Ring Road To Nowhere

[Acey]

They city must just not care to fix it because a) congestion will mostly go away when they finish twinning Peigan on either of the intersection, or b) congestion will entirely go away once Stoney opens. Both are imminent, so they probably just went, "F it".

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Acey

They city must just not care to fix it because a) congestion will mostly go away when they finish twinning Peigan on either of the intersection, or b) congestion will entirely go away once Stoney opens. Both are imminent, so they probably just went, "F it".

But that is what I don't get, send a truck out to change the light timing is too much effort? It's not like the city doesn't know about it, I sent a 311 request a couple days after it opened, then a few weeks later again. I got Bunk on the problem in the "I work for Mayor Nenshi" thread.

A city roads guy could have stopped by while he was in the area, taken 15 minutes to change the timing (if you are worried about causing problems at rush hour in other directions, cut back the extended time during those times) and be done.

If I knew it wasn't just a simple fix, I would have just been patient. But I knew a simple fix could solve the problem, so I made a request to the city.

I'm also not convinced that the opening of Stoney is going to solve the problem. The problem was noticeable before Stoney opened up down to Peigan. There's still a lot of truck traffic coming out of the business park East of Stoney, and for now, the only connections to Foothills Industrial and most of the city are 100th St to Glenmore, and Peigan Trail. The opening of the 61st Ave flyover of Stoney will help that issue a bunch, but it's not close to opening. Obviously, when the Peigan/52nd St intersection is complete, that will remove the problem too, but I'm not convinced at this point that they are going to have that done before freeze up, which means next spring. I wonder whether the city is waiting for Stoney to open, because the finished intersection may involve a bunch of rebuilding of the current intersection that would require more extended closures (like cutting down 52nd st down to one lane for a couple of weeks). This is speculation on my part, but based on observations that the grading along 52nd may need to be hanged to match the new pavement on peigan. If it were the case, I can undertand why the city might want to wait until after Stoney opened, however now with Stoney delayed, the window to finish work on the intersection is closing before it gets too cold.

[Acey]

I'm hoping some of the congestion will shift to Glenmore/52 St and 114 Ave/52 St, as those routes become back doors to Stoney. But you're right now that I think about it... Peigan/52 St will still suck.

[BlackArcher101]

What is the north/south congestion on 52nd @ Peigan like? Will changing the light timing negatively effect the other directions already backed up as well? I don't travel that north on 52nd so I'm not sure if it's backed up there as it is further south.

Originally Posted by Acey

I'm hoping some of the congestion will shift to Glenmore/52 St and 114 Ave/52 St, as those routes become back doors to Stoney. But you're right now that I think about it... Peigan/52 St will still suck.

OK with Glenmore as there's barely anyone waiting at that light east/west. I've been bugging the city to increase the green time so that 52nd NB can flow a bit better there as it's a massive backlog, but nothing ever happens.

114ave however, please no! That also backs up 52nd NB enough already, that intersection doesn't need any more congestion. Really really hoping that people taking 52nd NB from 22x will take Stoney instead.

[boosterjuice]

Any news on when they plan open SE Stony?

They were thinking that they would an addition 2 weeks but I've received no revised opening date confirmation.

[photon]

North/south on 52nd around Peigan can get quite heavy, I assume that's the reason that they haven't changed the light pattern is that it would negatively impact that (and ripple through to other things like 52nd and Glenmore, 52nd and 17th Ave, etc). I mentioned earlier that I think there's more trucks turning off Stony onto 17th Ave to get onto 52nd SB to avoid Peigan and 52nd.

If they could make a very long right turn lane off Peigan onto 52nd so that people turning right could do so on a red, that would go a long way to helping I think, but I don't think it's possible to do without doing more paving.

Until the whole thing is done (or until there's other options) I don't see a better way.

[Acey]

I was going EB on Peigan at 52 St around 5 pm on Tuesday. Took 15-20 minutes to get through. More than 10 cycles. No backups at all SB. A ton of NB traffic was trying to stay in the right lane to turn east onto Peigan to get to Stoney. It's that traffic that will diminish.

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Really really hoping that people taking 52nd NB from 22x will take Stoney instead.

For the traffic in question, that's significant backtracking. The only bad thing about Stoney is we don't have good routes getting to Stoney, because we have exactly zero crosstown freeways.

