Pizzawheel

I noticed on CP24 last night that the ministry of transport reported that the signs for the PAG were nearly complete.

I spotted a couple this morning on the DVP.

The signs are quite nicely branded. But god, the supports- looks like they were put up but someone used to building decks on the cheap. Good grief. What an advert for Toronto.

Pizzawheel

On the 401 they've actually created an extra lane to be the HOV lane.

Maybe some common sense!

SchnookoLoly

I wonder if they will leave that as a permanent HOV late. I know the HOV lanes that already exist on other highways like the 403 and QEW are just being repurposed as 3+ HOVs during the games... I personally love the HOV lanes and think they are a great idea. (The normal ones, not the stupid 3+ version for the games which is actually highly irritating - why 3! Come on.)

Novocastrian

I'm very glad I'm not going to be here during the Pan-Am. 3+ HOVs?

I'd have to go out and buy another inflatable doll.

SchnookoLoly

I told Mr Schnooks that if this kid comes early then we can just chuck her in the car, then we qualify as 3 people. I also debated arguing if pregnancy counts as 3+ occupancy.

scilly

I do not envy you the traffic woes of the PanAm Games, after what we suffered during the Winter Olympics .......

........ mind you, the Olympic officials demanded that they have rapid movement through the city to all sites, so we had rolling motorcades closing BOTH sides of highways and main roads as the bigwigs went by in their big limos with police motorcycle escort. These motorcades caused more disruption than when the Queen was here!

Not only that, but all parking was forbidden on the city's main streets that the motorcades were to use for the whole period of the Olympics and Paralympics, so that local stores were badly hit financially.

Pizzawheel

HOVs are a great idea- if you let motorcycles use them. Then they encourage motorcycle use which gets another car of the road. Canada doesn't seem to have heard of motorcycles yet though.

Careful the first one doesn't get jealous ;-)

Novocastrian

I have a biker colleague at work who successfully challenged a ticket for riding his Honda in the HOV on the 404. I can't remember the details though.

She can blow herself off. She leaks.

sharkus

I think the +3 is try and persuade people to do more carpooling, to try and alleviate the pain they're going to cause by taking the Gardiner down to 2 lanes from 3.

The QEW bit goes from +2 to +3 just after, or at Trafalgar. I can see there being a fair few more accidents as those in the HOV suddenly realize it's gone to +3, and do some insane move to the right to get into the normal lanes. That or a cop will sit there and nick those who don't bother to see it's gone from +2 to +3.

Pizzawheel

Now that's interesting...

NSFW or those of gentle disposition:

Jerseygirl

When we moved to New Jersey the state had just introduced HOV lanes. They didn't last long as they were barely used. All it did was to reduce the number of lanes used...thus creating more problems.

We often use the HOV lane on the QEW...although it's very convenient for us...I've hardly ever seen it well used.

Oakvillian

So, the first morning of all the temporary HOV restrictions being in place. Boy, was that a tedious commute. I needed to be in the office this morning, so decided to leave home at normal time and see how much slower it was. The formerly 2+ HOV lanes on QEW west of Trafalgar have been made into 3+ lanes, so there's no switchover as described by Sharkus. But losing a running lane through Mississauga is a bugger, it was a 1st/2nd gear crawl all the way through. Almost nothing in the HOV lanes, which I suppose is not surprising this far ahead of the games.

Remarkably few people ignoring the rules, though - albeit that was probably aided by the huge numbers of OPP out on the roads in cruisers and on motorcycles. I heard one OPP officer interviewed on the radio who said that compliance has been higher than they expected, and most of the low-occupancy cars he'd pulled over turned out to be PanAm representatives with the proper permits, testing out the flow of traffic for contingency planning.

I need to be in the office for a meeting tomorrow as well, and will try a different route; after that I see an awful lot of working-from-home in my immediate future if congestion doesn't ease up a bit.

SchnookoLoly

I noticed a similar thing this morning as Oakvillian. The HOV lanes that exist from Trafalgar to Brant are just 3+ now instead of 2+, so no real change through there... luckily the first bit of the QEW into Mississauga where it reduces to two lanes I don't have to sit in for very long but it will still a slow down. I expect my drive home is going to be awful, though, it usually takes me twice as long to get home in the evening and I expect that will just get worse. Might have to experiment with a different route during the Games.

On the upside, I only have 15 working days left, so just 3 weeks to suffer through it!

Jerseygirl

Careful...you don't want to be taken short while your in traffic. I remember my daughter almost had a few mishaps while traveling home in traffic.

JamesM

I walked into the office. Didn't notice a thing. Work colleagues were whining. If they were that concerned they would have built the extra traffic into their journey time and left earlier. #LazyCradles.

Off on vacation for my annual shot of culture on the 18th. All over when I return.