Roads, Highways & Infrastructure

[ahuch]

Spring 2025 update on some of the Deerfoot work

 

[FCC1982]

^ Ha - just came here to post that but ahuch beat me to it.

 

[JesseLikesCities]

Awesome, you guys think this will alleviate that bottleneck well?

 

[FCC1982]

Yes - definitely.
I just wish they were doing the Glenmore interchange more completely with a proper NB to WB movement.

 

[whatchyyc]

Yes - definitely.
I just wish they were doing the Glenmore interchange more completely with a proper NB to WB movement.

I wish they just built this from the start... now when they decide to pull the trigger later we'll have to endure years of construction and backups all over again

 

[FCC1982]

Agreed but alas …. money is limited.

 

[MuzikMachine]

Looks like the funding went to adding extra/new structures to the Anderson/Bow Bottom interchange instead.

 

[MichaelS]

The Bridgeland Riverside Multimodal Bridge goes to CPC next week.
Report, Presentation,

 

[CBBarnett]

Awesome - that solves a suprisingly long detour from Bridgeland and the LRT to access St. Patrick's Island, it's about a 15 minute walk today. This would shave off ~13 minutes, plus address that awkward pinch-point on the north side of the river.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Changes to T-bone hot spot in southeast Calgary taking human factor out of intersection

After years of back-and-forth with administration, the number one collision spot in Ward 14 is finally getting protected turns.

calgaryherald.com

Interesting article about a problem intersection in the SE. Canyon Meadows Drive and Parkland Blvd.

The majority of left-hand collisions occur when turning onto Parkland Boulevard, and not when turning left onto Lake Crimson Drive S.E. He believes the upward slope to the roadway creates a slight optical illusion that challenges depth perception in a way that isn't presented when driving from the other direction.

Maurice Masliah is a sessional professor for the University of Toronto, and the founder of Headlight Consulting Inc., a firm specializing in statistical analysis of collision data, and road safety management. He said multiple factors can impact the number of collisions at a given intersection.

High volumes of pedestrians can influence the likelihood, as drivers are "looking for oncoming traffic and that's where their attention is focused," Masliah said.

"They're focused on the oncoming vehicles. They're looking for gaps. They're not looking so much to their left."

Drivers surprised by a pedestrian they had not seen or expected will often stop in the middle of that very gap in traffic they'd been focused on.

This is an issue at a lot of intersections where the left hand turn is not controlled by anything other than a driver's instincts. Problematic left turns are not uncommon, dealing with oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists on a cycle path is probably too much to expect a driver to deal with. I had numerous close calls on 2nd Street SW riding southbound specifically.

Also... I had no idea this was a thing.

Canyon Meadows Drive is one of two parkways in Calgary, a type of road where "walking and cycling modes are given highest priority," according to city classifications.

 

[CBBarnett]

Canyon Meadows Drive is one of two parkways in Calgary, a type of road where "walking and cycling modes are given highest priority," according to city classifications.

I mean that is clearly not the case in practice or it wouldn't have take 3 years of arguing to fix a 40+ year old issue. And this quote from the article is perfectly sums up the 1984 level of double-speak that goes into the traffic engineering world. Does this sound like walking and cycling were given the highest priority?

Reluctance to back up traffic along Canyon Meadows Drive kept administration from inputting a fully protected left turn cycle. Instead, light timings were changed, adjusting the timing of a one way turn, and how long lights in both directions stayed red.​

 

[Surrealplaces]

The Bridgeland Riverside Multimodal Bridge goes to CPC next week.
Report, Presentation,

Awesome! This is much needed.

 

[lemongrab]

https://www.calgary.ca/planning/transportation/road-classification.html

Parkway​

Parkways focus on integration with natural areas. Adjacent land uses include large natural parks, waterways, or special public institutions. Natural vegetation and new forms of storm water management are integrated with the street. Parkways present opportunities to maximize water infiltration, slow and detain rainfall, enhance the urban forest, and preserve and enhance biodiversity. Walking and cycling modes are given highest priority.

A current example of a Parkway is Memorial Drive N.W.

There's really very little special about Memorial other than it has nice pathways beside it.

2.1km from where it starts as Memorial at Crowchild until the first opportunity to actually cross the street (an overpass and ramps up to 14th St being the other options on that span). Peace Bridge brought a couple more level crossings (eventually), but you can't actually cross again until the Curling Club overpass. No way to get onto Centre St. You can cross at Edmonton Trail, but then the 'Parkway' effectively becomes a freeway, with long detours if you want to follow the path of Memorial up to Barlow, where anything resembling a parallel pathway or sidewalk disappears for a while.


It is pretty hard to come up with any other examples...there's a very brief stretch of Elbow Dr. The bike paths are nicely set back from John Laurie Blvd, but using the path along 14th is pretty miserable. 10th St NW/Cambrian/Northmount is kinda okay, and it links Riley/Confederation/Nose Hill Parks.

I've long suggested that Sarcee Tr (the south one) would make a nice Parkway if they lowered the speed limit and added a couple pedestrian crossings...but they're just gonna turn it into another freeway with more lanes and big ass interchanges.