Trans-Canada Twinning ON to MB

brainstorm

Carboy15

In my lifetime, I'd like to see:

Break the bottleneck between the MB Border and the Highway 17/71 Intersection.
Sault Ste Marie to Arnprior Twinned and Freeway. At least start with Arnprior to North Bay, then North Bay to Sudbury, then Sudbury to Sault Ste Marie.

Thankfully Thunder Bay to Nipigon construction is making progress. It would be great to see it twinned from the 11/17 Junction West of TB, and twin and freeway it to Thunder Bay.

Carboy15

Highway 17 @ 11 North Bay Ontario (Future Autoroute 1 and Kings Highway 411)

Carboy15

Plus, the SPUI Interchange has Texas Turnaround lanes for those wishing to go South on Algonquin Ave from WB and EB Highway 17, and those wishing to Enter Highway 17 from NB Algonquin Ave. I know it may seem like a bit of a wierd design, but it would help save some land expropriation. And between Airport Drive and Highway 17, I removed the businesses alongside the road to convert this stroad into a road.

Carboy15

https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/northern-leaders-want-highways-11-17-made-into-21-corridors-10972038

brainstorm

Carboy15 Nooooo. Twin the damn thing and get it to 120km/h+!!

Carboy15

I think Ontario should just add two lanes to one side of the Highway and add a cable or wall barrier to seperate the opposing lanes.

brainstorm

These 2+1 talks need to be quashed.

The point of twinning Hwy 11 is not high AADT flows. Rather, it's:

Critical Link Status
Shrinking the ON/MB divide of nothingness

High design speeds shrink travel time

The only way to attain high design speeds, is by twinning. You can't build a 2+1 to 130km/h. However, you can build a 130km/h+ road when it's twinned. And that road is much safer when AADT's are low, and there are no major stops along the way. This is a feature, not a flaw.

Travel time reductions from Toronto to Winnipeg with the Thunder Bay Bypass here:

🚚 120km/h = From 24hr to 17hr.
🚗 130km/h = From 24hr to 15hr.
🏎️ 140km/h = From 24hr to 14hr.

These are massive reductions. Creating a 1-day journey in some cases.

And 120km/h to 140km/h are normal rural freeway speed limits from around the world. The Hwy 11 geography supports these design speeds.

Canada needs to end this speed paranoia and get with the times.

lio45

Counter-argument from the SSP discussion though: pretty much no one who chooses to drive from Eastern Canada to Western Canada through Canada, is in a hurry.

So travel times matter less than you’d think at first sight.

brainstorm

lio45 pretty much no one who chooses to drive from Eastern Canada to Western Canada through Canada, is in a hurry.

I don't buy this.

Trucks are. They will literally cross the US border twice just to take the faster and safer US route to avoid Northern Ontario.

Roughly 1/3 of East/West traffic takes the US route.

This is horrible for sovereignty.
It drives up CBSA workload.
Which drives up shipping and taxpayer costs.

At 14hrs, a lot more people will consider driving over flying. Those who want the scenic route can still take Hwy 17. In fact, a twinned Hwy 11 will keep Hwy 17 even more pristine as it pulls freight traffic away from the scenic Hwy 17 route.

brainstorm

Twin the TCH already.

brainstorm

All trucks.
This is why why we need a twinned Ontario TCH.
The AADT from Hwy 11 or Hwy 17 is not accurate, because it excludes these bypassers using the US route.
Twinning also allows us to reduce Canadian Border Expenses at these crossings.