List of Canadian Ring Roads

[roccerfeller]

edit 1: thanks for the corrections; Andy6, Dwils01, Dmajackson, Marty_Mcfly, MonctonRad, Ayreonaut, flar, Distill3d, Metro-One, le calmar, Architype, Acajack, Mike474, Molson Expert, feepa, whiteford, Canadian74, haljackey, Doug, freeweed, Simpseatles, vid

edit 2: added several images! - Edmonton, Calgary, Sherbrooke, Thunder Bay, St. John's

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Here's something fun I thought I'd compile together:

Ring Roads!

Across Europe, especially in the UK, "ring roads" are pretty popular and common ways of commuting around a city, rather than through it. Its a nice way to circumvent the city, or to bypass city traffic, among other uses.

Given that Calgary, Saskatoon, Edmonton, among other cities in Canada, are currently working on completing/adding to their present ring road infrastructure, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of all the ring roads in the country.

Please, be it a mod or anyone else with the knowledge, help me to edit this list so it is as accurate as possible.

So far, I have used wikipedia to compile a list together, in addition to using google and government/municipal websites to make the list. I have added the lengths for kicks.

Anyone else wishing to contribute is wholly welcomed, so please correct me where need be and help me fill the list!! (including posting pics if you'd like!), or let me know if you would like any other tidbits of information to be added, other than just the length.

Note: not all are "true" ring roads. Afaik, only Winnipeg has a "true" ring road that actually circles the city, and Calgary & Edmonton will have "true ring roads" soon; additionally afaik, only Edmonton & Calgary are actively planning to have it be a proper ring road/freeway. Hamilton-Burlington has a true ring road which is a freeway as well. If you feel I should add or take away a "ring road" let me know or discuss in the forum!


Enjoy!!


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(west --> east)

British Columbia

LANGLEY - Langley Bypass

Length: ??? (planned: none)


Alberta

CALGARY - Stoney Trail/Highway 201

Length: 44km (planned: 99km)
*planned to be true freeway


EDMONTON - Anthony Henday Drive/Highway 216

Length: 52km (planned: 78km)
*planned to be true freeway


Saskatchewan

SASKATOON - Circle Drive

Length: 22km (planned: 32km+)


REGINA - Ring Road

Length: ??? (planned: ???)


Manitoba

WINNIPEG - Perimeter Highway/PTH 100&101

Length: 90km (planned: complete)
*will be a true freeway by 2099

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE - HWY1 Bypass


Ontario

THUNDER BAY - Thunder Bay Expressway/Highway 61

Length: 15.3km (planned: ???)


SUDBURY - Southwest&Southeast Bypass/Highway 17

Length: 24.3km (planned: ???)


WINDSOR - E.C. Row Expressway/Highway 7087

Length: 15.4km (planned: ???)


LONDON - in planning; to open 2099


HAMILTON-BURLINGTON - Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway & Red Hill Valley Parkway

Length: 13km??? (planned: none)
*true freeway

TORONTO GTA - Highway 407 ETR

Length: 107.2km (planned: 150.9km)
*true freeway

OTTAWA - in planning stages


Québec

MONTRÉAL - Autoroute 30/Autoroute de l'Acier

Length: ??? (planned: ???)

VILLE DE QUÉBEC - Autoroute 40/Autoroute Félix-Leclerc

Length: (Quebec City portion) 25km (planned: ???)


SHERBROOKE - ce qui est c'est nom?

Length: ??? (planned: ???)



New Brunswick

MONCTON - Route 15/Wheeler Boulevard

Length: (Moncton portion) 9km (planned: none)


Prince Edward Island

CHARLOTTETOWN - Charlottetown Perimeter Highway

Length: ??? (planned: none)


Nova Scotia

CAPE BRETON RM - Peacekeeper's Way/Highway 125

Length: 30km (planned:???)


HALIFAX - Circumferential Highway/Highway 111

Length: 13km (planned:???)


Newfoundland & Labrador

ST. JOHN'S - Outer Ring Road

Length: 20km

& Pitts Memorial/Harbour Arterial

Length: 14.4km



CORNER BOOK - Lewin Parkway

Length: ???


Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut

nothing found

[Andy6]

Highway 407 would be stretching the definition of Ring Road beyond recognition, I'd say.

Portage la Prairie has half a Ring Road, closer to a true freeway than the Perimeter Highway is.

[Dwils01]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

TORONTO - Highway 407 ETR

Length: 107.2km (planned: ???)

Hwy 407 is planned to connect to Hwy 35/115 north of Bowmanville in Clarington. They are starting the first phase which will make it go to Simcoe Street in Oshawa.

The planned length will be about 43.7km bringing it to a total length of 150.9km.

[Marty_Mcfly]

The Outer Ring Road in St. John's is about 20km in length, and its terminus in East White Hills marks the end of the Trans Canada Highway. It's one of two highways which "circles" the city, the other being Pitts Memorial Drive, or locally called the "harbor arterial" which runs from an exit off the outer ring road and along the southern edge of the city near Mount Pearl, Waterford Valley, Kilbride, and terminates directly into downtown St. John's. This highway is about 20km long as well.

[MonctonRad]

Route 15 in Moncton is also called Wheeler Boulevard which is a great name for a four lane divided expressway with a maximum speed of 100 km/hr.

You can't get much more European than the Moncton ring road. It's bounded on either end by giant roundabouts (the Hall's Creek and Causeway traffic circles).

DMAJackson is correct, it's only about 10 km long, but only encloses the northern perimeter of central Moncton. It connects in the east at the Hall's Creek traffic circle to Veteran's Highway, which is also NB Route 15. The entire urban extent of Route 15 is about 20 km.

[Dmajackson]

Just some minor corrections;

Moncton - Route 15 is correct but the length is way off. Using exit numbers it is 9km from rotary to rotary which is the extent of the ring portion around the city.

Halifax - The Circ is correct for Dartmouth. I don't know if you included it in the length but it should include the MacKay Bridge. This extends the ring around the urban core. There are plans for a third bridge between the Woodside Terminus and the South - End of Halifax (around HalTerm).

Charr'town - There is a ring road though not as impressive as in larger centers. It is Route 1 (Trans Canada) that rounds the northern section of the city. It's name is the Charrlottetown Perimeter Highway.

Also these might stretch the defenition slightly but I'll let you use your judgement;

Fredericton - This tiny city has two seperate rings. South of the river there is Highway 8 (Fredericton Bypass). This connects the Trans Canada to Highways 10 and 105 to the east (when the bridge reopens at least). To the north of the city there is the Ring Road which is Highway 105. This connects downtown around the northern limits to the west.

Oromocto - This even smaller city has the Trans Canada bypass it to the south (for connection to Highway 7). This was probably not planned as a ring road but it definitely looks like one.

[Ayreonaut]

For some reason I always feel like hwy 19 through Nanaimo is a ring road, but looking at maps, it doesn't appear to be.

[flar]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

HAMILTON - Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway

Length: 13km (planned: ???)

The LINC, which runs east from Highway 403, was completed in the 1990s, the second phase is the Red Hill Valley Parkway, which was completed in 2007 and runs north to the QEW. The QEW then meets back up with the 403, completing a ring around Hamilton-Burlington. The entire route is real controlled access freeway with full interchanges. The ring is directly linked to several other controlled access highways: to the 403 west to Brantford, the QEW to Niagara, the QEW/403 to Toronto, the terminus of the 407, highway 6 north to Guelph, and Burlington Street, the double decker highway spur into the industrial harbour area.

[Distill3d]

Portage La Prairie, MB has the Highway 1 by-pass that runs south of the city to avoid it. Highway 1 also runs through the center of town.

Similarly, Langley (city), BC uses #10 as a semi circular by-pass as well. It begins at 56 avenue and 192 Street in the west and ends at 56 avenue and what is essentially 210 Street (aptly named Langley ByPass) in the east. Its mainly used by truckers to avoid Langley City's core. I'm willing to say its the only "ring road" in BC.

