General Road and Highway Discussion

[dunkalunk]

A quick win would be to drop King to one lane south of Mongtomery/Dixon and convert the EB 7/8 -> SB/EB 8 ramp to 2 lanes that are the through lanes on 8 with King merging in from the left. The amount of traffic coming from downtown doesn't merit two through lanes.

Doesn't fix the NB-WB mess, but it would likely reduce /one/ of the issues.

I'm not sure if there's enough space on the 3/4 loop ramp to make it two lanes and not have transport trucks straddle those lanes. The main issue I see with the section of highway isn't necessarily that it's backed up, its the queuing in the third lane (Highway 7/8 Westbound Exit) while the leftmost lane (King St Exit) is still moving, resulting in a last-second merge. Short term, without widening, this could be made safer by closing the Westbound Weber St on-ramp to Highway 8 during rush hours and closing the King St Off-ramp completely.

There are many alternate options into downtown Kitchener. During the afternoon rush hour, I'm either getting off the highway at Weber St or taking the Highway 7 ramp and getting off at Ottawa St.

If any upgrades to the 7/8 interchange are made, it's likely the King St ramps would need to be closed during construction anyways.