Ontario Provincial Route 401 East, Exits 355 - 399 Thru Toronto

[cristoretornebiblia]

Somebody tell me why everyone dont just use the collector lane?

[RedroomStudios]

@cristoretornebiblia because if everyone used the collector it would be a giant traffic jam. Also if you are just driving through the city you can use the express and not have to deal with cars coming on and off in front of you. Thats a very basic answer... in reality people just change back and forth from the collectors for no reason depending what lane they might be in. Or sometimes if there is an accident blocking one set of lanes, the other lets traffic keep moving.

[caphillsea77]

are you going to do any videos of freeways in Montreal, or perhaps Calgary, Edmonton, or Ottawa?

[MajorTechFan]

I can't help but notice the irony of the express lanes being backed up with traffic.....while the collector lanes are moving smoothly.

[bvivian]

welcome to stop n' go toronto

[bj615]

I can't get enough of this video, I haven't watched it in probably a month, but it still feels as good as the first view. There is no other city quite like Toronto or it's freeway system, probably the best mix of an urban and suburban environment in North America.

[Bongwater123]

ive seen a lot of big cities but toronto is the best one of all.

[madbengalsfan85]

This beats the Downtown Connector in Atlanta

[FreewayBrent]

@madbengalsfan85: I both agree and disagree. I don't think there's another freeway quite like the 401, anywhere on the planet (some people compare the 401 to the NJ Turnpike or the I-90/I-94 duplex in Chicago, but both of those freeways don't have the number of lanes or traffic volumes that the 401 carries). However, at the same time, the views of the Midtown and Downtown skyline thru the Downtown Connector in Atlanta are almost unbeatable!

[Marusunshine]

Great Video! I travel on the 401 every day but never really appreciated it till now. Thanks!

[ScenicMirages]

Reminds me of the New Jersey Turnpike just south of Newark. Except with less traffic.

[ting280]

it's only busy cuz there's a lot of houses over here, a lot of jobs over there, and the highway shrinks where all the houses are. goes from 8 lane collecter/express to 3 lane single highway and bottlenecks down from port union in pickering to maybe around thickson in whitby from maybe 3pm to around 6:30-7pm. around 5 to about 6:30 it's a parking lot

[trashdunka99]

man i thought I-270 in Maryland had the worst traffic ever. this is like 10x worse

[bj615]

@trashdunka99 only traffic flows better on the 401, when I've been in DC the problem is that traffic just doesn't move. at all.. In Toronto the traffic can be heavy, but it tends to flow more frequently than DC jams.

[mrlidoro]

Canadian Interstate system is joke as Canadian Country & people

[adrianroam95]

@mrlidoro we don't have an interstate system lolz

[lemonrind]

@mrlidoro Yeah, we keep trying to make a good Interstate system, but we always fail because we don't have states. :(

[mdunlopgt2]

drove from Niagara to Kingston a few years back, hitting the Metro 401 around 1pm. I have been on before, but first time I had driven it, after driving many UK motorways and Californian Freeways such as I-5 and Hwy 101.

Unreal. Both loved it and scared myself (and my wife) silly. Combin collector/express lanes with solid concrete walls and no room to maneuvre, plus under/over take any way you want and Quebec plate lorries. Insane, and fun.

Thanks for the memories.

[mrhiway420]

@FreewayBrent ...great video as always, but great music too! ...who does this track?

[likethepear]

Geez I thought the Lougheed Highway from Vancouver to Coquitlam was crazy. 401 beats that! I'm surprised Los Angeles doesn't have the busiest freeway in the world, or Hong Kong. Toronto's not even that big really compared to other world cities. But I guess it is very very spread out.

[adrianroam95]

@likethepear what, lougheed hwy isn't crazy at all, what are you on about? it's just a normal arterial road

[Pennywise604]

@likethepear Lougheed shouldn't even be considered a Highway. There's traffic lights every km. and has a max. speed limit of 40 mph until Pitt Meadows. A proper Highway has controlled access ramps and NO traffic lights. You could take every Highway in Metro Vancouver and combine them all together, and it still wouldn't even hold a candle to the 401. Amazing Highway!

[lemonrind]

@likethepear It's because Toronto really puts all of its eggs in one basket. It really has just one big super-highway and all the other highways depend on it. California has a lot more redundancy in its system.

[qwertyuiopz123]

lol no one ever follows the speed limit

[adrianroam95]

hey FreewayBrent would you say that Canada's freeways look pretty close to those of the states?

[FreewayBrent]

@adrianroam95: I would say so, considering the design standards are generally replica's of each other. Ontario, in particular, is one of the most innovative transportation planning agencies on the planet.

[LouAu]

Damn!!!Allan road should be extended to downtown area already no matter what the reason is was. The Don Valley Parkway has already been over-traffic. During the snow-storm, it takes over 3 hours from Richmond Hill(including 404) to downtown. The highway network in Metro Toronto is totally out of our imagination. Take a look of most of the states cities, 

[adrianroam95]

@LouAu Be thankful you live in Toronto. In Vancouver the road network is so bad, it's a pain to get around anywhere.

