Airport Tunnel Rejected Again? **UPDATE** It's built!

[Cscutch]

Not exactly to the airport, but right Now I just live outside downtown and my friend lives in Saddleridge. At rush hour on the weekday it is way quicker for me to head out to Stoney Trail and then around, traveling on deerfoot is just brutal parking lot.

Chris

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Cscutch

Taxi is time + Km to get a total cost....

So traffic = BAD

Chris

And there are probably taxi drivers that have no qualms taking the busiest route to rack up some extra dollars on the way...

Chris

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

And there are probably taxi drivers that have no qualms taking the busiest route to rack up some extra dollars on the way...

Chris

Me: I'd like to go to blah blah blah. Please take blah blah blah via blah blah and then blah blah.

Cabbie: Sir, I know a much faster way!

Me: So then you won't mind making some extra money taking the route I specified. Thanks.


Problem solved.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Me: I'd like to go to blah blah blah. Please take blah blah blah via blah blah and then blah blah.

Cabbie: Sir, I know a much faster way!

Me: So then you won't mind making some extra money taking the route I specified. Thanks.


Problem solved.

I'm talking about people who don't actually know the best way to get there. I had that happen to me before in Vancouver. Couldn't really say he was wrong because I wasn't certain, but after I figured out the area I felt ripped.

Chris

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I'm talking about people who don't actually know the best way to get there. I had that happen to me before in Vancouver. Couldn't really say he was wrong because I wasn't certain, but after I figured out the area I felt ripped.

Chris

Yeah, that's always brutal. With the iPhone now though, you can GPS your route and still dictate, but if the GPS effs up then you're well in the hole.

[getbak]

Deerfoot is a winding road, whereas Stoney will be pretty much a straight line north, so I don't know if the distance difference would be that significant. Also, if you're sitting in traffic that isn't moving, the taxi meter keeps chugging.

[Slava]

^all true of course. But I've taken taxis from the deep SW to the airport and had cabbies ask whether I was paying personally or writing it off. It's faster time wise if you go the 22x route, but adds enough kms so it costs more money.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Slava

What is that list based on? Estimated time I would assume? Certainly not mileage!

Timewise, assuming that Deerfoot has slowed down at least a little bit (which is common). But the difference in kms isn't neaerly as much as it might seem, probably only 1 or 2 kms. Deerfoot goes east and west to much and often.

EDIT: just comparing the distances on google maps right now.

I set the start point on HWY 22X just west of deerfoot, and the end point at the corner of Airport Trail and Barlow trail. Google maps says that the distance up Deerfoot is 35.7 km. If I place intermediate points in so that it takes me along 84th Street to 17th to Stoney to CHB, and then down Barlow, it says 41.9 km. But then, we have to delete the distance between where stony is and where 88th/84th Street is (800 metres ish x 2), AND the distance between Airport Trail and CHB (1.6km x 2). Altogether I have to subtract 4.8 km from the 41.9 that Google Maps gives me, so that leaves 37.1 km. However, the East ring road will have a smoother curve to turn northbound and to turn west onto Airport Trail than the corners at 88th Street and at CHB are - that would save a couple of hundred metres, let's say 200.

So, then distance up Deerfoot is only ~1.2 km shorter than the distance up Stoney - roughly 3 percent shorter. 3 persent is easily made up if you can average a higher speed on Stoney. Certainly you won't be able to average a higher speed on Stoney all of the time, but for good chunks of the daylight hours you certainly would. Like I said, if there is ANY kind of slowdown on Deerfoot, it's going to be faster to take Stoney. If all of a sudden Stoney gets posted with a 110km/h speed limit, it would be faster at almost any time of day.

[stampsx2]

^^^I've actually done the math myself and you are right Stony Trail will be about the same distance as taking the Deerfoot. Even tested the theory somewhat.

[ZDogg]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

List of communities for which, going through the tunnel is the quickest way to the airport (remember that the SE ring road will be open as well, and the Airport Trail connects to Stoney):

Skyview Ranch, Saddleridge, Martindale, Taradale, Castleridge, Falconridge, Coral Springs, Whitehorn, Temple, Horizon Industrial, Sunridge Industrial, Rundle, Pineridge, Monterey Park, Marlbourough, Marlbourough Park, Abbeydale, Penbrooke, Applewood Park, Large chunks of Foothills Industrial, Copperfield, MacKenzie Towne, MacKenzie Lake, Cranston, Auburn Bay, Mahogany,Chaparral, Silverado, Sundance, Somerset, Bridlewood, Priddis, Okotoks, High River, Nanton, Chestermere, Strathmore, Langdon, Brooks, De Winton, Alderside, Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Irricana, Beiseker, Medicine Hat.

