The 401

[haljackey]

I think the 401 will be 8+2HOV from Highway 8 to Milton. The first leg of the construction starts next year with 10 lane widening between Highways 8 and 24. I would assume the HOVs will start east of 24 once complete.

The beginnings of phase 2 of the collector-express widening between Milton in Missisauga is starting as well with the expansion of the Mavis Road overpass.

HSR, if actually built, may take some cars off the 401 but not enough to justify inaction of improving traffic flow. Traffic volumes will continue to increase.

[Innsertnamehere]

With HSR you could probably build It to 6+2HOV, with a provision for the ultimate build out of 8+2HOV. Early discussions have it removing around 10,000 AADT off of the 401. (Probably not remove, but rather largely siphon off of it as corridor travel occurs) the HSR itself is supposed to have around 15-20,000 daily users.

I suspect the 401 between Milton and 8 won't get treatment for a while, I think the 400 will be next, probably in the next year or so I think we will see funding for that.

[eemy]

The 401 between Cambridge and Milton generally moves well anyway provided there isn't some sort of major disruption like an accident. It tends to only get really bad in Milton and then again in Cambridge.

It would also be cool if they made a direct exit to/from the HOV lanes and Hwy 8 so that you don't have a whole bunch of people suddenly cutting across 3 lanes of traffic to make the exit.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by sonysnob

I doubt the implementation of HSR will really have that much of an effect on traffic levels on the 401.

HSR alone won't have that much (although still an impact), but GO RER will do a lot. It will siphon off a huge chunk of the regular commuters who make up most of highway traffic. In combination they'll do even more--someone travelling from Kitchener to Markham, for example, will be able to take HSR to Union then transfer onto GO RER up to Markham, which will be a faster trip than driving--unless you take the 407 which is expensive.

For the record, the GO RER plan would have two-way, all-day, 15-minute frequency service between Kitchener (both downtown and at a suburban park and ride at Breslau), Guelph, Georgetown, Brampton, Pearson, and Toronto with very easy connections to Mississauga, Durham, Markham, and Richmond Hill. You're basically talking about subway-quality service in the entire Golden Horseshoe region.

The HSR EA will likely look at reduced highway widening expenditures associated with HSR & GO RER and factor that into the HSR business case.

Though, with Glen Murray, the HSR's main proponent, out of MTO, we have yet to see if the project will even survive. I feel like it will though, it's such a great vote-grabber (not to mention great project!), and with all the infrastructure work needed for GO RER, HSR is really not that much of an extra cost. In any case, even if HSR is off the table, GO RER is still very much on it and the government has already gotten the wheels rolling on that one.

It's interesting to see how HSR may been seen by MTO as a solution to highway congestion. Right now MTO doesn't really seem to care, it widens highways regardless of whether Metrolinx is doing anything... shows the disconnect between the two bodies.

If the MTO ever gets to the point where its seriously considering widening the 401 to Kingston--something that is currently foreseen long-term (and therefore being planned for with bridge rehabs and such) but not scheduled for any time in the short-term or even mid-term--I imagine that's when the ball will start to get rolling big time on HSR towards Ottawa. 6-laning to Kingston would be an extraordinarily expensive project with nearly 400 lane-kms needed plus massive bridge overhauls.

[sonysnob]

Exposed concrete driving surface along the 401 through Scarborough. The concrete road base of the westbound express lanes is being repaired, and the driving lanes will be resurfaced later this summer.





While concrete was poured as a roadbed along this stretch of highway, it was not first used as a driving surface as it was on other older 12 lane portions of Highway 401.

[haljackey]

The new 401/Westminster Drive overpass. Twice as wide as the old one!

I doubt we'll see 8 lanes west of the 402, but this bridge will be able to span it!



Old bridge for comparison:

[sa230e]

It's kind of dumb they built an extra wide overpass over a stretch of road that's not likely to be widened, yet the new 401/WDC interchange is being built for 6 lanes even though 8 lanes is already needed and they have all the room they need to do it.