[jenzeppelin]

so close to home!!!

[Jacob1986]

awesome videos Brent, where are your from?! I live by the 401 its a crazy highway, the problem in Toronto is that there are not enough highways to handle the traffic. There were many plans to build more highways into the city that got scrapped by environmentalists and by politicians. In my opinion it would be better for the environment to have the cars moving steadily rather than sitting in traffic. I personally hate driving into Toronto it's very tiring. Toronto and Ontario still need learning

[dlop024]

how you did put video camera on your car like that? because I don't see anywhere in store like that and where you get like that come from? I just wondering :)

[EagleEye812]

This was the most impressive highway I've ever seen. I've only been there once, and we were stuck in near-standstill traffic for over two hours. And on the 401, that's a hell of a lot of cars! :p

[secordman]

The 401 (an expressway we call it here) is a nightmare at the best of times. There's a rule up here in Canada. Move to the middle lane and coast at 90 km/hr. Everyone is afraid to deal with merging here. This road was space age in the early 70's, yet became overloaded by the 80's. The "basketweave" is just east of Hwy 400 which is exit 359.

The lanes westbound are always logjammed west of Hwy 400. Too much traffic coming south from the 400 and the collectors and express merging shortly after

[danielgirotto]

wow this track along with the drive is great

[njam101]

One thing that you could add and mention in this 401 video is the "Basketweave." It is often mentioned in traffic reports for the 401.

[njam101]

Keep up the great work FreewayBrent! I always thought that large American cities would have had express/collector freeways like TO until I visited them over the last decade and realized that they don't really. I live in Northern Ontario where there are no freeways. It's amazing that this province has such diversity. There are communities up towards Hudson and James Bays that have no connecting roads and are fly-in only.

[FreewayBrent]

@haljackey: Are you a wikipedia editor? Either way, I don't mind, but we'll have to get in contact beforehand; I'd like to polish up the annotations on that video, first, before it's linked to another site like wikipedia.

[twilightrocks56789]

the 401 can always be backed up. the dvp is something else though it is always backed up at the 401/404 interchange!!!! once i was going on a trip and it was so crazy a truck (big 18 wheller ) almost hit our bus!!!

[twilightrocks56789]

yup the only reason it is backed up is because the collectors and express merge one day i was sitting in traffic for almost an hour!! (this is at 7mins and 30 sec.)

[twilightrocks56789]

you should have got up to exit 401 on the 401

[RedroomStudios]

nice one dude... I started out watching your LA freeway videos as I am travelling there later this month. Glad to see you have some TO freeway vids too - this is my part of the world!

[Merche74]

I do this drive everyday but I get off at exit 404 at Salem in Ajax...let me tell you trafiic if brutal going to work and coming back

[jwcs69]

soundtrack anyone?

[FreewayBrent]

The song artist and title's are listed at the very end of my videos, just for future reference. :-)

[jwcs69]

Thanks Freeway.

If you'd described your videos to me a couple of days ago I would've said you display autistic tendencies. However, I have to admit to being impressed, esp with the excellent soundtracks.

[FreewayBrent]

Ha, that's a new one. Nah, I've just always had an appreciation for road infrastructure, and, especially in my newer videos, I try to present them in a way that's interactive...teaching the viewer a thing or two about the roadway and geography being featured, while adding in a catchy tune (I've been known to hit up a few clubs, once every now and then, and love dance music).

[ScrewdUPClickV2]

this is just sick ..

[tonysantiagobx]

One question...what is this track in the background?

[CosmoPhotography]

Can't believe I missed this one of yours. Damn, it's been a while since I've been on this road. The last time was with my father many years ago when I was about 4 or 5, so needless to say the actual memory of this road is a bit hard to recall haha. Thanks for this!

[Snickerdo]

Typical American, in the left lane being passed by traffic on the right ;)

[FreewayBrent]

I actually live in California, and filmed all of my Ontario 400-series videos in the summer. However, I was really hoping for a mobile-friendly version of the MTO's website for live traffic speeds, which I wasn't able to find, unfortunately. At least I would've been able to know just how slow my real time travel was going to take, along freeways like the 401, 427, Don Mills and Gardiner.

[heroheroic]

Very busy

[sonysnob1]

Can we see the video through Mississauga by the airport? I love driving this highway from my computer screen.

[Universal1011]

Your vids are awsome! Ive been waiting for the highway 400 or 427 vids for a lonnnng time now. Do you know when it'll be up in air???

[haljackey]

Nice job!

[vaughanweather]

It's not as exciting as your Grape Vine and Tejon Pass video but instead this video is just a little overwhelming. The other side of the freeway is barely visible, the east bound lanes take up the full screen.

[FreewayBrent]

Indeed, it's quite an overwhelming freeway to witness, in terms of width and traffic, but it's certainly unique with it's comprehensive express/collector lane setup.

Did you check out my I-40 Tijeras Canyon video that I recently posted?

