Crowchild Trail Improvement Discussion [Split from 130th ave thread]

[TurnedTheCorner]

If the only thing that comes of this is that the tenement at Crowchild and University Drive is torn down, I will be pleased.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

If the only thing that comes of this is that the tenement at Crowchild and University Drive is torn down, I will be pleased.

God Yes, any 'real solution' to Crowchild Trail means that has to be torn down and out of the way.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

If the only thing that comes of this is that the tenement at Crowchild and University Drive is torn down, I will be pleased.

Got something against tinfoil window coverings?

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

If the only thing that comes of this is that the tenement at Crowchild and University Drive is torn down, I will be pleased.

whatsa tenement?

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

So cut off entire neighborhoods of the city so that suburbanites can get 10 min home quicker... riiiight.

For the sake of argument...the gridlock that Crowchild experiences costs money, increases pollution and of course, makes it harder to get around adjacent neighbourhoods. Reducing the commute time by improving traffic flow drastically improves the areas around it, so yes, 10 minutes off a commute is a huge boost to the suburban parasites and to you.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

For the sake of argument...the gridlock that Crowchild experiences costs money, increases pollution and of course, makes it harder to get around adjacent neighbourhoods. Reducing the commute time by improving traffic flow drastically improves the areas around it, so yes, 10 minutes off a commute is a huge boost to the suburban parasites and to you.

Those are pretty indirect "costs" to the people getting access cutoff...

All of you forget that 10 bus routes routes count on these cross roads across Crowchild to get east/west. Re routing will lengthen them signficantly and make them a nightmare to route.

[chemgear]

Sounds good - tolls and higher property taxes on these parasites to fund and build these projects then.

[mykalberta]

I have always wondered why the lights at 23Ave even exist. Both South Crowchild and East 16 Ave have much more convenient access to their final destinations. An over pass at 24 Ave should be a relatively "easy" build. Its once you get south of Transc\Canada that all the problem start.

Other than the "freeflow" lane from Crow N - 16 East.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I have always wondered why the lights at 23Ave even exist. Both South Crowchild and East 16 Ave have much more convenient access to their final destinations. An over pass at 24 Ave should be a relatively "easy" build. Its once you get south of Transc\Canada that all the problem start.

Other than the "freeflow" lane from Crow N - 16 East.

Yeah, it seems to me like it would be reasonable to close the lights at 23rd ave and make 24th ave an interchange.

They also desperately need to add another lane to Crowchild northbound where the left hand lane exits to University Drive/16th Ave. To do that it appears they'd have to convert 24th Street to part of Crowchild, which would mean they'd need to buy ~7 homes north of Sumac, and maybe another ~12 if they went south of Sumac Road also.

I also think 5th Ave could be converted to a no-turn underpass, which might be a good place to add a dedicated bike lane so cyclists could cross crowchild.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

God Yes, any 'real solution' to Crowchild Trail means that has to be torn down and out of the way.

I'm almost positive it would be cheaper for the city to buy the houses that front onto 24 Street (on the west side of Crowchild) than that apartment building.

[Joborule]

Crowchild should be free flow from Glenmore Trail and on. Repairing the choke points between 17th Ave S and 24th Ave N is long, long overdue.

[Sr. Mints]

Halleluiah!

Just a ball park estimate, but I'd say I've spent 49.81% of my entire life sitting in traffic on Crowchild from McMahon to Kensington.

[Bigtime]

Jason Markusoff from the Herald must be lurking around these parts...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...253/story.html

Crowchild streamlining would cost up to $1 billion and swallow up homes

City hall is proposing to alleviate Crowchild Trail of traffic lights and backups with several new interchanges, gargantuan ramps and not one but two extra bridges over the Bow River.

The ambition and scope of the multi-decade plan, to be released this week, comes with an even more ambitious price tag: $750 million to $1 billion, in today’s dollars.

To get from downtown to Memorial west of downtown, drivers would have to follow 10th Avenue and use the new bridge, tentatively called the 10th Avenue Bridge. This crossing would take drivers to a set of lights on a realigned Memorial, and also handle motorists exiting Crowchild via a new off-ramp or collector road that starts all the way south of 17th Avenue.

Eventually, a second bridge would be added for northbound thru traffic on Crowchild, leaving the existing crossing to handle southbound traffic.

Future phases would eliminate all remaining traffic lights on Crowchild, adding new interchanges at Kensington Road, 16th Avenue and 24th Avenue N.W. The 5th Avenue N.W. intersection would become a flyover or two dead ends, and 23rd Avenue N.W. and McMahon Stadium would likely be accessed by service roads.

The changes would create three lanes of free-flow traffic in each direction, all the way along Crowchild.

[Bigtime]

Lots of concept plans for the corridor can be viewed here:

http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...ect=/crowchild

[Joborule]

That area around the Bow bridge looks ridiculous.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Good luck, this is going to turn into an excercise to determine how many bike lanes, HOV lanes, and transit dedicated lanes can be squeezed into the space with no regard for car traffic. Hell I bet when this is somehow all done we end up with less car lanes, with the excuse that by building all the other transporation alternatives it is supposed to aliviate car traffic from all the people who get out of their cars and into buses and on bikes.

Or the City could do what they did with 16th and neglect any transit consideration only for the corridor to be identified as a major transit priority at a later date.

While I do think that the current setup on Crowchild needs to be improved from one single through lane at certain points, strong considerations will have to be given to transit. Crowchild should form the western portion of a BRT circle line and that would be a long term solution. On the other hand, almost all road improvements like this are merely short or, at best, medium term improvements since they simply induce more vehicular traffic.

[shermanator]

In an unsurprising twist, John Mar will support this plan over his dead body. I'm sure he will flop to the other side tomorrow and support it.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...565/story.html

[HotHotHeat]

If there's a billion dollars to build a tunnel in the middle of nowhere, I'm certain we can come up with the money to build a bridge over the river for the only N-S freeway in the Western half of the city.

Should have been done 15 years ago.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

If there's a billion dollars to build a tunnel in the middle of nowhere, I'm certain we can come up with the money to build a bridge over the river for the only N-S freeway in the Western half of the city.

Should have been done 15 years ago.

what tunnel are you referring to?

[HotHotHeat]

Airport tunnel. Looks like it's more like $300 million... Thought I heard more somewhere. Still a valid example of poorly allocating transportation money.