At slower traffic times on Deerfoot, you could probably add to the list: Evergreen, Shawnessy, Midnapore, Millrise, Douglasdale, Deer Ridge, Deer Run, Parkland, Queensland, and perhaps more.

Remember too, that the closure of Barlow will add some traffic onto an already busy portion of Deerfoot, making backups worse, and thus, more likely that some of the communities in the second list join the first list.

Great post.

You can basically add any Southern Alberta Town/City to that list. Specifically Lethbridge. Many people from Lethbridge currently determine their route to the airport based on time of day so as to avoid Deerfoot during rush hour. The current alternative to Hwy 2/Deerfoot is Hwy 23/Hwy24/Hwy1.

Once the SE ring road is complete then it's a slam dunk as people will just take Highway 2 all the way to 22X and then whip around Calgary on the East side.

[Cscutch]

I am going to feel sorry for the people that live in Sky View Ranch, Saddle Ridge, Taradale once Barlow closes Country Hills is going to be a gong show.

That Country Hills/Barlow Intersections sucks.

Actually if they build the tunnel or not traffic will suck moving 23000 daily commuters (2008 http://bit.ly/dg2GTf) in any direction is going to suck.

Chris

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Cscutch

I am going to feel sorry for the people that live in Sky View Ranch, Saddle Ridge, Taradale once Barlow closes Country Hills is going to be a gong show.

You don't feel sorry for them already?

[You Need a Thneed]

I live in Martindale, and use 36th Street up to CHB quite a bit. I am not looking forward to using it in the period between the closure of Barlow and the opening of Metis. My guess is that its going to be a traffic backup disaster, enough so that it will proably turn 68th Street into a disaster as well.

An accident or something else on Deerfoot that causes any further traffic onto 36th Street is going to casue lineups a couple of KMs long to trun onto CHB I think.

Thank goodness 36th Street was repaved and had lines painted last fall.

[stampsx2]

^^^ ugh. Driving on 36th street reminds me of every road in Winnipeg. At least the lights on 36th are further apart though.

So hard to complain about traffic in Calgary after driving so much in Winnipeg, even if it means closing Barlow. That's nothing.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

^^^ ugh. Driving on 36th street reminds me of every road in Winnipeg. At least the lights on 36th are further apart though.

So hard to complain about traffic in Calgary after driving so much in Winnipeg, even if it means closing Barlow. That's nothing.

The portion of 36th Street I'm talking about has no traffic lights. It is one lane each way, with no shoulders, and steep drop offs into the ditch. Just last fall, it was fully repaved (it was a bumpy, potholey mess before that), and had lines painted for the first time.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by ZDogg

Great post.

You can basically add any Southern Alberta Town/City to that list. Specifically Lethbridge. Many people from Lethbridge currently determine their route to the airport based on time of day so as to avoid Deerfoot during rush hour. The current alternative to Hwy 2/Deerfoot is Hwy 23/Hwy24/Hwy1.

Once the SE ring road is complete then it's a slam dunk as people will just take Highway 2 all the way to 22X and then whip around Calgary on the East side.

There is an increasing trend of people from Lethbridge and Southern Alberta driving down to Great Falls, MT instead of flying out of YYC. But that is a topic for another thread.

[Madman]

New article in the Herald today has the Mayor saying the Airport Authority may not be on board with an underpass anymore as it will cost them too much to take it into account with their designs and they are already over budget.

The issue, he said, surrounds money not only for design adjustments for the runway if a tunnel is built underneath, but also for the airport property that the Airport Trail roadway extension would occupy.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ma...373/story.html

[You Need a Thneed]

I don't read that as they aren't on beard. I read it as they aren't sure how much more it's going to cost to change their design around the city's proposed tunnel, and therefore are having a hard time coming up with a hard number to give the city.

They aren't so keen on absorbing the costs of the land and design changes - is what the article says - but we already knew that.

[Mazrim]

You can bet that the Airport Authority wants the tunnel to go through. It's just a matter of communicating everything properly before construction begins to prevent any big issues afterwards.

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I don't read that as they aren't on beard.

I didn't see any mention of facial hair either.

[Bigtime]

Well today is the day this all goes to council, anyone want to make a prediction on how it all goes down?