Hwy. 401/8 Interchange

[waterloowarrior]

waterloo region planning comm. staff report

RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the Regional Municipality of Waterloo request the Ministry of Transportation to consider the
recommendations contained in Report P-09-032, dated March 31, 2009, relating to the Class
Environmental Assessment for the Highway 8 and Highway 401 Interchange, including:
a) The Ministry of Transportation work with the Region through the Regional Transportation
Master Plan process to consider establishing an additional interchange to Highway 401;
b) Transit priority measures, such as queue jump lanes and signal priority, be recognized in
the Transportation Environmental Study Report and included in the detailed design of the
Highway 8 and Sportsworld Drive interchange to assist transit operations;
c) Pedestrian improvements around the Highway 8 and Sportsworld Drive interchange be
recognized in the Transportation Environmental Study Report and incorporated into the
detailed design of the interchange in order to support planned public transit infrastructure;
and
d) The Ministry of Transportation recognize the need for bus bypass shoulder lanes along
Highway 8 and Highway 401 within the study area in the Transportation Environmental
Study Report, and work with the Region to explore the feasibility of these lanes during
detailed design.

[DHLawrence]

Proposed highway interchange
Ray Martin, Times Staff
October 21, 2009

Cambridge residents have until the end of the month to make final comments on a plan that will overhaul the Highway 401/8 interchange.

Over the last year, Ministry of Transportation officials have been working with consultants, city and regional staff on the environmental assessment (EA) study for the stretch of Highway 401 between the Speed and Grand rivers, and up Highway 8 to the interchange at Sportsworld Drive.

The recently completed study is the latest step towards revamping and upgrading the interchange to meet the growing volume of traffic heading into and out of Kitchener through Cambridge.

MTO public relations spokesperson Christina Martin told the Times the ongoing widening of Highway 8 north, off Sportsworld Drive, “was taken into account in the Highway 8/Highway 401 interchange improvement study”, however, “further EA work will be required as part of the future design process and before any construction could occur” at the Highway 401/8 interchange.

“These improvements are not part of the southern highways program, the ministry’s five-year construction program,” she said.

Working from east to west, the plan proposes to extend the existing bridge over Highway 401 at Speedsville Road and replace the Fountain Street bridge. A three-metre sound barrier would be installed from the Fountain Street bridge on the south side to the end of the eastbound on-ramp at the top of Shantz Hill Road. The Highway 401 off-ramp onto old King Street would also be reworked and a stoplight would be erected at the foot of the ramp.

Meanwhile, the Highway 401 off-ramp would be extended west across the Grand River on a new bridge. Along that new off-ramp, planners have designed another ramp leading to a two-lane flyover, which will allow eastbound traffic to pass over Highway 401 and onto the northbound Highway 8 near Sportsworld Drive.

At Sportsworld Drive, MTO officials are proposing to revamp the interchange, widening the bridge to accommodate more lanes of traffic and designing a new off-ramp for northbound traffic. They would also widen the Highway 401 overpass at King Street.

For southbound traffic heading to London off Highway 8, the MTO plan proposes a new two-lane ramp and a bridge crossing old King Street to Highway 401.

Also being proposed is high-mast lighting to better illuminate the interchange. Highway 8, between Sportsworld Drive and Highway 401, will be widened to six lanes, while Highway 401 is widened to eight lanes.

Currently, 95,000 vehicles annually use Highway 8 and that volume is anticipated to increase to 115,000 by 2021. Meanwhile, traffic volumes on Highway 401 at the interchange will increase from 130,000 vehicles annually to 175,000 by 2021.

At this point, no funding has been allocated to the project.

For comments or questions about the study, contact project manager Scott Howard at the Ministry of Transportation, 659 Exeter Rd., London, Ont., N6E 1L3, scott.howard@ontario.ca, or call 1-800-265-6072, or consultant project manager Gregg Cooke a Stantec Consulting Ltd. 1400 Rymal Rd. E., Hamilton, ON, L8W 3N9, gregg.cooke@stantec.com, or call collect 1-905-385-3234.

All comments must be received prior to Oct. 30.

I have a comment: start building!

[taylortbb]

I also have a comment. I think their annual vehicle numbers are supposed to be daily. 95,000 annual vehicles is 260 vehicles a day on highway 8. Needless to say this is not correct.

Originally Posted by taylortbb

I also have a comment. I think their annual vehicle numbers are supposed to be daily. 95,000 annual vehicles is 260 vehicles a day on highway 8. Needless to say this is not correct.

No kidding. I'm sure it gets 260 cars in less than 10 minutes in most cases.

[mark76]

Originally Posted by Cambridgite

No kidding. I'm sure it gets 260 cars in less than 10 minutes in most cases.

lol

[Loco101]

Did this project ever end up happening??

[sonysnob]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Did this project ever end up happening??

Nope. You still have to use King Street if you are traveling from Kitchener to London.

[PeteM]

...still...

I drive this route daily and sadly I don't think it will ever happen. Especially now that they are widening the bridge and improving the EB interchanges with King St.

[Innsertnamehere]

Lol talk about an old thread.

MTO has reserved the land for it and the grand River bridge replacement is designed to accommodate it.

When they will do it, who knows, but they aren’t precluding it with current work.

The EA was done in 2009 for it because there was a subdivision proposed (now built) to the south of the king street interchange and they needed to figure out how much land they needed to protect for the ramps, they didn’t intend on building them at the time.

I imagine it’ll happen eventually but I also imagine it’s not high on the priority list given the cost and relatively small benefit.

[Dengler Avenue]

Wow I didn’t even know this thread exists. In terms of benefit, I guess it depends on how many trucks roam on that stretch of King Street. From what I remembered, there weren’t many, but there were probably not few either.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Wow I didn’t even know this thread exists. In terms of benefit, I guess it depends on how many trucks roam on that stretch of King Street. From what I remembered, there weren’t many, but there were probably not few either.

I would guess that a good chunk of those trucks would be related to the 2 Toyota plants and the suppliers near each plant that supports the other plant. But whether that is a significant number, I couldn't say.

[sonysnob]

The new westbound Grand River Bridge that is currently being built between King Street and the Highway 8 interchanges is going to feature an extra wide outer shoulder once completed.

This extra wide outer shoulder is initially being constructed to facilitate construction staging (they need somewhere to temporarily put all of the traffic while the replace the existing bridges), but will later serve as the speed change lane for traffic entering the westbound 401 from the as of yet unconstructed direct ramps from the Highway 8 freeway.

So, while the current work at the Grand River bridge isn't specifically for completing the missing ramps to the Highway 8 freeway, elements in the new bridge design are specifically designed for the new future ramps.