General Road and Highway Discussion

[tomh009]

Maybe the rush-hour behaviour is different? Mostly I only experience this on weekends ...

[Markster]

There's another spot where a similar idea might help: the off-ramp from Hwy 8 to eastbound King St E. Just prior to the ramp, King St goes from one to two lanes, and the ramp has little merge space with poor visibility. So the idea would be for King St to stay at one lane and the off-ramp to join it as the second lane.

Ooh, that sounds pretty good too! King St northbound doesn't really need 2 lanes at that point.

[Drake]

The 85/8 referred to is actually the interchange of the Conestoga Parkway and 8/King.

The 8/King street exit referred to is at the King Street exit just south of the river heading towards Cambridge.

The real King Street exit is in Waterloo near the Conestoga Mall. The sign has the word "King" on it.

[timio]

The 85/8 referred to is actually the interchange of the Conestoga Parkway and 8/King.

The 8/King street exit referred to is at the King Street exit just south of the river heading towards Cambridge.

The real King Street exit is in Waterloo near the Conestoga Mall. The sign has the word "King" on it.

Not confusing at all... Just like the Conestoga parkway is also numbered 7/8, 7, or 85 pending on where you are.

Sometimes I wonder about if there was an actual plan behind anything in this region...

[Osiris]

I suspect that this design of two lanes near the on-ramp and traffic lights served a much greater purpose when we had manufacturing regularly coming in and out of downtown; in fact we can see the same problem at work with the single lane ramps going NB->WB or EB->SB - the trucks have to slow way down and can't accelerate through the turns well enough, and while they are not coming to a full stop, cars can't get around and traffic backs up quickly.

I suspect engineers/planners considered this problem when they were dealing with the obvious hard stop of the traffic lights so close to the expressway and decided on two lanes. With the ramps being free flow (and traffic being what it was in the 60s relative to today) it may not have been viewed with the same concern.

[Drake]

A Westbound ramp to the 401 from the 7/8 bypass and a 7/8 ramp from EB 401 traffic should be a priority over this King Street fix.

[Canard]

Nomenclature:  What do you mean by "7/8 Bypass"?

I am so unbelievably confused with road names in this Region. I've lived here 15 years and I still don't understand it at all.

[Drake]

The thing that dangles between this King Street entrance we are talking about and the 401. (Montgomery - Sportsworld+)

[tomh009]

Which bypasses the old Highway 8, hence it's a bypass.

[Canard]

Isn't that just "Highway 8"? Or are you talking about the 50 km/h stoplight road with all the big-box stores? I can see how that's a bypass, but where is the "7" coming into play here?

[KW65]

Isn't that just "Highway 8"?  Or are you talking about the 50 km/h stoplight road with all the big-box stores?  I can see how that's a bypass, but where is the "7" coming into play here?

From Wikipedia

At New Hamburg, the combined Highway 7/8 becomes a 4-lane controlled-access highway, becoming a freeway just west of Baden, and continues into Kitchener (where the 7/8 freeway is known as the Conestoga Parkway).

As the Conestoga Parkway runs through Kitchener as a 6-lane freeway, Highway 8 splits off from the Conestoga Parkway and Highway 7 by turning southeastward via an interchange, which was opened in 1970. Mainline traffic on Highway 8 heading northwest could continue under the Conestoga, where the route defaults to King Street, to enter downtown Kitchener. The 8-lane Conestoga Parkway east/north of this junction serves as a bypass of King Street through central Kitchener and Waterloo as in the north end of Waterloo, the Conestoga Parkway and King Street intersect again.

 
Highway 8 continues along as eight-lane freeway, which is also known as the Freeport Diversion or King Street Bypass, but is often referred to by area residents as the "Highway 8 Expressway", until another junction with King Street East after which it becomes six and then four lanes. Originally, the Highway 8 Expressway ended at an at-grade Y-junction with King Street East, with traffic from Highway 8 treated as the mainline traffic at that intersection. Highway 8 and King Street then continued as a 4-lane divided highway with access to adjacent commercial properties (60 km/hr speed limit) to Highway 401. In 1987, the Highway 8 Expressway was extended to provide a direct freeway link to Highway 401 eastbound with the non-public designation Highway 7187, and the Highway 8 designation continuing along King Street East; the Highway 8 designation was later transferred to the Freeport Diversion. The existing cloverleaf interchange between Highway 401 and King Street East had several ramps realigned to allow connections with the Freeport Diversion, and it continues to serve traffic from eastbound Highway 401

[Canard]

Yes, I was reading that just now as well - but didn't see any reference to "7/8 Bypass".

7187 is hilarious. I'm out. I'll never get it!

[tomh009]

Yes, I was reading that just now as well - but didn't see any reference to "7/8 Bypass".

7187 is hilarious.  I'm out.  I'll never get it!

Highway 8 Expressway!  I had never heard that before!

[GtwoK]

Anybody know what's up with the Shantz Hill rework? IIRC, the project sheet listed construction as beginning May 2016 and completing October 2016. Vegetation was removed in May, but the site hasn't been TOUCHED since, and as such a major intersection rework, you'd think they'd have at least started it a month before they're supposed to be finished.

[Canard]

The roundabout is going in down there, isn't it? I've been avoiding the area for months after getting caught in lane restrictions in what I assumed was the initial stages of the constitution.