Windsor: E.C. Row EXPWY

[hockey781]

Has anyone heard anything about E.C. Row? I know that it was improved from Huron Church and West after the 401 was built up in that area. Heard something that it may be extended to Puce and Lauzon may be extended to the 401? Both very interesting. E.C. Row could use some improvements, overhead signage would be nice. Maybe some resurfacing?

[sa230e]

It could do with a lot of improvements but there's not much money for them since it's a municipal road. The city can only really afford to maintain it. The stuff you "hear" every now and then are rumours and pipe dreams, not concrete proposals. Unless the province assumes control of it or the population explodes I don't think you'll see it extended to Puce in our lifetime. Which is a shame because I used to work in Emeryville and the traffic was bad enough that it was faster for me to take the 401.

I read in the Windsor Star a few months ago the city requested to the MTO to upload it (which would be nice) but I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

Except for the section between Huron Church and Howard the pavement is in decent shape. They've done some nice aesthetic upgrades on the underpasses at Howard and Walker and inside some of the loop ramps. They've been slowly replacing the parapets on the bridges as well.

So it looks like we'll be stuck with four lanes, closely spaced interchanges with weave lanes, crappy signage and Londoners thinking we're over-privileged twats for bitching about our local expressway for the foreseeable future

[north 42]

The Lauzon Parkway extension to the 401 is something the city really wants to do because of all the growth in the east end. It will probably happen sooner rather than later with the new hospital needing more access.

[haljackey]

If the E.C. Row was extended to the 401, it would probably become the new tunnel route and take a lot of slack off Dougall between E.C. and 401.

Originally Posted by sa230e

So it looks like we'll be stuck with four lanes, closely spaced interchanges with weave lanes, crappy signage and Londoners thinking we're over-privileged twats for bitching about our local expressway for the foreseeable future

Yep pretty much. What you've got is better than nothing, but there's nothing wrong about asking to upgrade it!

[hockey781]

Weaving lanes are definitely not fun, and E.C Row messes up GPS Units by saying "Take Ramp to Huron Church Road" instead of "Take exit 10 to Huron Church Road." If there was Exit numbers, that's debatable though. Could go either way.

I can't wait until the 401 is done at Ojibway and the New Bridge is complete. Will be like the Bluewater in Sarnia right off the 402, I think it's better for Traffic if it's off a freeway as apose to a Local Highway.

[Symz]

I've read in other articles that there are only 2 E.C. Row interchanges that are up to Ontario highway standards, and they are the 2 cloverleafs at Huron Church and Lauzon Parkway. The rest is a mess.

[FenderStrat]

How realistic would a grade separation at Banwell, Lesperance and Manning be? I know that of those, only Banwell is within Windsor city limits. But yeah these intersections are awful. Constant accidents.

[sa230e]

Originally Posted by FenderStrat

How realistic would a grade separation at Banwell, Lesperance and Manning be? I know that of those, only Banwell is within Windsor city limits. But yeah these intersections are awful. Constant accidents.

You could probably easily build a parclo at Banwell as there's probably enough undeveloped land there. At least three out of four quadrants anyway. I've heard the idea floated before. If the city is smart they'll set the ROW aside for an interchange there.

It would be harder at Manning but I think it would still be doable to shoehorn an interchange in there if there's no more new development near the intersection. Probably a button hook with the diamond ramps on the Windsor-bound side and a loop on the Puce-bound side. Or possibly a SPUI. The highway would probably have to go over Manning rather than vice-versa.

Lesperance would be the hardest to do. I think the best you could hope for would be a grade separation with no interchange and even then it's a tight fit. Truncating Lesperance seems more likely. Or maybe a RIRO?

But of course for any of that you have to have funding first.

[Blitz]

It's ludicrous that it's considered a municipal road. It should be maintained by the province considering it's a regional road used by many commuters from Tecumseh and LaSalle. It needs proper signage that is up to provincial standards among other things. Mayor Dilkens has been putting pressure on the province to upload it but I'm not counting on it. The city has done an excellent job with the landscaping and the general aesthetics of the intersections where arterial roads intersect with the expressway ramps.