Mid Peninsula Highway
 

May be time to re-open this topic. Especially after last Thursday's accident on the Burlington Skyway.
Sure opened my eyes trying to get around Hamilton. It diverted too much traffic into residential areas!

Why not just use the Red Hill to the LINC then to the 403?

Even the Red Hill and Linc couldn't handle an addition 100,000 cars per day.

However, shutting down parts of the QEW is extremely rare, shutting down for four days is actually a new record. That's not enough to start levelling space for the Mid Pen highway ASAP.

Those are highways that should be provincial responsibility. If they were, they could be expanded to handle more traffic. As it stands now, Google Maps directions routes any traffic from London/SW Ontario towards Niagara Falls via the LINC and RHVP, and as GPS use continues to expand, more long-distance traffic will use it - especially in cases of problems on the QEW.

On Friday I drove from London to Niagara Falls. The backup on the Linc and RHVP in the other direction was insane. On my way back, I took backroads to avoid the congestion (20/65/6).

If no Mid-Pen highway is built, I'd like to see the Linc extended east to the 406, and the 420 extended west to... the 406. That would essentially create some relief to the QEW above the escarpment.

Quick map:
https://i.imgur.com/2F3uABY.png

Upload the Linc as Highway 420, and then connect to two parts of 420 into a single highway. Problem solved.

here is the recent Niagara GTA study
http://www.niagara-gta.com/

^ it wants a twinned highway 6 from the Hamiltn airport to highway 403, a widened QEW to 6+2HOV, and a new corridor between Welland and Niagara / QEW.

Transportation and summer traffic
 

I like haljackey map as there is major development in the Winona-Grimsby region and with the increase in interest with the wineries.
If gas prices remain reasonable and the Canadian dollar at less than par you will see a huge increase in traffic from the the border crossings to the GTA.
As a shift worker one of the hardest shift to be on time for is Sunday nights going from St Catharines to Hamilton or beyond. Almost as bad as Barrie southbound Sunday evening?
His map looks like expanding Mud/Fly road which is the local short cut anyway.
Hopefully some plan is considered in the foreseeable future.
However the Hamilton to Toronto routes have to be expanded or developed as we are sure getting plenty of transplants in Hamilton considering house to price ratio. Not to mention Brantford and Thorold?
the 403 is overtaxed now in prime time?

Destroy Class 1 & 2 farmland and envrionmental conservation areas because gas prices are cheap today? Sounds smart. Winery tours and the occasional shift worker needs to get across the region? What are we waiting for!? :rolleyes:

Mid-Pen hwy sounds great on paper, but protection of farmland should be one of the top priorities in southern Ontario. One of the only places in this huge country where you can grow a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Already, too much of it has been urbanized. Our ability to feed ourselves should not be taken for granted. We would be in a world of trouble if someday it becomes more difficult to ship food here from Mexico and California.

How much ROW is available on the existing QEW corridor? Enough to widen it to, say, 10 lanes?

^ it's really tight through St. Catharines and they just completed a widening to 3 lanes each direction a year or two ago. I do not know how much of the "old" congestion issues have now been addressed with the now fully open 6 lane highway.

I couldn't believe how long that stretch of QEW through St. Kitts it took!!!! I drove it regularly. The mid-penn can work, with the Greenbelt in fact take the pressure off the better farmland below the escarpment along the QEW. Tender fruit can't be grown above the mountain. Apples and hardier fruit. Not grapes or peaches. Build the mid-penn and be strict about sprawl only in Places to Grow, Smithville, West Lincoln etc.

If Brown wins, buy land in West Lincoln.

...And the QEW was only recently upgraded through St. Catharines. There's no more room for expansion.

With the Greater Golden Horseshoe expected to grow like a weed for the foreseeable future, the QEW will just get more and more clogged.
Something will need to be done, but just what that something is remains to be seen.

I'd like to see the existing highway removed and replaced by the mid pen

West of St. Catharines though it can be expanded it looks like (ultimate ROW would need to be 10 lanes). St. Catharines will definitely be a bottleneck for the foreseeable future though...not sure if the 406/58/420 corridor can accommodate additional traffic.

It would have high capital and high operating costs but I wonder if a double decker highway may be the best option to add capacity while preserving the fruit farms.

Alternatively, how much traffic could be diverted away through transit improvements like 2 way all day GO to Niagara?

Given the fact much of the traffic is longer distance (although some may commute between Hamilton and Niagara Region), most likely very little.

Given the financial situation of the Government of Ontario, a mid-peninsula would likely be a toll highway if it were to be built in the near future.