Ontario to spend $3.4B on roads, bridges, highways
CTV.ca News Staff
The Ontario government is investing $3.4 billion to upgrade the province's system of roads, highways and bridges in a five-year plan announced by Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield on Friday.
Dubbed the Southern Ontario Highway Program the plan calls for 130 kilometres of new highways and 64 new bridges.
Another 200 existing bridges and 1,600 kilometres of highway will be repaired as part of the plan to reduce traffic congestion and improve road conditions.
Motorists in the Greater Toronto Area will see the following changes:
Highway 404 extended north from Green Lane to Ravenshoe Road in York Region (work has already started)
Highway 410 extended from Bovaird Drive to Highway 10 in Brampton (work has already started)
New High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the QEW from Oakville to Burlington
More than 30 kilometres of HOV lanes will be built in suburban areas of Ottawa and Toronto.
But the province's busiest thoroughfare, Highway 401 in Toronto is not on the list for HOV lanes.
Cansfield said the lanes cannot be added because the highway already has 16 lanes of traffic and there isn't enough room.
The planned highway improvements are needed to keep the economy moving, according to Cansfield. She said the improvements will ensure that the up to $1.2 trillion in goods travelling on Ontario's highways get to market on time.
The Ontario Road Builders Association and the Canadian Automobile Association both applauded the government's plan, saying it will help improve travel times for all drivers in the province.
With files from CTV's Galit Solomon and The Canadian Press
That's fine and dandy and all, but when it comes to the GTA...you could have 16 lanes, double deckered....and it won't matter, the roads would still end up FULL...I wonder if the money being spent by the Gov't will eventually include extending the 417 farther west towards Pembroke and Petawawa, as we really need it due to the larger number of transport trucks, and growing number of "sunday drivers" in the way up here all the time...lol
Good post though...
ahh, so thats what theyre doing up in brampton with those new bridge overpasses north of where the 410 ends.. its going to eventually connect to highway 10 caledon... cool, they need it.
Yeah! They have already started and one of the streets were in my city at Guelph Line. Don't even ask how long it friggin' took!
How about fixing the roads and rewarding carpooling / endorsing public transit?
If you're crazy enough to live out in Caledon or anywhere over 1/2 an hour outside of the Toronto city limits... you deserve to sit and stew in traffic.
Building more roads that handle more cars only encourage more spread, which does NOTHING to solve the problem.
NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:How about fixing the roads and rewarding carpooling / endorsing public transit?
If you're crazy enough to live out in Caledon or anywhere over 1/2 an hour outside of the Toronto city limits... you deserve to sit and stew in traffic.
Building more roads that handle more cars only encourage more spread, which does NOTHING to solve the problem.
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I sorta agree with you Nos, It would be nice to see HOV lanes all along the 400 series highways in and around the G.T.A. and further out of town, a good example of an expanding HOV lane would be adding the HOV lanes to the 400 from Toronto to Barrie, as well as on the 401 from Kitchener to Bellville, and on the 403 from the Gardener Expressway to the Skyway bridge in Hamilton.
Frost__2001,Jun 22 2006, 12:06 PM Wrote:NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:How about fixing the roads and rewarding carpooling / endorsing public transit?
If you're crazy enough to live out in Caledon or anywhere over 1/2 an hour outside of the Toronto city limits... you deserve to sit and stew in traffic.
Building more roads that handle more cars only encourage more spread, which does NOTHING to solve the problem.
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I sorta agree with you Nos, It would be nice to see HOV lanes all along the 400 series highways in and around the G.T.A. and further out of town, a good example of an expanding HOV lane would be adding the HOV lanes to the 400 from Toronto to Barrie, as well as on the 401 from Kitchener to Bellville, and on the 403 from the Gardener Expressway to the Skyway bridge in Hamilton.
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Unless you have a way to acquire the additional land necessary, esp. the 401 corridor in the Toronto area proper. It isn't going to happen. Reducing the number of available lanes to shoe-horn in a HOV lane would be a receipe for disaster which is why the Fiberals are staying far,
far away from this one.
NefCanuck
NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:How about fixing the roads and rewarding carpooling / endorsing public transit?
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The province needs to initiate a GTA wide transit solution - until they integrate Brampton, Mississauga, York and Toronto - pumping money into the TTC alone won't do a thing.
NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:If you're crazy enough to live out in Caledon or anywhere over 1/2 an hour outside of the Toronto city limits... you deserve to sit and stew in traffic.[right][snapback]194651[/snapback][/right]
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the GTA, but any neighbourhood that's within 1/2 hour of downtown Toronto has been there for at least 20 years. That's how far behind the development of the road system here is. In rush hour Caledon is a lot more than 30 minutes from downtown TO.
NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:Building more roads that handle more cars only encourage more spread, which does NOTHING to solve the problem.
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This may or may not be true - but the fact is that the roads are inadequate for the population that lives here now - never mind any future development. And until the province gets real serious about a viable transit system to serve people in the outlying cities, the only viable transportation mode for most remains the car.
I grew up in the west end - Weston/401, Weston/Eglinton, Scarlett/Eglinton. I know all about the layout of the GTA... I was also a tow truck dispatcher for 4 years. I still can't get lost anywhere between Meadowvale / Steeles / 427 / the 'Shore, even after being up north for 7 years.
The sad part is... the elitist crap of new "luxury" subdivisions in areas never meant to handle the loads make the residents cry out for new/upgraded roads. The existing highways that were never meant to have the extra traffic subsequently have to be upgraded then as well. The spread carries further out (Barrie is a "bedroom community" now... that's pure bunk) and the lemmings expect to get to their jobs almost as quick as they can from Milton/Mississauga/Oshawa/Whitby.
There has to be a line drawn. s*** can't keep expanding forever.
NOS2Go4Me,Jun 22 2006, 05:28 PM Wrote:The sad part is... the elitist crap of new "luxury" subdivisions in areas never meant to handle the loads make the residents cry out for new/upgraded roads. The existing highways that were never meant to have the extra traffic subsequently have to be upgraded then as well. The spread carries further out (Barrie is a "bedroom community" now... that's pure bunk) and the lemmings expect to get to their jobs almost as quick as they can from Milton/Mississauga/Oshawa/Whitby.
There has to be a line drawn. s*** can't keep expanding forever.
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I hear ya - but the way you describe the problem is way too simplistic. There are few places on the planet where development is more tightly controlled than the GTA.
But companies want to locate where there's decent transportation, decent support infrastructure, a decent local market and a workforce ... and municipalities faced with ever increasing costs and a reduction in transfers from the province, are continually approving new development (residential and commercial) because they need the increased tax revenue.
The partner that isn't playing their part in this inevitable dynamic is the province -- and they've let things get to a state where even catch-up is bloody expensive and time consuming. And don't forget -- unless you're talking about subways (terribly expensive) a good transit systems needs a good working road system too.
Maybe what we need is for the province to force a half million folks to move to North Bay -- that would sure ease some pressure on the roads here.
Uh, no... *hides* :P
We've been handling an upswing in crime fairly well I suppose... but I wouldn't trade the state of this town for 500,000 bungling 'tards from south of Barrie. Night and day, man... night and day.