Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducay
Both seem to have more than enough room for the access, and seems like (yet another) asinine design decision that will eventually get fixed for way more money in the future. (looking at you Stoney @ 69th St interchange disaster)
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I'm not entirely sure any of these will need to be fixed, ever... especially 69 Street unless we one day decide Tsuu T'ina no longer exists. Measuring the distance on Google Maps, it's all about the same:
69 St to Westhills Way = 1600 meters
17 Ave to Bow Trail = 1600 meters
Bow Trail to Old Banff Coach = 1600 meters
So it is in fact the same asinine decision made for all 3 that is actually one singular decision to adhere to a) the prioritization of mainline traffic on ring roads and b) the arguably conservative Highway Design Guide standards for a speed of 110 kph. Neither parameter is specific to the Calgary ring road. So there's a few options. #1 is the "way more money in the future" fix you suggest, i.e. braided ramps. In the case of the west leg there is room but those could never be justified for the anticipated volume of traffic in a ~30 year horizon. Option #2 is to include the accesses with a reduced mainline speed limit of 80 kph which would cause a similar uproar in here. Option #3 is to leave out the accesses, keep mainline at 100 and save a bunch of money.
The new 16 Ave NW/Stoney interchange currently being rebuilt is one of the most complex interchanges in Canada, and arguably the most complex interchange Alberta has built next to Henday/Yellowhead NE. There is clearly no lack of design skill in either ring road given the constraints, keeping in mind that things like the sudden narrowing of NB Stoney at 17 Ave SE from 4 lanes to 2 is a funding decision and not a fault in the ultimate design.