Originally Posted by boosterjuice

Any news on when they plan open SE Stony?

They were thinking that they would an addition 2 weeks but I've received no revised opening date confirmation.

Still nothing. First week of November is now my conservative estimate.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

What is the north/south congestion on 52nd @ Peigan like? Will changing the light timing negatively effect the other directions already backed up as well? I don't travel that north on 52nd so I'm not sure if it's backed up there as it is further south.

Midday, there is no backup. In afternoon rush, there's a bit of a backup, but not too bad.

Since my last post, I headed out WB on Peigan to 52nd.

WB Peigan gets 11 seconds or so of green time.
EB Peigan then gets about 30 seconds of green time.
52nd then gets about 60 seconds of green time between the left turn only and the straight through.

I had a stopwatch on my phone, the light for WB Peigan is green for 11 seconds, then is red for 93 seconds.

I didn't quite start the timer right away when I stopped at the back of the line, I started about 30-60 seconds after I stopped. When the light turned green when I was second in line and was able to go through, the stopwatch was at 5:03.

At 10 am, there shouldn't be any intersection in the city where you have to wait around 6 minutes to get through.

[Acey]

I emailed the city back when they first opened Stoney to Peigan and you mentioned it, and I did again just now. Not holding my breath.

[Tron_fdc]

The ring road is a fkn gong show right now. I work on 114th and 84 st SE, and live in Okotoks so I drive it every day. Every day it's different, and every day the signage doesn't make sense, or changes, or is so confusing I don't know WTF is going on.

The overpass from WB 22X on to SB Deerfoot was open for a day last week, and now it's closed.

The ring road itself looks completely finished. All the lines are painted from 22X north (from what I can see), signs are up, and the overpass is functional at 114th. So WTF is the problem? Why isn't it open? It's frustrating sitting in traffic, while looking over to see haul trucks bombing up and down the ring road.

When this finally opens up it deserves a long, sarcastic slow clap from the people who use the road.

[V]

I wonder if the City is counting the traffic and trying to change the timings properly, using thier simulation software. You're right, that the timing change itself is pretty simple, but they can't necessarily just change the timings without due process. It is a municipality, after all.

If it was a priority it would be done by now, though, I can say that much.

[boosterjuice]

It drives me nuts that the contractor waited until Sept 30th before announcing that the project was going to be delayed. Anyone with half a brain could see that they were nowhere close.

[CedarMeter]

Originally Posted by Acey

Still nothing. First week of November is now my conservative estimate.

Really?..WTF

[cavalera403]

There are still at least 4 bridges that have not had the required visual inspections of the welding completed. Also the non destructive testing is not done on those bridges either. I am sure that there are other things that are not done but those welding inspections have to be done before the audit is able to pass.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

So WTF is the problem? Why isn't it open?

The audit, as has been mentioned. It irks me that they opened that flyover and I drove on it, and they close it 48 hours saying it's unsafe and shouldn't have opened in the first place. Being late is one thing, but putting our safety at risk is not cool.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by Acey

The audit, as has been mentioned. It irks me that they opened that flyover and I drove on it, and they close it 48 hours saying it's unsafe and shouldn't have opened in the first place. Being late is one thing, but putting our safety at risk is not cool.

Open now. Drove it this aft.

So bizarre

[Acey]

Yeah they said it would open today, maybe even before the morning commute.

Access to the new westbound Stoney Trail to southbound Deerfoot Trail ramp has been closed since Noon on October 8 to allow workers to repair a joint which connects the bridge deck to the ramp. This work is expected to take two days. The need for the repair was identified by the contractor after the ramp was opened to traffic.

I hypothesized that this repair may have prompted additional inspections of the other bridge structures... of which there's 29. Might take some time.

[Lil Pedro]

Question:

I exiting off 52nd street on my way to Auburn Bay. I turned onto Stoney Trail West and proceeded to take the Deerfoot South exit. However as I went over the new bridge and onto deerfoot trail south, there is a barrier preventing me from exiting onto Seton. Will that always be the case or is it just temporary?

[Maccalus]

^^^ I'm pretty sure it will always be like that. Then it will avoid another awful weave area.

[StrykerSteve]

So is there now a way to drive from the south to the airport without having to drive the Deerfoot? Which furthest south exit would I take coming in from Okotoks?