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Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Townline Road
Oh that's awesome, great spotting!

As I've said before, I don't really like driving at night, but I love it when highways are illuminated like that.
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It's great except when the road's wet. Can make it hard to see the lines.
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The lane marker issue is a bigger problem on city streets than highways. For some inexplicable reason (maybe because of the traffic, or because the quality of construction) I haven't had anywhere near as much problems with lane markers on highways - even those that are illuminated - as I have had on city streets when it's raining.
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I like Florida's solution - they paint all of their lane markers both white and black - so, they're always visible, in all conditions. I love it.
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I remember one drive home on Eagle after the sun went down. Between the streetlights and the building lights I was sweating the whole way home.
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(07-30-2017, 09:44 PM)Canard Wrote: I like Florida's solution - they paint all of their lane markers both white and black - so, they're always visible, in all conditions.  I love it.

Really?  I don't recall that and I can't find any examples online.

[Image: amroad-pavement-1.jpg]
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(07-30-2017, 09:44 PM)Canard Wrote: I like Florida's solution - they paint all of their lane markers both white and black - so, they're always visible, in all conditions.  I love it.

I've seen this in Ontario as well. At the north end of Hwy 404 near Keswick (pictured) and closer to home in North Dumfries while driving to Pinehurst Lake. I think it was along Spragues Road, south of Wrigley Road. The pavement is very light, perhaps even cement, so the white lines were outlined in black to help them standout from the pavement.

   
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That does appear to be cement. It makes sense to do it on cement roads, but over time, cement and asphalt tend towards the same colour.

Florida (and other non-snowy) places usually use reflectors and bumps. These work very well in practice I find, buuuuuuuut are vastly more expensive (not impossible) in area's with snowplows. If simply glued on the surface as they do in warm places, the snowplow will peal them off, so they must be sunk into the road. Also, they tend to get clogged with snow in the winter. As a result, they're only used in select places here, often when fog is a common condition.
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(07-31-2017, 08:33 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-30-2017, 09:44 PM)Canard Wrote: I like Florida's solution - they paint all of their lane markers both white and black - so, they're always visible, in all conditions.  I love it.

Really?  I don't recall that and I can't find any examples online.

[Image: amroad-pavement-1.jpg]

I should have clarified; I should have said "I have seen it in many places in Florida". Sorry!
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I noticed they are not installing any more high mast lighting after they installed them at the highway 8/401 interchange. I thought they were going to keep installing them east toward Hespeler. The project information isn't clear on this - does anyone know for sure they will not install any more high mast lighting?
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(This might have been discussed in another thread, but methinks it deserves an update here if so)

I drove the 401 to and from Toronto today for the first time in more than a month and was pleased to find that the eastbound on ramp from Hwy 8 is vastly improved with two lanes all the way and traffic moved really well. Much improved!

The westbound experience is still horrifying with slow / stopped / dangerous conditions approaching the off ramp to Hwy 8.

Journeys on this stretch will be so much safer once the work is done. Glad I don't have to do it daily.
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They have diverted westbound lanes into the eastbound lanes "express" lanes (I know will be no collector-express, but using that terminology makes it easy to understand what I mean) for most of the project length. I wonder why, especially since the prior westbound lanes were just recently constructed. It's hard to see what construction is happening in the future westbound lanes now given that the median barriers are quite tall.
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I think it's due to the work they are doing further up the hill before Hwy 8.
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(12-09-2017, 11:49 PM)p2ee Wrote: They have diverted westbound lanes into the eastbound lanes "express" lanes (I know will be no collector-express, but using that terminology makes it easy to understand what I mean) for most of the project length.  I wonder why, especially since the prior westbound lanes were just recently constructed. It's hard to see what construction is happening in the future westbound lanes now given that the median barriers are quite tall.

If there is no express/collector separation, they'll need to do some paving work to have a smooth transition between the inner and outer (westbound) lanes. Same on the eastbound side later.
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I've been watching this project inch ahead over the past few months in my travels. You get a pretty good view from the GO bus.

It looks like they're nearing the point where concrete can be poured for the new WB Speed River bridges.

Grading is also underway with most of it looking fairly flat heading up the hill to the highway 8 cutoff.

The culvert for the stream east of the CP line is still a hole in the ground.

Hopefully warmer weather will help things get moving more quickly. The more I travel this stretch, the more annoyed I get at the congestion.
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