[Metro-One]

Kind of a trivial question, but when does a bypass become a ring road? I am just curious where the line is drawn in the distinctions.

Yeah, BC does not really have any true ring roads, of course one major factor is the geography of all our largest cities in BC (Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna for example) do not allow the construction of true ring roads. Here, they would more become bypasses. Vancouver could have a semi ring road if the 99/91 were properly connected to the #1.

[mike474]

A rough google maps calculation says that Circle Drive is currently about 22 kms and the City of Saskatoon says there is 10 kms under construction (although this seems a little high so maybe it counts some re-alignment that overlaps with the existing road). This will complete the loop.
http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/...thProject.aspx

There are already plans for a second loop:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...189847&page=52
see the sixth post

[Acajack]

There is a proposal for a ring road or bypass highway to the south of Ottawa between Highway 417 (coming in from the southeast and Montreal) and Highway 416 (from the southwest and the 401 and Toronto). Currently almost all crosstown traffic and traffic in transit through Ottawa goes through the centre of the city (about 3 km south of downtown on the 417 (Queensway).

I am not sure the direct highway link to the south between the 416 and 417 will ever happen, but until then the closest thing to a ring road bypassing the urban core is Hunt Club Road, which is a four-lane divided suburban arterial with numerous signalized intersections.

Hunt Club connects directly with the 416 in the west, but it doesn't link up directly to the 417 in the east - yet. Construction work is underway but in the meantime it's not that hard to get to and from the 417 there either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunt_Club_Road

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Kind of a trivial question, but when does a bypass become a ring road? I am just curious where the line is drawn in the distinctions.

I'd agree, it's splitting hairs really. I guess a ring-road is a "ring" around the city, where a bypass like Langley's is only a crescent? I say they're one in the same given their functions.

[le calmar]

The ring road in Sherbrooke is a work in progress, but when the green section now under construction is complete, it will cover 75% of the urban area.

[freeweed]

Calgary's Ring Road is only planned to be 10% longer than Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway?? That seems impossible given that Calgary is much larger and supposedly much sprawlier. There's not much development (yet!) outside of the ring road, and Winnipeg's is seeing more and more development push up against theirs. I guess there's still a ton of vacant land I forget about.

[Architype]

The St. John's Outer Ring Road length (Northern section) is listed as 20 km.

http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releas...st/1115n07.htm

From Google earth, the southern portion of the ring road (Pitts Memorial/Harbour Arterial) is about 14.4 km.

From Google earth, the total of the two routes forming the St. John's ring road is about 35 km.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

MONTREAL - Autoroute 640/Autoroute de la Rive-Nord

Length: 54.8km (planned: ???)

& Autoroute 30/Autoroute de l'Acier (length in Montreal Metro portion only = ???)

The A-30 when completed will be the true Montreal bypass since it will link up to the main routes coming from Ottawa (417-40) and Toronto (401-20) going east.

The A-640 is not that useful to most through traffic trying to get around Montreal, since there is a missing link across the Lac des Deux-Montagnes from near Oka towards the Hudson/St-Lazare/Pointe-Fortune area. The A-640 is mostly useful for people from Ottawa-Gatineau trying to get to Quebec City and points in Atlantic Canada. I use it all the time for this purpose.

[MolsonExport]

Montreal has the opposite of a ring road...that horrid stretch of highway 20 (for fools taking it to get to "Montreal, Centre-Ville, where the Autoroute becomes grotty Harwood Boulevard) in Dorion with at-grade intersections and a particularly bad collection of dreary working-class patateries, used car dealerships, etc.

[feepa]

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/1701.htm

Outside of the mentioned Anthony Henday drive, pictured above, Edmonton and the Alberta Capital Region are currently planning for the region's second ring road. It would consist of rougly Hwy 37, Hwy 21 and Hwy 60 and about hwy 19 in the south (though that's still quite up in the area)
Also, Edmonton has a inner ring road - not to full freeway standards (most of it limited access), but most consider it the inner ring road, and it consists of Yellowhead freway, 170th Street, Whitemud and 75st/Wayne Gretzsky Drive

[Canadian74]

Calgary Stoney Trail.