Keep in mind our highways are notorious for being deeply rutted from the use of substandard surface asphalt on the 100 series highways.I just pulled in to Halifax from Ottawa. While the posted speed limit in Ontario and Quebec is 100kmh, it is 110kmh in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Hitting 130kmh and more in Ontario and Quebec was dead easy. Once we got to New Brunswick, despite the great condition of the main highway, despite the fact that it was largely empty (dream on, you who prowl highway 400), it was an absolute bugger to hit and maintain 120. Now, clearly part of that is the hilly nature of NB and NS, but that wasn't the whole story.
Finally,it hit me: the lanes are narrower. Not by a huge margin, mind you. Maybe 2ft at most. But that shaves a metre or so off the total width of the two lanes on each side of the median. My wheels are straight, but I found I had to put in a little extra effort to stay in my lane, andthat was shaving off velocity.
I mentioned to my son the civil engineer, who was in the car with me: Are these lanes narrower or what? And he replied that it is a known strategy to narrow lanes as a speed-calming measure. In some respects, the posted limit of 110 is almost a dare from the respective ministries of transport: "See if you can keep this up, sucker!".
Caution: wide load
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So, safe and sound back home now. And in retrospect, I have to say that I may have been wrong. Or rather attributing my perceptions to the wrong thing. There were, indeed, segments where the space between the lines and the car ahead of me was narrower at some points. But it wasn't that big a portion of the highway. I think my perception of narrower lanes was actually stemming from the narrower paved shoulders in a number of places. Some were maybe 2ft wide at best, while others were big enough to pull over on. It creates the impression that the roadway itself is narrower, because you have less viable wiggle room.
One thing that WAS disconcerting was the price of gas. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. Everywhere I went in the province, and every station, every day, it was 130.8/l. Living in a city where the gas price changes 4-5 times a day and is different from day to day, I found the stability of the price downright creepy. WHY doesn't it change??!!
Are they trying to mess with me?
NB was 130.9 everywhere, where Quebec prices ranged from 135.9 in the east, to 143.9 in Montreal north. Ottawa was 121.9 at one station when we got back into town...but then lord knows how long it would stay that price. It's 7hrs later now. It could be 138.4 now for all I know.
One thing that WAS disconcerting was the price of gas. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. Everywhere I went in the province, and every station, every day, it was 130.8/l. Living in a city where the gas price changes 4-5 times a day and is different from day to day, I found the stability of the price downright creepy. WHY doesn't it change??!!
Are they trying to mess with me?NB was 130.9 everywhere, where Quebec prices ranged from 135.9 in the east, to 143.9 in Montreal north. Ottawa was 121.9 at one station when we got back into town...but then lord knows how long it would stay that price. It's 7hrs later now. It could be 138.4 now for all I know.
Nova Scotia, and I believe NB as well have provincially regulated fuel price changes. They only change once a week.So, safe and sound back home now. And in retrospect, I have to say that I may have been wrong. Or rather attributing my perceptions to the wrong thing. There were, indeed, segments where the space between the lines and the car ahead of me was narrower at some points. But it wasn't that big a portion of the highway. I think my perception of narrower lanes was actually stemming from the narrower paved shoulders in a number of places. Some were maybe 2ft wide at best, while others were big enough to pull over on. It creates the impression that the roadway itself is narrower, because you have less viable wiggle room.
One thing that WAS disconcerting was the price of gas. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. Everywhere I went in the province, and every station, every day, it was 130.8/l. Living in a city where the gas price changes 4-5 times a day and is different from day to day, I found the stability of the price downright creepy. WHY doesn't it change??!!
NB was 130.9 everywhere, where Quebec prices ranged from 135.9 in the east, to 143.9 in Montreal north. Ottawa was 121.9 at one station when we got back into town...but then lord knows how long it would stay that price. It's 7hrs later now. It could be 138.4 now for all I know.
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