The 401 - Page 15

sonysnob · #**281** Posted **Jul 27, 2015, 11:36 PM**

A few photos of some ongoing construction along the 401 in the eastern GTA:

Construction at the 404/DVP interchange has exposed the concrete road base of the westbound collector lanes. The collector lanes have been reduced to two lanes through the construction zone, while a fifth lane has been temporarily added to the express.

http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/Ontro...ul15_24x16.jpg

At Warden, the joints of the concrete are indicative of when the westbound collector lanes were only two lanes wide through the interchange.

http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/Ontro...ul15_24x16.jpg

Half of the Lakeridge Road has already been demolished. I suspect it will be sometime before the section over the rail lines comes down.

http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/Ontro...ul15_24x16.jpg

View looking easterly as Highway 401 passes beneath the future ramp to the eastbound 401 from Highway 412.

http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/Ontro...6-15_24x16.jpg

TownGuy · #**282** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 12:54 PM**

^ Nice. Can you tell me why the 401 will continue to only be 6 lanes between Ajax and Oshawa after construction? I know they want to do a collecter-express system at some point but it seems a little silly to do all this work and leave it a 6 lanes for the foreseeable future. The bottleneck at Ajax is a constant traffic jam. I don't see the 407 diverting enough traffic to stop that.

1overcosc · #**283** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 2:15 PM**

IIRC, the ultimate plan is the collector-express to Highway 412, 10 lanes to Oshawa, 8 lanes to 35/115, and 6 lanes to Kingston.

No idea what the timelines are for this, but all the bridges being built for the 412 are protecting for it.

TownGuy · #**284** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 2:28 PM**

Yes but that is some years off. The bottleneck at Ajax is almost a perpetual traffic jam. I don't see why they couldn't have added a little extra capacity seeing as how they rebuilt the entire stretch anyways. It's probably the most consistently jammed spot in the GTA, morning till night.

haljackey · #**285** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 3:32 PM**

Running an extra lane from the current bottleneck at Salem Road to the 412 would help traffic flow in the short term until full widening happens.

There are technically 2 lane drops here: Of the 5 EB lanes, one exits, another ends. Causes slowdowns that can extend all the way to Brock Road where the collectors end.

The 401 goes from crazy wide to narrow in quite a few sections of Greater Toronto. While things are getting better (like the Hurontario widening), having longer transitions from wide to narrow should help things move along a little better. I'd rather go 10km/h then go 30, hit the brakes and stop, then back up to 30, stop, repeat.

1overcosc · #**286** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 3:35 PM**

From my limited experience driving in the GTA, I'd agree with Durham being the main bottleneck. I was there last weekend; I drove a rental to Toronto (not happy about that, but I had a group of 3-4 with me, so splitting the rental fees & gas ended up being cheaper than a train/bus and for 2 of us in the group money is tight) from Ottawa.

I arrived in at about 9pm on a Friday night. Traffic was smooth right up until Oshawa, then it clogged. Then as soon as I hit the collector-express in Pickering, it was smooth again and stayed that way right through into the city.

On the way back on Sunday afternoon, it was also smooth until the collector-express collapsed; didn't see when it cleared though as we ended up getting off the highway and detouring onto Highway 2 all the way to Kingston (we wanted to see all the old downtowns along it).

haljackey · #**287** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 3:58 PM**

Salem Road is probably the 401's #2 choke point, only the 427 interchange tops it. At least it can be fixed up as there is room unlike 427.

Innsertnamehere · #**288** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 4:24 PM**

The part that frustrates me is that they are completely rebuilding the highway for the 412 and they didn't bother to extend the collector - express system to the 412.. They really should have done that.

I'm continuously amazed at MTO's complete apathy to the situation too, they aren't thinking about widening it for another 20 years apparently. I guess they think the 407 is going to take a lot of traffic off of it?

1overcosc · #**289** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 4:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The part that frustrates me is that they are completely rebuilding the highway for the 412 and they didn't bother to extend the collector - express system to the 412.. They really should have done that.

I'm continuously amazed at MTO's complete apathy to the situation too, they aren't thinking about widening it for another 20 years apparently. I guess they think the 407 is going to take a lot of traffic off of it?

It's also not really in keeping with the MTO's normal way of doing things.

