Roads, Highways & Infrastructure

[sidewalk]

I am not a highway person but some of these improvements seem pretty weird, non-standard and unconventional - like this one at McKnight:

Essentially it's a 3 lane off-ramp merging into a 3 lane road with a signal to control it, but only for east-bound traffic. I don't think I have seen any ramp this wide on a Canadian urban highway in any of the bigger, busier cities (Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver). And only for a single direction too, the only ramps close to this number of lanes often have both directions access.

I suppose the capacity is increased with cars now able to queue to access McKnight, but if this was a no-brainer, why haven't others done stuff like this? Why aren't more intersections like this even on Deerfoot?

It always seems like we are re-inventing highway designs/interchanges here for no reason rather than creating a standard, predictable practice or just take a model that works fine in other places and apply it.

I think they're trying to fix the issue where commercial vehicles exiting Deerfoot N.B. to McKnight E.B. have to immediately cross 3 lanes of traffic to reach the turn lane for Aviation Blvd.

There's all sorts of surface transportation/logistics industry in there including large Courier Warehouses and Canada Post's Calgary Mail Processing Plant.
That intersection's a real zoo at times with a line of semi's merging from the right and trying to slowly push across traffic .

I believe the McKnight Boulevard Transportation Study recommended a flyover of 12 Street N.E./Aviation Blvd long-term.
This looks like a short term band-aid solution until then.

 

[lemongrab]

I'm sure this would be wildly unpopular, but could the easiest/safest/cheapest solution be a heavily enforced 90 kph speed limit?

It's about 36 km from Stoney to Stoney.
24 mins at 90 kph
19:38 at 110kph
17:17 at 125kph

But really, most users probably do about half the distance. So 2-4 minutes longer under low-traffic conditions. But also less fuel use and lower emissions. And slower speeds mitigate traffic jams.

Or just spend hundreds of millions to perpetuate a few fatal collisions each year and keep that induced demand cycle going strong!

 

[FCC1982]

^They did lower the speed limit on Deerfoot to 90km/hr for a year or two about 20? years ago. I think they found it made little difference.

 

[FCC1982]

What's wild and a waste is the ramp from EB Memorial on to NB Deerfoot being just a little bigger. What is the point in that?! They even waste money on a bridge over the ramp from NB Deerfoot to EB Memorial. Those are marginal at best and a huge waste.

I noticed that new ramp & bridge for EB Memorial to NB Deerfoot as well - a real head scratcher I agree. Why spend money on that ?

 

[lemongrab]

^They did lower the speed limit on Deerfoot to 90km/hr for a year or two about 20? years ago. I think they found it made little difference.

Did they skip the enforcement part?

 

[FCC1982]

^I highly doubt it.

 

[FCC1982]

Does anyone know what is going on with this project ?

South Bow River Bridge

This project will replace the eastbound bridge over the Bow River, widen the westbound bridge and build a new pedestrian bridge.

www.alberta.ca

They installed two steel girders about 3 months ago and there has been no action since. There have been no workers on site for a while now.
I’m guessing it would be either supply chain hold-ups or redesign ?

 

[Geo_Jedi]

Does anyone know what is going on with this project ?

South Bow River Bridge

This project will replace the eastbound bridge over the Bow River, widen the westbound bridge and build a new pedestrian bridge.

www.alberta.ca

They installed two steel girders about 3 months ago and there has been no action since. There have been no workers on site for a while now.
I’m guessing it would be either supply chain hold-ups or redesign ?

Not sure why the delays, but the last update email from the project I received said the next set of girders was supposed to be delivered the week of August 29th. Which never happened. My guess is supply chain delays.

 

[artvandelay]

I'm sure this would be wildly unpopular, but could the easiest/safest/cheapest solution be a heavily enforced 90 kph speed limit?

It's about 36 km from Stoney to Stoney.
24 mins at 90 kph
19:38 at 110kph
17:17 at 125kph

But really, most users probably do about half the distance. So 2-4 minutes longer under low-traffic conditions. But also less fuel use and lower emissions. And slower speeds mitigate traffic jams.

Or just spend hundreds of millions to perpetuate a few fatal collisions each year and keep that induced demand cycle going strong!

They should really change the speed limit to 110 south of 130 Ave. Stoney should be 110 or 120 in its entirely.

 

[niteryder]

The remaining two gaps between the segments of the Stoney Trail Bridge are now connected:

 

[FCC1982]

Nice !

 

[Myles86]

 

[Mountain Man]

Getting close!

Apparently 16Ave / TCH should be finished with all the construction related to this project in the next few days! Look forward to having slightly easier commutes to the mountains this winter!

 

[CT (Chinese_T)]

West Calgary RIng Road progress (from the newsletter):

 

[Urban Outdoorsman]

Gosh I hope they open this up in phases.