Calgary Roads Discussion Thread

[Swift]

Speaking of 9th Ave heading into downtown, can anyone explain why the left lane diverges over 14th St and then rejoins the flow again? I drove it a few weeks ago, and not being familiar with that stretch and wanting to turn left onto 11th, I took the left lane thinking it split off only to then find myself back on the same stretch again.

[Muta]

Absolutely no clue, and you're right it makes no sense. Wonder if it was part of an older transportation master plan, got built, and then the final fully-built plan never came to fruition. As well, could have also been built as a temporary bridge for repairs to the main one, and then just permanently left in to address increasing capacity.

[getbak]

It's a leftover from a different design for the roads there.

When it was originally built, that lane didn't exist on Bow Trail west of 14th Street and it was the on-ramp for vehicles entering Bow Trail from southbound 14th. Over the years, the interchange has undergone changes and the current 14th St on-ramp was built in the early 90s and the second bridge just became the third lane on Bow Trail.

The separate bridges over 14th St have been there for over 50 years, since Bow Trail was first built.


The city's historical aerial photos are always a nice resource to use when trying to figure out why things were built the way they were: https://maps.calgary.ca/CalgaryImagery/

[Joborule]

That whole interchange could stand for a major make over. The sidewalks from 10 Av to Bow River are fairly uncomfortable for a pedestrian/cyclist. It's very narrow underneath the CP tracks, crossing of roads on either side of the road, and a small unprotected section (no barrier) from the train tracks to the bridge.

Wider sidewalks, and on side that doesn't cross with vehicle traffic at all would be ideal. The concept they have drawn up for the West Village plan would help improve the experience tremendously.

Spoiler!

[The Yen Man]

Road construction in Calgary is brutally slow. The overpass upgrade for Shaganappi over Stoney Trail has already been over a year, and it's still not done. How long have they been working on the 16th Ave section of Stoney Trail? Seems like that project will never finish.

[Fuzz]

They installed some weird sausage kerbs at the intersection of 4th st and Northmount. I can't quite figure out why. Stop people from cutting the turn? Another technical solution for our incompetent drivers? Or another reason? I haven't seen them anywhere else in the city. Seems like snow plows would just peal them off.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They installed some weird sausage kerbs at the intersection of 4th st and Northmount. I can't quite figure out why. Stop people from cutting the turn? Another technical solution for our incompetent drivers? Or another reason? I haven't seen them anywhere else in the city. Seems like snow plows would just peal them off.

I noticed those about two weeks ago and I can't remember if I posted about them or not but they seem pretty useless. They don't seem to be positioned in such a way that they would prevent cutting a left turn too sharply because someone would have to make an awful left turn to actually hit those.

There's also this new beautiful curb design in Calgary which just seems really stupid to me:

[GGG]

I hadn’t mentioned it yet but they rebuilt the anti merge wall at glenmore eastbound going toward 37th so that’s is now fixed

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I noticed those about two weeks ago and I can't remember if I posted about them or not but they seem pretty useless. They don't seem to be positioned in such a way that they would prevent cutting a left turn too sharply because someone would have to make an awful left turn to actually hit those.

There's also this new beautiful curb design in Calgary which just seems really stupid to me:

I believe it's an navigational aid for the blind.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

I believe it's an navigational aid for the blind.

I don't think so. In the cities master plan for the redevelopment of that area they claim that the design is "Refined geometry at intersections to provide more sidewalk space, and slow vehicles down at turns, thereby improving safety for those crossing the street." Because it is designed to be a wheel killer for drivers not paying attention or driving too fast.

[DoubleK]

That's not real is it?

[btimbit]

I can't remember exactly what I was told by my friend in roads but when I asked about those he did say that's actually not how they were supposed to be. Those hard edges were supposed to be rounded but there was some kind of mix up between the plan and the contractor

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I can't remember exactly what I was told by my friend in roads but when I asked about those he did say that's actually not how they were supposed to be. Those hard edges were supposed to be rounded but there was some kind of mix up between the plan and the contractor

Drawings, details and specifications? Say what? Get out of here with your drawings, details and specifications. They’re not supposed to look at those. Those are just for approvals and estimating and being all officey and stuff. On site, stuff gets done by the big guns how they think it should be done and you know they write down what they were told by the guy in the truck on a torn open empty Tim Hortons cup.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by GGG

I hadn’t mentioned it yet but they rebuilt the anti merge wall at glenmore eastbound going toward 37th so that’s is now fixed

Still drops to a f#$%ing 60 zone for revenue purposes no reason unless they've removed the signs in the last two days.

[btimbit]

Anything on Glenmore west of 37th is the province not the city

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Road construction in Calgary is brutally slow. The overpass upgrade for Shaganappi over Stoney Trail has already been over a year, and it's still not done. How long have they been working on the 16th Ave section of Stoney Trail? Seems like that project will never finish.

Both those projects are the Province, not the City I believe.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Road construction in Calgary is brutally slow. The overpass upgrade for Shaganappi over Stoney Trail has already been over a year, and it's still not done. How long have they been working on the 16th Ave section of Stoney Trail? Seems like that project will never finish.

Yeah I feel bad for people that have to take that route daily as it's still not remotely close to being finished.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Anything on Glenmore west of 37th is the province not the city

Distinction without a difference; the Calgary Police are still the ones issuing tickets.

[BrolyTheUnholy]

Not really road related, but kind of - this bad boy's been parked on Acadia all week. It's making kind of a rad Halloween decoration at the mo'.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

what on earth are they doing on 17th

ripping up 40-60 foot patches of road and paving them at random while leaving others . different lane closures every morning . they can't just pave large stretches over night? it's like watching children with short attention spans revamp their Lego town