In Kingston, they widened the freeway from 4 lanes to 6 lanes here, even though it's not really justified based on traffic counts and probably won't be for another 20-30 years. The reason was that so many of the structures in the area were about to expire (the section through Kingston is very old; it was actually built as a Highway 2 bypass before the 401 came into existence, and Kingston's local micro-climate wrecks havoc on bridges more so than in other places in the province), that they figured the marginal cost of throwing on an extra 2 lanes in the median to the project was minimal, if all structures had to replaced anyway.

In fact, in studies of potential long-distance 6-laning through Eastern Ontario, the MTO apparently once concluded that 6-laning from Cobourg->Kingston should end at the Sir John A MacDonald Blvd interchange, about halfway through Kingston, as that is the most heavily used interchange for local access into Kingston, and the typical access route to Queen's University from the west. Yet, it's now widened to 6 lanes throughout the whole city.

Wouldn't that same logic apply here in Durham too?

haljackey · #**290** Posted **Jul 31, 2015, 5:57 PM**

I'm all for widening, but as long as improvements are made to get the 401 to 'flow' smoother, I'll be satisfied.

407E will take some strain off 401, and the new alignment has modern design, so I would expect traffic to move a little better when the 412 interchange is built compared to today.

sonysnob · #**291** Posted **Aug 4, 2015, 4:09 AM**

The sign in Woodstock works now:

DrNest · #**292** Posted **Aug 4, 2015, 8:39 PM**

Absolutely agree the bottleneck at Salem needs widening. It's infuriating to drive it every day and know that regardless of time of day, I'm going to get caught in that bottleneck. And it needs doing sooner rather than later!

haljackey · #**293** Posted **Aug 21, 2015, 9:45 PM**

401 Wonderland interchange

haljackey · #**294** Posted **Aug 21, 2015, 11:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonysnob

The sign in Woodstock works now:

I know someone who drives this stretch everyday and it always shows the same thing. Maybe its just a test? I thought it was intended to show delays on either 401/427 or 403/QEW to Toronto so you can take the best route at the split.

sonysnob · #**295** Posted **Aug 22, 2015, 12:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by haljackey

I know someone who drives this stretch everyday and it always shows the same thing. Maybe its just a test? I thought it was intended to show delays on either 401/427 or 403/QEW to Toronto so you can take the best route at the split.

Yeah, I don't think that sign was implemented as well as it could have been.

BenTheGreat97 · #**296** Posted **Aug 22, 2015, 4:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonysnob

Yeah, I don't think that sign was implemented as well as it could have been.

Come to Ottawa, where the shiny new overhead VMS systems only display "don't drink and drive" messages.

MolsonExport · #**297** Posted **Aug 27, 2015, 2:39 AM**

^almost useless message. Of course I am opposed to DUI but the nanny state is just too much on those giant expensive electric highway signs.

sa230e · #**298** Posted **Aug 28, 2015, 1:42 AM**

I don't get why they don't just turn them off when they're not in use. Why waste the electricity?

haljackey · #**299** Posted **Aug 28, 2015, 2:19 PM**

I doubt they use much power, in fact some have solar panels

There's one on the WB 401 in London. It was originally built to let drivers know about border wait times via 401 and 402 to choose the quickest route at the split.

Never seen that. All it says is 'seat belts save lives', 'keep left lane open for passing' and crap like that.

sonysnob · #**300** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 11:59 AM**

The next contract is coming:

Quote:

9. Description of Project:
The Contract 2015-2018 is the ultimate widening of Highway 401, from the Highway 410/403 interchange to east of the Credit River, in the City of Mississauga, Regional Municipality of Peel (which will expand the current 6 lanes to a 12-lane core/collector system).

This includes:
• Expansion of Highway 401 from its current 6-lanes to a 12-lane core/collector system;
• Collector lanes consisting of three (3) general purpose lanes in each direction;
• Core lanes consisting of two (2) general purpose lanes and one (1) High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in each direction;
• HOV lanes from west of Mavis Road to east of Highway 410 to be opened following construction completion;
• Removal of the Second Line West underpass over Highway 401 to accommodate the highway widening;
• New structures carrying the proposed collector lanes over Fletcher’s Creek;
• Stormwater management strategy;
• High mast illumination on Highway 401 throughout the project limits;
• Reconstruction of the existing highway pavement; and,
• Provision for the Belgrave Road connection at Highway 401/Mavis Road interchange

10. Assignment approximate start and completion dates:
Pre-contract engineering phase: N/A
Construction administration phase: (tentative timing) February 2016 to January 2020