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Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Printable Version

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RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - danbrotherston - 01-09-2017

(01-09-2017, 08:59 PM)SammyOES2 Wrote: I understand the concept of what you're saying about lowering "the design speed" (even 'the apparent' design speed) in order to actually enforce a lower speed limit.  But is there any data that actually backs it up as a good design principle?  Particularly for a high speed highway (I think its much more likely to be true when talking about city streets / intersections), I would imagine that causing people to drive at the 'design speed' of a highway means that below average drivers are more likely to get hurt in a high speed situation.

"Below average drivers"...that's a whole other can of worms.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - danbrotherston - 01-09-2017

(01-09-2017, 09:55 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Yes, excellent point, and I would agree that a big problem with our cities is that we allow traffic engineers, in effect, to design many aspects of the city. Whereas instead the road design and drivers should have to live with what is good for the city as a whole. Example that occurs to me: on the highway I understand signs are designed to break off in the event of a collision, and this is good design. Whereas in the centre of the city, I think it would be preferable if poles would stop a car dead before it hits a pedestrian. If that’s a problem for its occupants, they shouldn’t have been driving that fast.

Heh, this is a good example. More concretely, I believe this is referred to as the "clear zone" in road engineering, and yes, somehow, it's usually filled with sidewalks and pedestrians. I mean, they are unlikely to injure the vehicles occupants. As you point out, that's missing the point.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - razzie13 - 01-10-2017

Drove past Victoria tonight and lots of activity going on at the old Factory Shoe site. Looks like they're getting ready to tunnel under the tracks there.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - timc - 01-11-2017

(01-09-2017, 07:24 PM)Chris Wrote:
(01-09-2017, 04:55 PM)Chicopee Wrote: True, 8 past Fairway is 100... I'd still like to understand why the expressway is 90. Especially the 7/8 portion from Ottawa to say Trussler.

Many fatal accidents and cars crossing the median in the early 90's so they decided to lower it 10 kms.

Was it actually 100 km/h before? I can't remember, but I've only been driving there since the early 90s.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - tomh009 - 01-11-2017

Yes, it was.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Chicopee - 01-11-2017

Now, with all the work completed on the expressway in the last 15 years, it could be 100 again between Lancaster and FH. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the series of ramps/flyovers take shape at the 7 interchange.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Coke6pk - 01-12-2017

(01-10-2017, 10:27 PM)razzie13 Wrote: Drove past Victoria tonight and lots of activity going on at the old Factory Shoe site. Looks like they're getting ready to tunnel under the tracks there.

Drove past on the Expressway... Looks like a large concrete cylinder into the ground.  Utilities or maybe a support for an overpass?

Coke


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - JCnb - 01-12-2017

(01-12-2017, 11:14 AM)Coke6pk Wrote:
(01-10-2017, 10:27 PM)razzie13 Wrote: Drove past Victoria tonight and lots of activity going on at the old Factory Shoe site. Looks like they're getting ready to tunnel under the tracks there.

Drove past on the Expressway... Looks like a large concrete cylinder into the ground.  Utilities or maybe a support for an overpass?

Coke

Utility work only at this stage... I don't even think the contract for the highway itself has been awarded yet.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - embe - 01-12-2017

(01-10-2017, 10:27 PM)razzie13 Wrote: Drove past Victoria tonight and lots of activity going on at the old Factory Shoe site. Looks like they're getting ready to tunnel under the tracks there.

Probably infrastructure.  from the plans it looks like the traffic tunnel is going to be on the east side of 85.

To the other point, yes it was 100 and went to 90 at least 20 years ago?  That's back when it was an 'expressway' without the volume/bottlenecks nowadays.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - Smore - 01-13-2017

at the end of Wellington there is a pedestrian cross request button...for the top side of the T! Approximately 300 m from the nearest sidewalk! LOL


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - JCnb - 01-24-2017

With large vertical round shafts being sunk on either side of the expressway between Victoria and the railway, it looks like they are getting ready to tunnel under the expressway with a Tunnel Boring Machine, likely for underground infrastructure in preparation for the Victoria bridge removal. Nice to see some fairly significant work underway!


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - KevinL - 01-24-2017

A TBM? Amazing! Any idea of the diameter of the bore?


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - embe - 01-24-2017

(01-24-2017, 01:46 PM)JCnb Wrote: ... tunnel under the expressway with a Tunnel Boring Machine, likely for underground infrastructure in preparation for the Victoria bridge removal. Nice to see some fairly significant work underway!

Just curious what the benefit would be of tunneling under the expressway?  I know the crews have been working at these sites a lot in recent days but I figured they were prepping for footings to run the flyover.  No, I don't know much about construction.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - JCnb - 01-25-2017

(01-24-2017, 02:39 PM)KevinL Wrote: A TBM? Amazing! Any idea of the diameter of the bore?

I am speculating on the TBM... either way, I'm confidant the shafts are for new services to run under the expressway. Another method they could use... in simple terms... is to ram the new lines through the dirt to the other side.


RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - jamincan - 01-25-2017

Could they drill a hole horizontally and then ream it to the final size? I know they use methods like that for sinking shafts, but I don't know if it would work for horizontal shafts.