Highways In Canada II

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Depth of the waterway. Pre-existing infrastructure. The nature of the terrain.

It could be done, but, it would be very expensive, and, there are fewer people in Cape Breton than in PEI, and, Nova Scotia is notoriously Halifax-centric. Iy would be considered a waste of money.

Roads to Bridgewater and Kentville on the other hand would make a lot of sense to government planners based in Halifax. These roads after all would feed into Halifax, A road to Cape Breton on the other hand goes in the wrong direction.

Yes indeed throw in that pesky swing bridge of only two lanes on the C.B. side of the causeway and there are ...challenges.

I can see the 101 twinning being completed at the Cold brook Exit and with the Bridgewater population and industry growth its just a matter of time to build the 103 there.The Province has started the extension of the 104 to about the 242 km marker to land at the reservation that already has a twinned overpass bridge being used.

[Dengler Avenue]

On the other hand, I can see the bridge over Canso Causeway built if Port Tupper starts generating a significant amount of truck traffic. I foresee a scenario where Cape Breton becomes a bedroom community for the ports.
Also, while this happens only twice a day, a long line of cars getting off the ferry onto N.S.-105 (especially during AM rush) can still slow things down.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

On the other hand, I can see the bridge over Canso Causeway built if Port Tupper starts generating a significant amount of truck traffic. I foresee a scenario where Cape Breton becomes a bedroom community for the ports.
Also, while this happens only twice a day, a long line of cars getting off the ferry onto N.S.-105 (especially during AM rush) can still slow things down.

- The "Strait Area" has been touted as the next Canadian deepwater superport for the last 50 years. I'm still waiting.

- CBRM is an hours drive from Port Hawksbury. Ut's a tad far to be acting as a "bedroom community", especially on dodgy roads in the winter time.

- Being from PEI, and going back and forth from Halifax for nine years when I was a student there, I am well aware of "ferry traffic." There is a lot of racing and jockeying for position for the first 30 km or so after the traffic disembarks from the ferry, but, after that, things start to spread out. The Canso Causeway is about 150 km from the ferry terminal in North Sydney. I think any congesting would have dissipated by the time iy reaches the causeway.

[Acajack]

AADT on NS Highway 105 appears to be below 5000 for the entire route so twinning on Cape Breton is probably not a priority.

I haven't looked it up in terms of plans but my guess is that Nova Scotia will twin the 104 on the mainland to the Canso Causeway, maybe build a new crossing, but that that will mostly be it for a while.

As has been said there is more traffic on the 101 in the Annapolis Valley and on the south shore on the 103 so the twinning priorities for the province will be there for the next while.

Plus improvements to highways in the Halifax area.

[Dengler Avenue]

Actually AADT on 105 from 162 to ferry exceeds 10K IIRC, so something can be done to that borderline urban stretch.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Actually AADT on 105 from 162 to ferry exceeds 10K IIRC, so something can be done to that borderline urban stretch.

For that stretch, sure.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Depth of the waterway. Pre-existing infrastructure. The nature of the terrain.

It could be done, but, it would be very expensive, and, there are fewer people in Cape Breton than in PEI, and, Nova Scotia is notoriously Halifax-centric. Iy would be considered a waste of money.

Roads to Bridgewater and Kentville on the other hand would make a lot of sense to government planners based in Halifax. These roads after all would feed into Halifax, A road to Cape Breton on the other hand goes in the wrong direction.

Thank you!

[Nouvellecosse]

That's largely true except NS isn't "notoriously" Halifax-centric any more than any other province whose capital is the largest city like Ontario, Manitoba, NFLD, or PEI. So it isn't a matter of some philosophy of centrality, it's just that most people live in the HRM. He just happens to come from a "notoriously" poly-centric province so notices a contrast.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

That's largely true except NS isn't "notoriously" Halifax-centric any more than any other province whose capital is the largest city like Ontario, Manitoba, NFLD, or PEI. So it isn't a matter of some philosophy of centrality, it's just that most people live in the HRM. He just happens to come from a "notoriously" poly-centric province so notices a contrast.

We are the Three Muskestooges! Stoogeteers?!

[q12]

Highway 102/107 Interchange in Halifax:













Source Facebook (Michael Burfitt):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/434289760261245/user/585757133

[MonctonRad]

I am a modest fan of well planned roundabouts, but, the NS fetish for roundabouts at all highway exits I find disturbing.

[Acajack]

Interesting how in some parts of the country in merged mega-municipalities they still use the names of municipalities that technically no longer exist in guide signs. Like "Dartmouth" in the Halifax RM.

I actually think it makes sense, especially in a huge municipalities like that one.

In Ottawa you also see destination signage for Orléans, Kanata and Nepean all over the place. They are all part of the City of Ottawa. (Orléans has actually never really existed as a municipality. But everyone knows where it is and it is clearly signed on the 417 in several places.)

In Quebec we don't do that anymore, so in central Gatineau you don't have destination signs for Aylmer or Buckingham which are at the western and eastern ends of the city and could be useful destinations on signs.

Though we do have small signs here and there that tell you when you're changing districts. They say "GATINEAU (HULL)" or "GATINEAU (AYLMER)".

This is also true in Montreal where there are no destination signs for former municipalities that are now part of the megacity. But you do see signs when entering boroughs that used to be their own cities, that say "MONTRÉAL (SAINT-LAURENT)".

[craner]

Originally Posted by q12

https://www.quebec.ca/transports/infrast...ent/reamenagement-route-185-autoroute-85

Looks like as of September 17th, 2024 there is only 8 km remaining to be completed linking Canada's largest interprovincial freeway network (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) between the metro areas of Windsor, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia (over 2150 km freeway network).

Yeah Baby !!

