The Busiest Highway in North America

"Dunnik" (dunnik) 04/06/2014 at 20:23 • Filed to: None

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Is not in California. It's the King's Highway 401 in Ontario, specifically the part that travels through Toronto. Almost half a million vehicles per day pass through the busiest part of the route along sixteen lanes of traffic.

The volume of cars is because the "four oh one" is (in American terms) an interstate and a regional highway for much of its length. It is the main route from the Windsor border at Detroit to Quebec City at the entrance to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a route of vital strategic and economic importance to Canada and the US. Canada is the US's !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and much of that is cars, actually: Toyota, Chrysler and GM all have plants along this highway (and Honda has one that accesses it via Highway 400).

The four oh one uses an interesting collector-express system !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , one that sometimes bedevils travelers, tourists and newcomers. It's well illustrated in the aerial picture here, taken near Pearson International Airport. The inside lanes are Express. The outside lanes are Collectors. The Express lanes are meant to be the interstate (or inter-provincial, in this case), designed to carry traffic that is bypassing the busy Toronto section on and through to the other side and, eventually, the Quebec and American borders. The Collectors are meant for local traffic, and as their name suggests, collect travelers from local feeder roads and linked highways.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but take trucks: OTR (Over the Road) long-haul trucks would, in theory, want to stick to the Express, while local delivery trucks (parts of the 401 are lined with distribution warehouses and light industry) might use the Collectors.

What confuses some people is which they should use. In part because they don't understand the system. Many pour souls have missed their exit because they were in the Express lanes, which only have a certain number of interchanges with the Collectors - about 1 for every 3 or 4 Collector on and off ramps. Those who miss their exits are fated to spend eternity wandering the Express lanes like some automotive Flying Dutchman. Or at least until both merge back into a regular 8-lane divided highway outside the Toronto corridor.

Parts of the system can be tricky, not only due to multiple !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! but because some interchanges don't seem to have been well-thought out. The eastbound exit to Kennedy Road from the Express requires you to thread the needle and dodge across four lanes in a very short space of time. It's almost impossible during rush hour, even for BMW drivers, taxis, bro trucks and luxury SUVs. So it pays to plan ahead and know where the exits are, and if you don't, to stick to the Collectors and play it safe.

Helpfully, two types of signage are posted: green for Express (the normal highway system colour in Ontario), and blue for Collectors, and signage in the Express lanes does alert you to approaching exits and what they link up to.

The Collectors may live up to their name, but the Express sometimes doesn't. If an accident snarls traffic ahead, you're stuck for quite a while before you can exit. The overflow makes the Collectors handle all the load, with predictable results. But generally speaking (by that I mean, anytime but rush-hour) traffic does travel faster in the Express lanes. There can be quite a speed difference between the furthest extremes of lane sometimes. The merge lane of the Collectors could be moving at 80-100 km/h, while the passing lane of the Express could be going 140 km/h or more.

The 401 is patrolled by the Highway Safety Division of the Ontario Provincial Police. You do not want to get !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They're our version of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and still like to kick it old school with their pursuit vehicles.

None of this " !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! " nonsense here. A classic Black and White. Like everybody else, they're going to eventually retire the Panther Interceptor, but they're still around in great numbers (though the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is well represented). Unless they're on some speeding blitz, they will generally leave you alone unless you're a menace to yourself and society, but if you are, watch out, they can be pretty hardcore (in other words, just as a highway patrol should be). They have aircraft and can call on the assistance of like a zillion other cop cars from local jurisdictions if need be. Like highway patrols everywhere, they're attracted to fast (or fast looking) cars going fast - another reason to want a sleeper.

They caught a Porsche driver !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (144 mph) late one December night. What kind of Porsche, you ask? A Cayenne (unknown if it was the Turbo S, not that it matters). The driver was drunk off his ass. Well, you did ask.

In summary, the 401 is busy and complicated in sections, don't aggro the OPP, don't drive drunk, and don't buy a Cayenne.

Photo Credits: Wikipedia Commons, Flikr pool. Sources: Wikipedia, Ministry of Transportation, author's experience.

offroadkarter > Dunnik 04/06/2014 at 20:39

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10 bucks to the first guy who goes up to an OPP car on the side of the road, puts another O on it, takes a picture and posts it here

fhrblig > Dunnik 04/06/2014 at 20:40

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I've been there! It's not that hard to figure out, really. I didn't have any problems.

Dunnik > offroadkarter 04/06/2014 at 20:43

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You first, lol

Blondude > offroadkarter 04/06/2014 at 20:48

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This was the first thing that came to mind.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > offroadkarter 04/06/2014 at 20:51

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give it a few years, I'll be in contact with an officer to do this stunt.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Dunnik 04/06/2014 at 20:54

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I drive down this highway occasionally, I know what it's like..

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > Blondude 04/06/2014 at 21:33

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That was my first video game. Cost $50 back then. NFS really went to shit after that.

Blondude > Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 04/06/2014 at 21:41

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Same. I have it for both PC and PS2. If only I could get it working with Windows 8.1...

N/A POWAAAHH > Dunnik 04/06/2014 at 22:15

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It's not that confusing. The 401 is wide open at night and is very tempting to just pin it.

bob and john > offroadkarter 04/07/2014 at 03:45

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.....I will hold you to that offer you know

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > offroadkarter 04/07/2014 at 09:27

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I bet if you asked nicely you could get away doing it with a magnetic O.

TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW! > Dunnik 04/07/2014 at 14:39

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I used to commute from Oshawa to Mississauga every day. If I left at 6:45 am, I would be at work 45 minutes early, with a commute of 45 min to an hour. If I left at 7:00 am, it would take almost 2 hours to get to work.

Dunnik > TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW! 04/07/2014 at 15:57

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That's about as rough as it gets :/ I'm glad you say "used to".

burnttheclutch > Dunnik 04/07/2014 at 16:05

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Drive it often as I live in Toronto but thankfully not during rush hour when it's often a gong show if there's an accident.

The only thing you have to watch out for are of town drivers who haven't figured out the collector/express merge and/or almost miss their exist.

But late at night....it moves really well and with so many lanes it's really easy to get across the city.

thebigbossyboss > Dunnik 04/10/2014 at 21:58

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Of course the section with all the collectors are only a small part of the 401. I used to take the 401 to the Don Valley Parkway....it has it's very own exit from the express, so for that reason, I have barely ever drive in "collectors".

vdub_nut: scooter snob > offroadkarter 04/10/2014 at 22:18

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Bonus points for holding a donut up as the second O

Accro > Dunnik 04/10/2014 at 23:06

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I did the Kitchener to Hwy 115 (Bowmanville) stretch twice every weekend for the last 2 summers (working at Bridgestone Racing Academy) . Holy Crap is it unpredictable. I could leave at 8pm and it'd be fine, leave at 10pm and they'd have started construction and I'd get stop and go for almost half an hour. And don't get me started about the time I was going west into the city around 7pm on the sunday evening of a long weekend...

DatBomb > TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW! 04/10/2014 at 23:22

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Wow, I guess NJ doesn't have such bad traffic after all. Lets just see what that turns into Monday though (after the closure of Pulaski Skyway).

Cliff8928 > Dunnik 04/11/2014 at 03:21

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Driving the 401 made sense being from Chicago and used to the whole Express / Local system on the Ryan. Although the traffic is worse.

wingsfan5 > Dunnik 04/11/2014 at 07:39

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I was there a week ago as a Detroiter and first off have to say there was a lot of traffic but also crusing at 119km I found it interesting how Canadian drivers will squeeze there car between another with minimal room traveling at speed, in other words, Canadians like to tail gate.

soflomr2 > Dunnik 04/11/2014 at 09:51

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OPP pulled me over 4 times when I was up in Canada for summer. Including when I was delivering pizza with my car with a Florida plate. Awesome guys actually, never gave me a hard time and didn't care I was working without a permit :D

bob and john > soflomr2 04/11/2014 at 10:16

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for the most part, they just ticket people for being ass-hats. if they see something interesting or out of place (such as a group of motorcycles more then 25 large, a car with a plate from 3000km away) they will pull them over and have a quick chat, but wont give tickets if ur driving normally. REALLY nice guys when they want to be. I have a great story tht I will post in a couple of days once I get my exams done with

George McNally > Dunnik 04/12/2014 at 09:54

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dolsh > Dunnik 04/12/2014 at 21:57

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Don't expect the OPP to be driving Interceptors. Or black and white cars. If that's the only thing your looking for, you'll miss the Explorers, Taurus', Volvos (yes), Buicks, Tahoe's, and the odd F150.

peggyt1243 > TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW! 06/18/2015 at 23:58

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In the mid 90s I commuted from Whitby to Mississauga daily. Had to leave before 6 AM otherwise it took over 2 hours. The entire Rouge Valley area was under construction at that time and it was a slow bumper to bumper crawl every day on the home bound trip.

peggyt1243 > Dunnik 06/19/2015 at 00:02

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The express/collector system was not stolen from the Americans. There is a North American association that focuses on highways, signage and standards. Solutions and “best practices” are international.

thebigbossyboss > Dunnik 04/15/2016 at 18:25

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Lived in Eastern ontario for 10 years. Driven the 401 enough times. Here in AB my driving habits are not appreciated. I had a little run in with the cops for doing 130. On the 401 that’s nothing. People are regularly going 140 150 and even beyond into the 200's sometimes.

Ash78, voting early and often > Dunnik 04/21/2016 at 08:29

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For the record, saying “the” before the highway name will be met with blank stares just about anywhere except CA. Sincerely, the Rest of America.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > George McNally 04/21/2016 at 12:16

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Went to a demo derby once, there was some guy with an old Integra or something along those line in OPP colours, but instead of OPP he’d gone with OOP’s. Slogan—To Serve And Collect.

So, these guys are officially Oop’s Cars for me from now on :)

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > dolsh 04/21/2016 at 12:18

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Or an old RAV4, if you’re in Barrie.

Canmac61 > Dunnik 05/21/2016 at 08:00

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It’s a Queen’s Highway as in Queen Elizabeth.

chas > Dunnik 02/11/2019 at 14:02

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This is amazing to know the 401 is the busiest HW in N America. I travel it almost daily,and wondered why. Now I know.

danpell > Cliff8928 05/14/2019 at 20:38

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Interesting. I have driven both Chicago and Toronto and found them to be almost the same during rush hour. Toronto has the benefit of a few extra lanes though. Chicago has that thing with the gates where they can increase the number of lanes going one way in the morning and the other way in the afternoon. Seems to work ok.

Note that Toronto has a toll highway 407 that goes east west just to the north of highway 401 that helps to alleviate traffic. (for a fee)