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Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph
There is indeed a proposal for 7/8 to Stratford! How to pass through the hamlet of Shakespeare is a tricky point, last I saw discussion.
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Sorry, what I meant was - there's a long section of that highway that is 4 lanes (2 each way), massive overpasses that could easily accommodate 4 lanes in each direction... I love it, don't get me wrong - but all I could think of is "man, I bet the folks who hate this new Hwy 7 to Guelph must absolutely hate this, too."
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On another topic, does anyone know if a noise exemption was issued for the current work on the Victoria St bridge? It's currently 2am, I live downtown, and all I can hear is constant beeping from reversing trucks / the occasional loud bang of something heavy being dropped. Surely, hearing that from downtown means they must be far too loud for 2am?
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Really? I think we live closer to it than you* and I haven't heard a peep, and I'm a pretty light sleeper. Are you sure the noise you're hearing isn't from something else? I'd find it surprising if beeps of reversing trucks could be heard that far - but with no traffic and the right weather, I suppose it could easily carry that far (traffic/wheel & wind noise on Victoria usually drones out everything else).

The loud bangs are probably from the shunting yard near Lancaster. They just crashed two trains together so hard a few minutes ago our whole house shook, but that's what I've become quite used to. Smile

* - Making the assumption "Downtown" means King/Victoria-ish type distances. We're about 1/4 of that distance. Smile
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(09-09-2017, 05:40 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Here’s a simple, minimal cost idea: charge a toll on Highway 7 during rush hour. I’ll bet that would scare away enough traffic to make it a significantly more pleasant drive. Not a proposal, but I am asking why nobody even suggests such a thing.

This is getting dangerously close to that discussion about who pays for roads, but the suggestion of tolls on the new highway has been suggested and shot down. I don't actually think it's that unreasonable an idea, but it is political suicide.
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It also makes the assumption people will just go "Oh, there's a toll, I guess I just won't go to work now." WTH?
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(09-11-2017, 12:23 PM)Canard Wrote: It also makes the assumption people will just go "Oh, there's a toll, I guess I just won't go to work now." WTH?

If a toll were to be introduced, some traffic would find alternate times or routes. Some wouldn’t, for lots of reasons.

And either way, there would now be an income stream associated with the highway which would automatically scale with increased traffic, making the highway financially sustainable instead of requiring constant subsidies from the general operating budget.

The idea that there is no elasticity of demand is really the absurd one when it comes to road construction. It works both ways: people act as if tolls somehow won’t move traffic away, and also as if new lanes and roads won’t attract more traffic. Same for parking. Same for all this stuff, except transit, the free provision of which is apparently a non-starter.
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(09-09-2017, 09:08 PM)Canard Wrote: Sorry, what I meant was - there's a long section of that highway that is 4 lanes (2 each way), massive overpasses that could easily accommodate 4 lanes in each direction... I love it, don't get me wrong - but all I could think of is "man, I bet the folks who hate this new Hwy 7 to Guelph must absolutely hate this, too."

I’m not sure exactly which part you’re talking about, but I find it entirely believable that the best design for an overpass for a 4-lane road may well involve enough space for an 8-lane road to pass underneath, especially given the future flexibility obtained by having the extra space. Once an overpass is needed, it seems pretty obvious that building a bit of extra length isn’t going to cost much more. Whereas if the overpass can be saved entirely, that actually would make a big difference in cost.

As to the part that is not a full highway but is at 4 lanes, that makes sense too. It doesn’t really make sense for a freeway to suddenly turn into a 2-lane road, except possibly at a junction that splits the traffic up multiple ways.

I actually do agree with some highway construction. For example, I believe the Hanlon expressway should be connected to the Highway 6 south of Morriston. This would eliminate a bottleneck and allow all the roads that have been already built to be used to their full capacity. I believe this project is in the works.

My problem with the highway to Guelph is that we’re building an entirely new expressway instead of trying a combination of road widening and transit expansion.
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@ijmorlan. Another benefit of 6 bypass is moving traffic out of the town centres. Not that morriston and the other one are busy town but often the thing making a place unpleasant to be is traffic. *cough* Elmira
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Hmm... it's almost like people can benefit from highways being built even when they're not the ones using them...

[ducks]
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(09-11-2017, 05:12 PM)SammyOES2 Wrote: Hmm... it's almost like people can benefit from highways being built even when they're not the ones using them...

[ducks]

Ok, I have to give you that one. Touché!
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From The Record: Ancient treasures surface where new Highway 7 is to cross river

Quote:Pottery, spearheads and evidence of food preparation, most of it 2,000 years old, have been discovered at the site where the new Highway 7 is to cross over the Grand River.

...

Fisher Bloxam said the archeological finds would not necessarily slow down the construction of the new highway, now estimated to be completed after 2021.

Work is continuing on other parts of the complex highway project while the archeological assessment continues, she said. That includes design work for the new Grand River bridge. The target for completing the bridge over the river is 2020.

All the land needed for the new highway has been purchased, at a cost of $70 million.
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Just biked past the site this morning.


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The CBC is also reporting this story :
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/kitch...-1.4309924
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It would be interesting if they sold some of the artifacts they find. I am sure they could make good coin on it,

Very interesting the age of some of that stuff, like 2,000 years old, that's amazing.
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