[1overcosc]

Those before & after pics for London are fascinating. Really demonstrates just how much the standards for bridge design have changed. That new bridge style (concrete on steel, triangular edges, etc.) seems to be a universal standard that MTO has been using for new bridges for quite some time now. My suspicion based on what I've seen and know is that it's been the universal standard since about 1990 or so. Can someone confirm?

Regarding the 401/WDL.. that confuses me too. It's quite unusual given how the MTO is really good at future proofing... unless the interchange is designed in such a way that adding more lanes is easy.

[sonysnob]

The 401/WDL interchange is definitely being desinged with expansion in mind. It's just openeing with only a six lane cross-section. It's relatively easy to wide an underpass, but nearly impossible to widen an overpass.

[sonysnob]

A couple of new photos of Hwy 401 in Durham Region:

All of the girders are now up on the future Lakeridge Road overpass. A little bit of the future westbound hwy lanes are now paved now as well:



New COMPASS signs have been popping up in Durham Region as well:

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by sa230e

It's kind of dumb they built an extra wide overpass over a stretch of road that's not likely to be widened, yet the new 401/WDC interchange is being built for 6 lanes even though 8 lanes is already needed and they have all the room they need to do it.

401 / WDC interchange is being built for a 12 lane configuration, or at least for the 401 to have 12 lanes to the WDC and 10 lanes after it.

[haljackey]

Highway 401 scheduled to be English Wikipedia's featured article on Nov 10.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ontario_Highway_401

[sa230e]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

401 / WDC interchange is being built for a 12 lane configuration, or at least for the 401 to have 12 lanes to the WDC and 10 lanes after it.

From looking at these pictures, I don't see how they can fit 12 lanes through it.
The overpasses and the space between the piers for the flyover don't look wide enough to support a 12 lane highway.

[sonysnob]

Below is a jpg of the proposed interchange between the WDL and Hwy 401. The collector/express system collapses at the WDL interchange, and the highway has a ten lane cross-section proposed long term easterly.

http://www.407eastphase1.ca/wp-conte..._corrected.jpg

[MolsonExport]

It keeps growing and growing and growing...

[mark76]

401 exit at hwy 8 westbound: there is a temporary concrete barrier due to construction work .Work is being done but barrier is still there? Unless there is something hidden I don't see.

[manny_santos]

You know you're a road geek when...you have a dream about the West Durham Link being complete and driving on it. I had such a dream earlier in the week, and it even had a number - 408.

[1overcosc]

When is it supposed to be open? The internet tells me that both the first phase of 407E and the WDL are supposed to open sometime in 2015 but if those pictures are recent looks more like 2016...

[sonysnob]

I am not certain when the 407E will be opened. Certainly the government has been steadfast in their 2015 delivery date, but as I think everybody knows, you can't always put a lot of stock in what a government promises.

Personally, I am not sure when I expect the 407E to open. Construction progress has been brisk ... but there is still an immense amount of work to be done.

I am not certain if traffic will be shifted onto the new alignment of Lakeridge Road before the snow flies or not. The concrete decking machine is working nearly every night to pour the deck, and much of the dirt has been brought into to fill the earthen approaches. The future westbound lanes of the 401 have already mostly been surfaced in asphalt in advance of the switch. I think as soon as the new Lakeridge Road structure over 401 is finished, westbound traffic will be moved to the new lanes of the 401. It won't be a huge job to plow the new alignment of the 401 through the old alignment of Lakeridge once the new structure has been completed.

By the looks of things, traffic will be moving onto the Simcoe Street and Hwy 12 structures over the future lanes of the 407 soon as well. Again, I am not quite sure if that will happen before the winter shutdown or not, it looks like the contractor is certainly pushing for it. Even with traffic shifted onto all of those structures, they are still only half built. They will build the other half of each structure once traffic has been shifted. Work has barely begun at either the Lakeridge Road and Westney Road structures over Highway 407, but some of the other minor crossings are nearly completed. The future westbound lanes of the 407 are already paved west of Simcoe Street.

[Innsertnamehere]

the PPP states that it must be open by December 21st, 2015 I believe. It may open later, but the contractor will be paying penalties to do so.