Deerfoot Trail problems - Ideas, solutions?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I know I had to use two days last winter because of driving conditions. I live in Citadel and work in Quarry Park. One of the days the plows hadn't been out, and my car was literally plowing snow on Country Hills BLVD with my bumper. Another day, Stoney trail was a sheet of ice, and my car kept veering to the ditch, so I tried to go an alternate route, but when I did a 180 turning onto Country Hills BLVD from Sarcee Trail, I decided to just go home rather than keep trying

Quick Q: Do you have winter tires?

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Quick Q: Do you have winter tires?

Funny story. I was driving in Tuscany yesterday, and I came up to a woman in her crappy compact SUV doing 30KM because she kept slipping in the snow. I followed her for awhile going the same speed, and finally she moved over so I could pass. But she gave me the "hand" and a honk. Hey, it's not my fault you and your crappy all season tires can't handle the snow. Don't blame me because I can go speed limit.

[Northendzone]

you should have then slowed down to 20kph for a spell - although at that low of speed you really have to worry about attacks from the tuscan raiders.......

my general thought on deerfoot would be that all others yield to me so i can get to where i really need to go.

thanks!!!!

[Acey]

Two big problems on Deerfoot today to avoid: powerline work has both ways down to one lane north of Glenmore (already backed up horribly) and paving between 22X and Seton Blvd has southbound either completely stopped or just one lane squeaking throuh.

[stampsx2]

Is this an emergency? Can't all this be done when se stoney opens to reduce some of the congestion.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Is this an emergency? Can't all this be done when se stoney opens to reduce some of the congestion.

Seems they're changing a bunch of wooden poles over to steel ones. They very well might have delayed this work until mid-October anticipating SE Stoney being open already.

I don't know jack about powerlines but there's probably pretty strict timelines on replacing poles if they need to be replaced.

[Acey]

Powerline work near Glenmore is now clear but southbound at 22X is still jammed up.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Acey

Seems they're changing a bunch of wooden poles over to steel ones. They very well might have delayed this work until mid-October anticipating SE Stoney being open already.

I don't know jack about powerlines but there's probably pretty strict timelines on replacing poles if they need to be replaced.

The powerline work north of Glenmore is a repair to an Enmax line that was damaged during the flood. I just drove past and it looked like they have strung the conductors over Deerfoot, so the delays should be over.

[Slava]

The province is fixing some of the issues on SE Deerfoot, just not the main, obvious issue at this point. To be fair, I give them part marks for trying. I just think its so bloody ridiculous that Glenmore has needed at least one more lane for roughly 20 years and they're still not getting around to that.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Pr...395/story.html

[Magnum PEI]

Just saw the plans and it should help a bit as the people coming from 24th St/Douglasdale wont have to merge over 2 lanes. There's still gonna be problems there esp. once the Imperial campus is done.

I cycle over the southland interchange twice daily so I hope I don't have to take a detour for a few months.

[Wormius]

Thank God. The exit from Deerfoot to Glenmore is awful during morning rush-hour. Deerfoot essentially constricts to one lane there because the right and center lanes become unusable for through traffic.

[psicodude]

While something is better than nothing, I don't think this will make even a tiny bit of difference. Deerfoot will still go down to 2 lanes at Anderson and it doesn't matter if you add another measly 200 meters of space to merge...people will still try within the first 20 feet. Even if it does magically speed up traffic somehow, it will just make the Glenmore squeeze that much worse.

This is just a bandaid and probably won't be worth the 2 years of sheer construction hell. At least we will have the ring road....nevermind.

[Acey]

Another band-aid fix they could do for Deerfoot is fill in the median and add another lane both ways between Beddington and 16 Ave. It'd help ease the SB squeeze from 4 to 3 lanes at McKnight, for one.

[Old Yeller]

Link to the plans I believe:

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/drftom-gp.htm

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

There's still gonna be problems there esp. once the Imperial campus is done.

Yup... not to imply urban planning is like simple arithmetic or anything but just looking at the overhead view in google maps tells the story.

7 lanes of major traffic (Deerfoot North 3, Anderson East 2, and Bow Bottom North 2) that all get mashed together within a kilometer of each other down to 4 lanes for a whole half km before one of those lanes gets cut off and then another 2 or 3 km's later you're down to 2 lanes Northbound.

If the plans I linked are the correct ones, I don't see the point in having two different periods of construction hell on Deerfoot... just fix it all from Glenmore to Anderson all at once and be done with it.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Acey

Another band-aid fix they could do for Deerfoot is fill in the median and add another lane both ways between Beddington and 16 Ave. It'd help ease the SB squeeze from 4 to 3 lanes at McKnight, for one.

They shouldn't do any more Band-Aids though. Just fix it properly and in the future don't build two lanes where there once were three. It doesn't seem that complicated. In case someone reads this in charge of decision making, skip the streetlights on Deerfoot in the future as well. It didn't work.

[para transit fellow]

I'd like to see the NB addition lane btw McKnight and 64 Ave.

The merge from McKnight is too short for the traffic volume

[Madman]

So they are shifting the northbound basket weave headache that is currently at Anderson/Southland to Southland/Deerfoot Meadows - sweet.

[ken0042]

What would a simple bridge cost? Something like the one that is on SB Deerfoot; so that traffic exiting from Ikea goes over the people heading to Southland Drive?
Link

Like Madman says, it just shifts the problem. It doesn't solve it.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Madman

So they are shifting the northbound basket weave headache that is currently at Anderson/Southland to Southland/Deerfoot Meadows - sweet.

Originally Posted by ken0042

What would a simple bridge cost? Something like the one that is on SB Deerfoot; so that traffic exiting from Ikea goes over the people heading to Southland Drive?
Link

Like Madman says, it just shifts the problem. It doesn't solve it.

That weave point mostly goes away when the Glenmore/DF interchange goes ahead though, as the Glenmore traffic won't be exiting there any longer.

Sure, this will just move the 2 lane bottleneck to Glenmore for the time being, but both spots have to be fixed, and you have to start with one.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by para transit fellow

I'd like to see the NB addition lane btw McKnight and 64 Ave.

The merge from McKnight is too short for the traffic volume

Same with 32 Ave onto NB Deerfoot. Even if they just extended the merge lane I think it would alleviate some problems.