Highways In Canada II

[Dengler Avenue]

Note that the next logical section to be widened from Trim (Orleans) to Cumberland would be very difficult to do as the road hugs the Ottawa River and has a very small right-of-way with lots of properties on both sides of it. This segment is within the City of Ottawa boundaries.

Given that Old Montreal Road was the old 17, I’ve always wondered whether 174 (then ON-17A) was already abutted by properties before the downloading. That whole stretch feels like a super 2 to me otherwise (including Old 17 Hawkesbury Bypass).
If 174 and old 17 do get widened to 4 lanes though, I’d like to race you from Parliament Hill to Anjou (you via A50-A15-A40, me via 417-174-17-417-A40). I wanna see which way’s faster.

Il y a une petite compétition entre les deux rives de la Rivière des Outaouais.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Given that Old Montreal Road was the old 17, I’ve always wondered whether 174 (then ON-17A) was already abutted by properties before the downloading. That whole stretch feels like a super 2 to me otherwise (including Old 17 Hawkesbury Bypass).
If 174 and old 17 do get widened to 4 lanes though, I’d like to race you from Parliament Hill to Anjou (you via A50-A15-A40, me via 417-174-17-417-A40). I wanna see which way’s faster.

Il y a une petite compétition entre les deux rives de la Rivière des Outaouais.

The shore route of the 174 (former ON-17) in the Cumberland area has been there for a very long time. Maybe 50-60 years I think.

As for the 17 route in general from Orleans to east of Hawkesbury, it's almost a half and half mix of "new" (sic) routings and the path of the old road to Montreal. There are quite a few segments where the current 17 is the only main east-west road in the area. So logically that's where the road to Montreal has always been.

[srperrycgy]

CTV Calgary - Calgary's ring road, decades in the making, now complete

[ssiguy]

Great news for Calgary. The freeway was desperately needed and by making it at least 6 lanes and fully grade separated while encircling the city with 101 km of roadway, they have future proofed the road. $4 billion well spent.

[youngregina]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Great news for Calgary. The freeway was desperately needed and by making it at least 6 lanes and fully grade separated while encircling the city with 101 km of roadway, they have future proofed the road. $4 billion well spent.

The total cost of the entire route is closer to $10-12 Billion if I’m not mistaken, and could certainly be higher given I’m pulling numbers from a presentation I did on the road a few years back. That $4 Billion is just the west portion - from 16th Ave to McLeod.

[Innsertnamehere]

It’s a good piece of infrastructure- but also rather overbuilt in most sections.

I’m all for future proofing, but some of the medians on the highway are ridiculous and lead to increased costs. Bridge structures on medians that large cost 2-3 times that of a regular freeway..

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EunFJXigsW79CdxP7?g_st=ic

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

It’s a good piece of infrastructure- but also rather overbuilt in most sections.

I’m all for future proofing, but some of the medians on the highway are ridiculous and lead to increased costs. Bridge structures on medians that large cost 2-3 times that of a regular freeway..

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EunFJXigsW79CdxP7?g_st=ic

It looks like they build it out to accommodate a 12-lane express-collector setup like the 401.

[Dengler Avenue]

I can’t tell whether that part is in the FN. If yes, it makes sense. If not, it feels rather ambitious…

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

It’s a good piece of infrastructure- but also rather overbuilt in most sections.

I’m all for future proofing, but some of the medians on the highway are ridiculous and lead to increased costs. Bridge structures on medians that large cost 2-3 times that of a regular freeway..

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EunFJXigsW79CdxP7?g_st=ic

This was a product of the deal negotiated with the FN.

I suspect Alberta Transportation wanted to push the construction to the edge of the right-of-way in order to establish an effective boundary it could develop within.

Had the province developed the smaller cross-section first (as is usual for these things), the FN might have been able to 'reclaim' some of the land after the agreement lapsed. The Alberta government would have to renegotiate if they wanted to expand the footprint of the road after the fact.

Anyway, congrats to Calgary on their new ring road being complete!

[ericmacm]

Happy to see the Calgary Ring Road finally complete. Looking forward to eventually seeing more ring road projects across Alberta advance, like for Red Deer and for the east portion of Grande Prairie’s ring road project.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by ericmacm

Happy to see the Calgary Ring Road finally complete. Looking forward to eventually seeing more ring road projects across Alberta advance, like for Red Deer and for the east portion of Grande Prairie’s ring road project.

I didn’t know that Grande Prairie had a grand plan until you mentioned.
https://www.countygp.ab.ca/en/county...connector.aspx
Here’s hoping that a freeway flowing interchange is futureproofed for 43 & 40X.

Edit: https://cityofgp.com/sites/default/f..._plan_2020.pdf slides 155-156
Beautiful

[hipster duck]

Why would Grande Prairie or Red Deer need a ring road?