[theonlysilentbob]

Great video! Really gives you an idea of the size of this route.

Maybe you should take it around 5PM next time LOL. It might be the worlds busiest but it's also probably where you will find the most stressed out people in gridlock!

Another thing to note is that most of the bridges crossing above don't have fencing. It was discovered that the additional 8 feet of fence led to people who ugh.. "fell" having more serious injuries than falling from the height with the normal barriers.

[FreewayBrent]

5 PM traffic was pretty brutal, although the average overall speeds were no worse than what I've seen in LA or the SF Bay Area. Still though, just seeing a whopping 20 lanes of traffic, all congested, is a visually stimulating sight that I'll never forget!

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed the video.  There will be more 401 videos to come in the future.

[theonlysilentbob]

Cool!

Did you by chance shoot any of the 407 or 400?

[FreewayBrent]

Nah, not the 407. I didn't want a bill to be sent to my house, knowing that I wouldn't be able to pay it for 3 months (since I wasn't going to be there).

The 400, on the other hand, I uploaded it to YouTube about a month ago, but I still haven't gotten around to annotating it. Maybe I should do that today. :-)

[cptswim]

@FreewayBrent I don't know if you know this already but I heard that if you are out of province (or have another licence plate besides Ontario), they won't bill you. I have an Alberta licence plate, and when I was going to school in Ontario, I used the 407 all the time. I didn't get a single bill in the mail! That was six years ago though. Love your videos!

[RedroomStudios]

@cptswim I think things may have changed since then so that the 407 can bill out of province drivers. not sure though. I try to avoid using that highway as the tolls are insanely expensive!

[lemonrind]

@cptswim The 407 toll system is able to read and bill licence plates from Ontario and Québec, and the following U.S. states: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Maine, Georgia, Florida, and New Jersey. Alberta is safe!

[blasdell1987]

I love this highway too. I remember the first time I was on it. It made the highways here in Buffalo, NY look like a joke. haha Sadly I don't get the chance to go on this true example of a super highway too often. =( I know there's this one tv news channel in toronto that shows all the traffic cams in the GTA and the 401 even at 3am is busy.

[FreewayBrent]

I'd say traffic is light at 3 a.m., but yes, relatively speaking for that hour, you'd only expect a dozen or so vehicles to pass you in the other direction, per minute. Just to see *any* traffic waves (15 to 25 vehicles per wave) at all at that hour is pretty crazy.

[sonysnob1]

did you by chance shoot anything around Toronto at night?

[FreewayBrent]

Unfortunately, no. :-( I really regret not doing a night time video of the Gardiner Expressway at night, but at least my daytime video will always be available.

[SomervellTheEchidna]

7:35 - That's a big traffic jam here!

[bj615]

Nice job on the big daddy of them all.

[FreewayBrent]

Thanks, man!

It's been a dream of mine since my early teenager years to drive this freeway. It was definitely a driving experience that I'll never forget, and to have the entire freeway recorded in HD makes it all the better.

I have other 401 videos to upload in the future from the entire province, including one that goes westbound from the 409 to 407 Express Toll Road.

[andrewdaniele]

@FreewayBrent it's been a dream of yours to drive on the 401?? man, it's a nightmare for me just thinking of getting on it lol. i live here and still never drove on it, mainly because my parents scared the crap out of me when i first got my license to NEVER take the 401 for anything lol

[FreewayBrent]

@andrewdaniele: Well hey, with "accolades" like widest freeway and busiest freeway in the world, that was definitely enough to grab my attention when I was first "alerted' about it, several years back. It's quite a visually stimulating freeway, just to see all the lanes and vehicles utilizing those lanes at the same time!

[lemonrind]

@FreewayBrent If you include exit lanes, the 401 is 20 lanes wide at one point.

[PlanneCrash12000]

Finally! a video of Toronto! ive been serching for a video like this for a while.

nice job!

[FreewayBrent]

Heck, so was I. I finally decided that I'd be the one to do it. :-) And yup, all the way from San Francisco to record this monster of a freeway.

Up next, Ontario Highway's 400 & 427. There's also a Kitchener/Waterloo freeway tour that I haven't uploaded yet, and some other 401 videos. Also, a lot of Quebec videos that I have yet to even look at.

[Laucheehung]

stumbled upon your channel - is this like a whole group of ppl with the front of their names "Freeway" who film highways from all over? what a hobby!

[FreewayBrent]

Ha, not exactly. There's FreewayJim, who probably has the best freeway vids on the internet. There's also ScrewdUpClick2000, who focuses on Texas.

[Nexis4Jersey]

This freeway was my favorite one to ride along in Canada, it was so big!

[FreewayBrent]

I'd say this is my favorite freeway, ANYWHERE!

[1e2r3i4c5]

Awesome video thank you.

[FreewayBrent]

No prob. :-)

[ScrewdUpClick2000]

awesome .. defintaly the widest for number of miles in the world ... cant wait to see the 20 lane part

[Freewayjim]

Great video, awesome freeway indeed, thanks for bringing it to us.