When arteriosclerosis is left unchecked, heart failure is inevitable. Transportation systems constitute the arteries and veins of the urban body. Their clogging undermines the health of urban life and prevents sustainable development. A good example is the increasing volume of traffic and the resulting air pollution through Ontario’s "golden horseshoe", which is an international artery. Here the high number of commuters in the Greater Toronto Area is compounded by the heavy vehicular traffic, especially trucking, between Canada and USA and the large number of visitors to Niagara Falls. The main challenge in “clearing this artery” is how to increase the capacity of this transportation corridor, while minimizing the impact on the environment and maintaining existing traffic.
A practical way of reducing the demand on highways and resolving the competition between moving people and moving goods is incorporating Light Rail Transit (LRT). Using the side strips in a highway corridor, even the median where possible, for an elevated train would not require additional land and the environmental impact would be minimal. The system of piers and beams could support a conventional electric train, yet it would make sense to plan for the faster and safer magnetic levitation system. There are several LRT or monorail systems that would be suitable and could handle steaper slopes at crossings over bridges. There would be minimal modifications required to the highway, such as adjustments to median barriers and relocation of lighting and signs. The present highway infrastructure, including overpasses and ramps, can be preserved.
Existing carpooling parking lots and overpasses at main intersections would be connected to the train stations to be built above the highway. The LRT station and mobility hub can be expanded into a mini-mall with essential services, public amenities and commercial space. This opens the door to the creation of a local Public-Private Partnership for its development.
The supporting structure can be prefabricated, transported and constructed with minimal disruption to the highway traffic. A specially designed bridge, which would move on two towers rolling on the shoulders, completed with cranes, monorails and a bore for caissons would allow construction on the median, without disrupting traffic. It would also incorporate a catwalk for workers and attached trailers for accessories. The bridge would be designed to allow lowering and turning when moving under road overpasses. Such an erection bridge could achieve efficient construction without having to close the highway.
It would also make sense to invest into a manufacturing facility which would produce all necessary components. This could be done in a cost effective way in partnership with major contractors, precast manufacturers and steel fabricators. The cost of the plants and equipment shall be viewed as a onetime long-term investment. Considering all the elements involved, this project would bring a much needed and long term economic boost.
Thanks to its minimal environmental impact, this concept is the ideal solution throughtout North America. There are numerous elevated light trains already running in the world, and many more are planned, yet this concept of redeveloping the existing highway infrastructure is unique and would bring Canada and USA into the spot light of modern transportation.
Developing LRT on highways would solve the two main transportation problems we face today. First, it would make public transit more convenient and less costly than driving; this is the only way of breaking the vicious circle that we are presently trapped in. Such a revolutionary transportation system will help people abandon their dependency and addiction to the automobile. The present measures are insufficient because bad habits seldom change voluntarily. Higher gasoline prices discourage driving, but for most people there is no practical alternative to driving to work. This alternative must be created first. It is wise to invest into a better and healthier quality of life.
Secondly, the LRT-Highway system would solve the present competition and conflict between moving people and moving goods. By reducing the number of private cars, the dedication of entire lanes for trucks and buses would be made possible and the efficiency of the entire highway infrastructure would increase dramatically. A drastic reduction in air pollution will also result.
And at last, but not the least, our battered Mother Nature will benefit. The biggest harm that the global highway network has caused to her, even more than noise and air pollution, is the fact that it has produced its fragmentation. The world’s flora and fauna, originally functioning as a cohesive living organism, have been reduced to ever shrinking islands, with growing physical restrictions on wildlife. In time, by transferring the traffic load from the ground level to the elevated trains, the old highways could be decommissioned and redeveloped to correct the damage done to the natural environment. Only two-lane low speed roads will be preserved for local traffic, service and to access the train stations and parking lots. Wildlife will be free to cross and move freely again throughout the land.
Our federal, state and provincial governments shall consider the great economic, social and health dividends that the investment into the LRT-Highway system would bring. With the signs of recession in sight, now it’s the time to act decisively to boost the manufacturing and construction sectors.
Planting the “seed” of LRT on the QEW would begin the metamorphosis of highways from transportation dinosaurs into the healthy arteries of the future.
