being a brief segment of Sea-To-Sky, somewhere).

Ps: Back in summer, my friend from Victoria was like, “EVERYBODY wants that Highway twinned.”

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.renfrewtoday.ca/rss/mili...way-in-valley/

People in that area, brace yourselves for a line of military vehicles on TCH for another week.

[Bobert]

$224M in funding secured to replace Sicamous Bruhn Bridge.

There are two options on the table:

1) 1 bridge, 5 lanes. No Main Street bridge

2) 2 bridges. TCH 4 lane bridge, 2 lane main street bridge.

No decision yet on which option will be built.

Thanks to Flipper on the BC Highways thread for the link: https://globalnews.ca/news/4671808/n...-sicamous-b-c/

Thoughts?

What is the idea behind the mainstreet bridge? I dont know anything about the local traffic patterns in sicamous, so I'm wondering what the smaller bridge will bring to the table. There doesnt seem to be much on the opposite side of the street.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.83815.../data=!3m1!1e3

[Dengler Avenue]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...76#post8388776 #781

The infamous Nipigon Bridge is finally widened, after all the scandals.

[vid]

There is still a bit of touch-up work and cosmetic/landscaping stuff next year. If they had a grand opening of any kind (doubtful considering the change in government) it will likely be in the spring.

[Dengler Avenue]

Given that it's ONPC, we might see grand openings of 417 around Renfrew and of twinned 17 near MB/ON border. (But in the latter case, it's only 6 km!)

But thanks for the clarification.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Given that it's ONPC, we might see grand openings of 417 around Renfrew and of twinned 17 near MB/ON border. (But in the latter case, it's only 6 km!)

It's been a long time coming though. Our cottage road ran off that stretch and I remember the Manitoba part of the TCH being done around 1971 (even the 2-lane section was made much fancier) and wondering why after the border, in this supposedly richer province, the road was so unimpressive. That's coming up half a century ago. The Ontario government wasn't keen on providing an upgraded highway for cottagers from Winnipeg.

[Dengler Avenue]

Question:
I don’t know if I’ve asked about this before, but is there a cheap way to blast rocks?
This way BC 1, ON 17, QC 185 and NS 104 can be upgraded “for cheap”.

[ssiguy]

I know I`m aging myself but I don`t care. Road maps in the 70s were far more informative than they are today including the ones online.


Back in the day there was a clear delination between freeways and 4 lane roads but not today. Freeways are marked specially but if not up to freeway standards then it is shown as just another road. You have no idea if the road is four-laned or not until you reach it.

[Franco401]

Divided roads are shown as such on Google Maps and similar services. Zoom in to check.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Question:
I don’t know if I’ve asked about this before, but is there a cheap way to blast rocks?
This way BC 1, ON 17, QC 185 and NS 104 can be upgraded “for cheap”.

Contractors use the lowest grades of asphalt they can get away with to save money, if there were a cheaper way to blast rocks, trust me, they'd be using it.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by vid

Contractors use the lowest grades of asphalt they can get away with to save money, if there were a cheaper way to blast rocks, trust me, they'd be using it.

(1) I heard bitumen was used for the twinning of Route 175 in QC though;

(2) No wonder the divided portion of Highway 17 Sudbury SW Bypass has one set of lanes closed each year from May to November for resurfacing (the same with Highway 11 near West Ferris).

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I know I`m aging myself but I don`t care. Road maps in the 70s were far more informative than they are today including the ones online.


Back in the day there was a clear delination between freeways and 4 lane roads but not today. Freeways are marked specially but if not up to freeway standards then it is shown as just another road. You have no idea if the road is four-laned or not until you reach it.

Google maps is pretty clear as to what is twinned or not...as mentioned you just have to zoom in a little bit. With a paper map you have no zoom option, so that information had to be presented differently (different colour, fatter line, etc). When looking at Google maps from a level where you can see the entire province, it's no longer relevant for the average user of Google Maps to know if it's freeway, twinned or not, they probably just need to know the major routes through an area.

I know a lot of us are map nerds and would find that informative but it reduces the user-friendliness to have different colour coding for relatively benign information for most users. That is probably why they reduced the colour distinction between freeway and expressway recently. It used to be dark orange vs yellow, and now freeways are a only slight shade darker that then the expressway yellow.

[Innsertnamehere]

^ that one really bothers me. Making that distinction is important, even on a high level of navigation as freeways have such huge time advantages over regular highways. Distinguishing 4 lane roads isn't as important.

[Glacier]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

And this is really one of the only 2 highways that truly feature a divided 2+1 configuration in all of Canada (the other being a brief segment of Sea-To-Sky, somewhere).

Ps: Back in summer, my friend from Victoria was like, “EVERYBODY wants that Highway twinned.”

What do you mean by 2+1 configuration? The Sea-To-Sky is two lanes each way with with a concrete divider and a few traffic lights to Squamish.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WildCake

That is probably why they reduced the colour distinction between freeway and expressway recently. It used to be dark orange vs yellow, and now freeways are a only slight shade darker that then the expressway yellow.

What is the difference between a freeway and an expressway in this context?

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Glacier

What do you mean by 2+1 configuration? The Sea-To-Sky is two lanes each way with with a concrete divider and a few traffic lights to Squamish.

By 2+1 I mean the following configuration:
Median barrier to separate both directions,
2 lanes in one direction, but only 1 in the other,
Alternating every now and then so both directions have equal passing opportunity.

Originally Posted by Acajack

What is the difference between a freeway and an expressway in this context?

Freeway can only be accessed or exited through interchanges. (Think A85 <Claude Béchard>.)

Expressway allows intersections. (Think Route 175.)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Freeway can only be accessed or exited through interchanges. (Think A85 <Claude Béchard>.)

Expressway allows intersections. (Think Route 175.)

OK, I never thought that was the case, and believed expressways were also controlled access with interchanges only.