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March 07, 2006
Twinning
There's a word they use in Canada (probably by way of England) for converting a 2-lane highway (one lane each way) to a 4-lane highway (two lanes each way). The word is "twinning".For example, the highway from Calgary to Lake Louise is being twinned, and the highway north from Edmonton is going to be twinned (that's right, NORTH from Edmonton, meaning the chance of this affecting any reader of this blog is slim to none).
While going to and from Whistler, we drove through some of the construction work involved in twinning the highway up to Whistler (or twinning some of it and improving the rest) and also saw a sign that they were planning to twin highway 15 from the border up to the Trans Canada (thus making it an even better way to bypass Vancouver).
Note that twinning is not the same as limited access. A twinned highway can still have lights and driveways (New Jersey has some of these, likes routes 1 and 22: 55 mph with traffic lights and people turning left in front of you). So route 15 will be twinned but route 1 (the Trans Canada) around Vancouver is limited access (although the part in North Vancouver is hardly up to U.S. Interstate standards, he sniffs huffily).
Posted by AdamBa at March 7, 2006 11:14 AM
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Comments
Well, it affects me... we drive to Grande Prairie to visit a buddy regularly, and it kills us driving the 2-lane portions of the highway.
Posted by: Feynman and Coulter's Love Child at March 7, 2006 07:50 PM
Well, waddaya know...come to think of it I sometimes play hockey with a Microsoftie from Grande Prairie. And there used to be a receptionist from Fort Vermillion. So there's a bit of a Northern Alberta contingent here.
BUT, reading the article more closely, this is not about twinning the highway that runs up to Yellowknife. It's the one on the east side of the province, which serves the tar sands. Although I guess the two routes may overlap for a bit.
- adam
Posted by: Adam Barr at March 7, 2006 09:45 PM
I doubt "twinning" came from England, I don't think we have a single phrase that neatly sums up that type of road construction. I think an English person would instead describe it as "changing highway 15 into a dual carrriageway" (or "dual cabbageway" if you are under the age of 5).
Andrew
Posted by: Andrew at March 8, 2006 02:52 PM