In both cases, they already have a freeway bypassing them in the dominant direction of through travel -east-west for GP, north-south for Red Deer.

Ring roads are very expensive because they're very lengthy and add a lot of trip distance. Let's say you're trying to get to the "other side" of a circle of a 10 km diameter. If you go through the centre, you travel 10 km. If you go halfway around the circumference, you have to travel 15.7 km to get to the same spot. In a relatively small city with free flowing traffic, is this extra 50% in distance made up for in any time savings?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Ring roads are very expensive because they're very lengthy and add a lot of trip distance. Let's say you're trying to get to the "other side" of a circle of a 10 km diameter. If you go through the centre, you travel 10 km. If you go halfway around the circumference, you have to travel 15.7 km to get to the same spot. In a relatively small city with free flowing traffic, is this extra 50% in distance made up for in any time savings?

I've often wondered this with Wheeler Blvd (our ring expressway in Moncton). In general I very rarely travel the full ring, or even 2/3rds the ring. Usually I use it to get to nearby peripheral neighbourhoods (southbound to Riverview, eastbound to Dieppe). I think this is the way most people use it. It makes sense for this type of segmented travel. Most people drive 110-120 km/hr on Wheeler. It makes crosstown travel a lot quicker than driving through the core at 40-50 km/hr with multiple traffic lights along the way. Less direct, but, more convenient.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by ericmacm

Happy to see the Calgary Ring Road finally complete. Looking forward to eventually seeing more ring road projects across Alberta advance, like for Red Deer and for the east portion of Grande Prairie’s ring road project.

Alberta's highway need is an updated QE2 with a minimum of three lanes in each direction for its full length and merge/exit lanes built to modern standards. And access limited proper interchanges.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I've often wondered this with Wheeler Blvd (our ring expressway in Moncton). In general I very rarely travel the full ring, or even 2/3rds the ring. Usually I use it to get to nearby peripheral neighbourhoods (southbound to Riverview, eastbound to Dieppe). I think this is the way most people use it. It makes sense for this type of segmented travel. Most people drive 110-120 km/hr on Wheeler. It makes crosstown travel a lot quicker than driving through the core at 40-50 km/hr with multiple traffic lights along the way. Less direct, but, more convenient.

That sounds about right - nobody would travel the full length of a ring road unless they were highway nerds because you'd come right back to where you started

Logically, almost everybody would travel half of the distance of a ring road or less unless there's something unforeseen like a closure/accident.

Most people would do what you do: travel if for a small portion of the ring just to get to somewhere nearby. This basically turns ring roads from bypasses into local highways, which kind of defeats their purpose. In a place like Moncton or maybe even Calgary and Edmonton (for now) this isn't a problem, but in much bigger cities like Houston or DC the main ring road is perennially jammed for this reason and the solution is...to build another ring road further out! Houston is on to its 3rd ring road now, which will be a whopping 270 km long when fully built out!

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by Jaws

Alberta's highway need is an updated QE2 with a minimum of three lanes in each direction for its full length and merge/exit lanes built to modern standards. And access limited proper interchanges.

I totally agree. I would even go a step further and say that they need to build out a modern grade separated corridor all the way from Edmonton to Coutts, as well as finishing what they started with HWY 63 to complete a more direct twinned connection from Fort McMurray to Edmonton.

[Innsertnamehere]

Just getting the Trans Canada and Highway 2 from Edmonton down to Coutts to not have any stoplights and be a single, direct, 4-lane, median separated highway should be the goal.

Fretting about small farm crossings isn't a huge deal, other than perhaps between Calgary and Edmonton. There just really shouldn't be any stoplights.

Alberta needs to focus on the Strathmore Bypass, the Fort Macleod bypass, connect Highway 4 to 3 in Lethbridge with a freeway, build some interchanges in Medicine Hat, etc.

[Build.It]

Henday in Edmonton isn't particularly useful unless you live in the far outer burbs and need to get somewhere else in the far outer burbs.

Whitemud is very useful, and Yellowhead will be as well once it's fully grade-separated.

Biggest thing missing are two complete N-S freeways. One around 50 St, and another around Fox Drive, for example.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Build.It

Henday in Edmonton isn't particularly useful unless you live in the far outer burbs and need to get somewhere else in the far outer burbs.

Whitemud is very useful, and Yellowhead will be as well once it's fully grade-separated.

Biggest thing missing are two complete N-S freeways. One around 50 St, and another around Fox Drive, for example.

Sometimes I wish that Highway 2 punches through Edmonton as a freeway all the way past Highway 37, just like through Calgary.

[sonysnob]

Autoroute 13 in Laval, Quebec:


http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/PQ/A/13/...ug21_42x28.png