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I am a modest fan of well planned roundabouts, but, the NS fetish for roundabouts at all highway exits I find disturbing.

Those photos only show 2 of the 9 roundabouts built as part of this project.

There is at least 4 more being built by the province in other areas of HRM.

If you don't love roundabouts I don't recommend looking at the plans for Larry Uteck Blvd. There are five in use with at least three more planned.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

If you don't love roundabouts I don't recommend looking at the plans for Larry Uteck Blvd. There are five in use with at least three more planned.

I like roundabouts - I really do!

It's just that I don't believe that they are the universal solution for every traffic intersection.

For example, I like the "dogbone" roundabout at the Harrisville Blvd/Dieppe Blvd interchange at NB Highway 15 in the eastern part of the Moncton metropolitan area. For the traffic volume it functions pretty well, although there is a definite issue for 18 wheelers going around both ends of the dogbone (turning radius is too short). This is an issue since truck traffic is pretty heavy (most direct route between the Dieppe and Caledonia industrial parks). Experienced Moncton motorists however know this, and give truckers a wide berth. Itinerant and unsuspecting tourists however might be in for a surprise.

Multilane roundabouts can be a problem since unless you know which lane you should be in, you could miss your exit. Of course, you could just go around the roundabout one more time.

Sometimes, if the majority of the traffic remains in the roundabout in order to travel to a subsequent exit point, this can prevent traffic from the first entrance to gain access to the traffic circle, resulting in traffic backing up. This can easily cause a backlog, especially at rush hour.

For example (again using the Dieppe dogbone), in the morning, there can be excessive northbound traffic on Dieppe Blvd staying in the traffic circle to exit westbound onto NB-15 to go towards downtown Moncton. This will block southbound traffic from gaining access to the traffic circle, leading to quite a back-up. This is a problem in the morning since there is also rush hour traffic trying to get to the Dieppe Industrial Park (in essence there is rush hour traffic in two directions).

Sometimes a signalized intersection is just better.

But, in general, I prefer roundabouts over signalized intersections. One just shouldn't be dogmatic about it.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Interesting how in some parts of the country in merged mega-municipalities they still use the names of municipalities that technically no longer exist in guide signs. Like "Dartmouth" in the Halifax RM.

I actually think it makes sense, especially in a huge municipalities like that one.

In Ottawa you also see destination signage for Orléans, Kanata and Nepean all over the place. They are all part of the City of Ottawa. (Orléans has actually never really existed as a municipality. But everyone knows where it is and it is clearly signed on the 417 in several places.)

In Quebec we don't do that anymore, so in central Gatineau you don't have destination signs for Aylmer or Buckingham which are at the western and eastern ends of the city and could be useful destinations on signs.

Though we do have small signs here and there that tell you when you're changing districts. They say "GATINEAU (HULL)" or "GATINEAU (AYLMER)".

This is also true in Montreal where there are no destination signs for former municipalities that are now part of the megacity. But you do see signs when entering boroughs that used to be their own cities, that say "MONTRÉAL (SAINT-LAURENT)".

Yep I've noticed those differences between Ontario and Quebec. I like the way Quebec does it with signage. Even mailing addresses still use the former name of the municipality in most cases in Ontario. But if you put Toronto instead of North York for example, the item will still make it to the right place. Timmins was amalgamated back in 1973 yet we still have mailing addresses with Schumacher, South Porcupine, Porcupine and Connaught even though they are all part of the City of Timmins.

The MTO has been very slow with highway signage. A few years ago in Northeast Region, New Liskeard was finally changed to Temiskaming Shores. One example here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PF5PYB9Cffp8PvSB8
You can really tell how it was plastered over. And the MTQ in Quebec had changed some of their signs before Ontario did! https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bmgHwZw7RLmoQDN6

[sonysnob]

View looking southerly overtop of Autoroute 15 towards the Autoroute 440 interchange in Laval, showing the new flyover ramp linking A-440 West to A-15 North.  This photo is from September before the ramp was finished and opened to traffic:

http://www.asphaltplanet.ca/PQ/A/15/A15L_cl_11_south_SB_Sep24_42x28.jpg

[Franco401]

Here's something I made back in the spring and never got around to sharing.

New Brunswick's Original Highways



This shows the original numbered highway system from 1927, following the original path of each road as closely as possible. There were also alternate routes like 1A and 2B (making this was a crash course in why this system was so thoroughly overhauled in 1965) and a decent network of secondary highways which were in fact county roads given provincial numbers.

The numbering system was changed under the Robichaud government as part of the local government reforms of the time: most road were county roads, and when the counties were dissolved and local roads became the responsibility of the province and RSCs, the amount of roads under a single bureaucracy necessitated the current system with hundreds of provincial highways with numbers all the way up to 970.

This is remarkably difficult subject to research without going to the Archives. I was able to find a couple of road maps from this era, but with no citations on the wiki article and no government resources there's a lot of figuring out to do. I'm still unsure of the exact path of a few roads, notably Route 14 (Route 114, one of a few that exist today as secondary highways with a 1 tacked onto the old number) where maps disagreed about which path it took between Alma and Riverside-Albert, and Route 32A in Dieppe, which I can't confirm as following Champlain Street or Chartersville Road. The biggest is probably Route 29 (Route 111), which may have gone all the way up to Sussex, but not on one of the maps I found and probably not before WWII.

This isn't a snapshot of a moment in time, as this network was always growing and changing. I don't consider this map finished, but if I finished it to my satisfaction it'd never be done and I would never move onto another project. I may update it sometime soon with comments on each route.

[canarob]

Amazing content, thank you

[q12]

Burnside Expressway (Highway 107 ext.) opens today

https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2024/12/20/new-highway-connects-sackville-bedford-burnside