11-24-2018, 11:15 PM
(11-24-2018, 10:38 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(11-24-2018, 09:55 PM)tomh009 Wrote: In general, I don't think we do: witness the 401 as a prime example. If you build a road, I expect that you would build it for something like a 20-year traffic forecast. Counterexamples surely exist, but I don't think extra lanes are generally being built unless they are expected to be needed, as the cost is quite substantial.
And don't think this has ended. At a Regional level an explicitly stated goal of the last two transportation master plans has been to not overbuild roads, and yet we see roads like Westmount which are vastly over built, and Highland which is planned to be widened on the assumption that traffic volumes will justify it in 10-20 years.
Yes, that is what I suggested: road construction is likely based on something like a 20-year traffic forecast. (Setting aside past construction projects from 30+ years ago.)
And I suggested that a similar criteria might then be appropriate for trail construction. IHT should be wider than this trail, I think: it will have more bicycle traffic and far more pedestrian traffic. So shouldn't the projected traffic levels be considered when building the trail?