The Ontario Ministry of Transport (MTO) is aware of the traffic bottleneck on Highway 401 between Whitby and Ajax, and is looking for an interim solution before undertaking a major widening project.
“MTO is undertaking work along the Highway 401 corridor and its crossing bridges in Durham Region, through a series of projects that include bridge replacements to accommodate the future long-term plan to widen Highway 401,” said a statement issued in response to a Durham Post query.
“MTO is also conducting a detailed traffic study in the Highway 401 and Highway 412 connection to determine if there are any potential interim solutions to improve traffic operations prior to the proposed express-collector expansion,” said the statement.
Durham Post had approached the ministry following the start of its works on widening Highway 401 to 10 lanes at Oshawa.
Readers had reacted saying an increase in lanes will not solve the gridlocks that happen both east- and west-bound between Whitby and Ajax.
Doesn’t help when people pull into the merging lanes just so they can cut ahead and cause more traffic
A 4th lane already exists at Salem both directions. Extending them back to the 412 would help. The issue would be 5 lanes each direction by 2028, implies any change should involve too much rework when that happens. My question would be, why not 12 lanes Pickering to 418 slash 35/115, or at least put in the infrastructure to set that up?
Paint some solid lines alongside the dashes on the merge lanes, and bust drivers for using these merge lanes to jump the queue. Look at the 401/400 area for examples.
Unfortunately, we need to install rotating traffic signals at the Thickson Road on ramp because apparently nobody knows how to merge in turn, leading to tailgating on the on ramp which causes the congestion. Also, make that thing longer and move the truck inspection station further west.
I assume we are talking about expressway. Then post MINIMUM speed at 90 km/h. Don’t spend money on impossible. Nobody will drive faster even you pave 25 lanes. I will be so happy when driving back from work at least 90. Possible?
Sooner the better
Need action to ease the situation faced daily by thousands of things commuting.
Why not to build another 4 lanes highway near 407 ?
Stop people from jumping in the onramp and racing to end then squeezing in aggressively
Shorten on ramps
Put rumble strips nearing end of lane to annoy BMW and Mercedes drivers
On the qew around Burlington there is a couple of ramps with stop lights. It shows down the sudden rush
The problem when going westbound near the 412 is everyone uses the far right lane that exits onto the 412 north as a passing and merging lane when they fully well know that it’s not for that and then they end up slowing down the traffic that is wanting to go north and shoving themselves into the next lane as far up as possible… It’s idiot drivers causing the bottleneck
They need to keep 5 lanes when the collectors combine with the express all the way from Brock Rd till Harmony. It makes no sense to have it three lanes
You can’t force all the traffic from Lakeridge and the 412 to get over into three lanes then have five lanes 500 feet down the road. Extend the five lanes all the way and less merging means better flow.
This was an issue as soon as the 412 was constructed. They had an opportunity to build it properly the first time, but chose not to plan ahead and accomodate population growth. Typical lack of planning by all government agencies involved here.
Hey Brad! I am 100% behind you. Poor or no planning whatsoever is evident not only on highways, but also on residential streets. I live in Whitby. The population explosion has been enormous!!! Yet, most 1 lane roads CANNOT support this sudden rise in driving, yet in many cases, there is ample amount of land to lay down an extra lane from day one! But road planners rather ignore the fact that one day, they will have to dig up what was done just a while ago. It also takes enormous time to to complete a job. For example a very short stretch of road at the intersection or Anderson and Taunton has been “worked ” on for months, yet the never ending job is not showing any improvement to traffic flow. We will be subject of frequent “doing over” what has just been “finished”. Who are the town road planners? Being a road construction worker is a perpetual guaranteed job at the expense of mental health of residents!!!! Why are we allowing buildung distribution centers near residential areas??? Before the first shovel hits the ground think how you are going to route the monumental number of 53′ transport trucks through the narrow town roads!!!! It appears that road works are project where we have enough time and money to rip up, or reconstruct again and again rather than doing the job right the first time!!! Nuts.
Easy solution. 412 and Lakeridge merge together before 401. This lane then extends to Salem road. 401 widens there, Lakeridge/412 would then be the 4th lane of the 401 at Salem road. Little bit harder to get off at Salem. Lane from 401 could merge onto Lakeridge / 412.
The merging lanes that run from Brock street to 412 need lane markings to change. Allow merging close to Brock street then those 2 lanes must be for 412 only and not for people to race to the end and jump the line and everybody has to stop for them
“Readers had reacted saying an increase in lanes will not solve the gridlocks that happen both east- and west-bound between Whitby and Ajax.“
Utter nonsense. The fact that coming from the east, traffic starts moving again at Salem, where 2 lanes are introduced, is indicative that more lanes would definitely help solve the gridlock.
Simple …. Eliminate 401 access from Lakeridge Rd. Those currently using Lakeridge can access the 412 and access the 401 from there. Find a way to encourage or force drivers to access the 1st opening in traffic as opposed running the merge lane out to the end. There’s too many yahoos who gotta be one car ahead.
Sorry, but that’s a zipper merge. Not merging at the end of the lane will lead to backed up traffic in that lane and the other lane.
Bingo John. Opening ramps on Lakeridge was the dumbest idea to accommodate 53′ transports to get to in and out of distribution centers. Planning is the most important part of any job before you start digging. There are far too many distribution centers being built around residential areas!!! Do an EXPERIMENT and close temporary access to Lakeridge ramps to truckers and see what impact that will have on the traffic flow. I bet it will be huge, but first think and plan how you reroute the huge amount of truck traffic. STOP BUILDING distribution centers without PLANNING how you are going to manage the traffic first.
It goes same for building huge multistory condos, like the one atbthe northeast corner of Garden and Taunton streets without knowing how you will transport thousands of new residents. The main “access” road to that building is Garden street, which is mostly a one-way streets north of Dundas. The town people cramp thousands of new people into already packed residential areas. Phase 3 of an apartment complex at the corner of Dundas and Garden will finish soon, adding more people into already congested area. NUTS!!
For the most part, where there are both express and collectors, there is an exit from collectors to express, then an on ramp from a major artery to the 401 collectors, then an off ramp from express to collectors, then and exit from collectors to a major artery. This keeps the traffic flowing. I’ve counted the number of on ramps vs exits through that section of highway. There are like 7 places to get on, but only two to get off the 401. There are too many places to get on. Poor planning. Doesn’t matter how many lanes they add, it won’t solve this problem. Need to close some on ramps and add more off ramps.
This is stupid. You are widening highway in Oshawa but what about Ajax and Whitby. You should do it there together.
There is a 3 lane bottleneck either side that limits traffic flow…. I argue though it feels alot worse than it actually is because traffic is moving so fast 120km/h on our highways then it slows to 20-50… it terms of real time it’s only a short delay of 5 minutes or so which I dont think is really that bad seeing as speed has diminishing returns on time on travel so as long as it’s moving it’s ok… now if there’s an accident in the bottleneck then yeah it’s a disaster lol
You have to think that first!!! And that hurts. So the city/town planers do not like to think. Ha, ha.
Lived in the GTA my whole life. This is getting old fast. We are going to move to USA