You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Locke

What annoys me more is the poor design of our traffic circles.

The one at Highfield seems like it was sketched out at the Civic Engineer's Christmas party because only someone drunk out of their minds would design that.

And the one at 24th and Glenmore? Hm...where do I start? Would you say that stretch of road is pretty close to the Industrial area? I would. So why would you design a traffic circle that is too small for large trucks and accordion buses to make the turn and stay in their lane?

That is some top-shelf bull###t.

I don't come across many traffic circles on a daily basis and in general I have no issue with them but the City of Calgary needs to start making round traffic circles. That is my biggest problem. Stop making circles with changing radius or with weird points or other features. Those idiots just need to make a simple circle.

This is the worst one that I have ever seen:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LvstyXrmxjdVMaWZ9

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I just had to break up a beat down between some rando tough guy pedestrian and that bearded homeless guy who always hangs in front of Shoppers in Mission.

Rando UCP voter guy was wailing on him, kicking him and ####. Bearded dude wasn’t even defending himself.

He claimed homeless guy attacked him with a club but all I saw was buddy getting kicked repeatedly and I’ve always known that guy to be chill. He’s asks me for money all the time but he’s always polite.

[MoneyGuy]

I love roundabouts. We’re traveling now and they’re ubiquitous. They’re fast, efficient, and safer. They’re mite expensive to build but cheaper to maintain.

[TheIronMaiden]

Sundre added a bunch of mini roundabouts on their main drag and it works like a charm. It used to take 5 ever to get down the main drag.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by timun

Drivers in this city are spoiled brats who have no idea how good they've got it. It's very easy and quick to get around by car.



Hard disagree with you w.r.t. Vancouver's flashing greens vs. our pedestrian crossing lights. Those amber lights are easy to miss and drivers often ignore them. Or worse yet: pedestrians will stroll out into the roadway without pushing the button. They don't have to push the button and actuate the lights to have the right-of-way: the lights are just a courtesy to let the drivers know they want to cross. Whereas Vancouver's signalized intersections give the drivers a heads-up that "Hey, be careful here, you have the right-of-way but at any moment a pedestrian can hit the button and change it red," and the pedestrians don't have the right-of-way to cross until the vehicles get a red light and the pedestrian signal has changed from a "don't walk" to "walk".

Agreed... except I don't think I've ever seen a pedestrian use one in Vancouver. I think they too don't know what those things mean. I've seen plenty of pedestrians look across and run because that's what the flashing green light means to them. The car perpendicular to the major roadway gets a confusing amber or red (?) flashing light. And the fact only Vancouver has it is probably an explanation as to whether it's effective.

Calgary would have stop/yield with a pedestrian light.

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't come across many traffic circles on a daily basis and in general I have no issue with them but the City of Calgary needs to start making round traffic circles. That is my biggest problem. Stop making circles with changing radius or with weird points or other features. Those idiots just need to make a simple circle.

This is the worst one that I have ever seen:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LvstyXrmxjdVMaWZ9

There's one by Dalhousie station, it's not a complete circle.

There's a bunch on 14th(?) north of Panorama. WTF is going on there? It probably should be a traffic circle, but instead you have turn offs and weird arc loop turns or something? I think the design at least eliminates lights.

That being said, it's kinda weird, but I also wouldn't say it's completely stupid like lights at a traffic circle or serious planning and road design issues that create traffic havoc. It's a little inefficient IMO, but not ineffective or ridiculously inefficient.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Sundre added a bunch of mini roundabouts on their main drag and it works like a charm. It used to take 5 ever to get down the main drag.

Is 5 ever longer than 4 ever? Is the scale linear or logarithmic?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

There's one by Dalhousie station, it's not a complete circle.

Are you talking about the one in Varsity at 53rd/Varsity Estates Drive? I've never understood/figured out if that west portion that doesn't look like it is supposed to be part of the road is actually part of the circle. Is see people drove over the pink pavement all the time to go south down 53rd out of the parking lot. That design is messed up though.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Are you talking about the one in Varsity at 53rd/Varsity Estates Drive? I've never understood/figured out if that west portion that doesn't look like it is supposed to be part of the road is actually part of the circle. Is see people drove over the pink pavement all the time to go south down 53rd out of the parking lot. That design is messed up though.

Yeah, that's the one. The weird tear drop shaped one where the northbound traffic can go East or West, but East bound traffic is forced south. I have no clue why it's not a proper circle.

Agreed the design is messed up. The West portion not part of the circle doesn't make sense. It looks more like it was designed as a traffic circle and someone bumbled the paving. I think the pink part is some messed up pedestrian sidewalk/bike path concept thing? People drive over it and there's no sign that you can't (I think), so I think it's an honest design to execution mess up of some sort.

Easily fixable though. Not inefficient or dumb, but definitely kinda confusing.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

WRGMG is how easy traffic circles to navigate, yet people cannot figure them out.

Originally Posted by Wormius

What are people doing? I don’t think I have witnessed any struggling as circles.

I've seen a head on collision at one of them.

[Lubicon]

Government bureaucracy RRRGMG right now. My son was accepted into university in Europe (wont say which country for now) so he needs a visa for the year he will be there. Jumped through all the hoops of getting what he needs, made the application (successfully) and now need book an interview at the Consulate in Vancouver. We're still 2+ months out from school starting in September but apparently it takes 30-60 days to get a decision on the visa so we are already getting understandably nervous.

gear grinder is:
1. no in person visits allowed at Consulate, interview appointment must be booked online
2. online booking portal appears to not be working. Or overloaded. Bottom line is we have not been successful in booking anything.
3. they do not answer the phone, everything is online.
4. they have not answered our email inquiries.
5. interview must be done at the Vancouver consulate if you are from Alberta. Cannot go to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal.

Getting pretty stressed out in our house when you cannot get ahold of anyone to even ask what to do next.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Government bureaucracy RRRGMG right now. My son was accepted into university in Europe (wont say which country for now) so he needs a visa for the year he will be there. Jumped through all the hoops of getting what he needs, made the application (successfully) and now need book an interview at the Consulate in Vancouver. We're still 2+ months out from school starting in September but apparently it takes 30-60 days to get a decision on the visa so we are already getting understandably nervous.

gear grinder is:
1. no in person visits allowed at Consulate, interview appointment must be booked online
2. online booking portal appears to not be working. Or overloaded. Bottom line is we have not been successful in booking anything.
3. they do not answer the phone, everything is online.
4. they have not answered our email inquiries.
5. interview must be done at the Vancouver consulate if you are from Alberta. Cannot go to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal.

Getting pretty stressed out in our house when you cannot get ahold of anyone to even ask what to do next.

Sounds like you might be dealing with the Poles. If you are, best of luck and check their website for consulate visits to Calgary. They routinely make appointments available in Calgary, Edmonton and other cities a couple times a year.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Sounds like you might be dealing with the Poles. If you are, best of luck and check their website for consulate visits to Calgary. They routinely make appointments available in Calgary, Edmonton and other cities a couple times a year.

I don’t know which Pole he’s dealing with but if it’s the North, I’d suggest writing a letter to Santa. Last time I wrote him the stuff I wanted just showed up in my living room one morning.

[Table 5]

My kids are still young, but I just went through a similar glacial process to get them their European citizenship in case they'd ever want to live or go to school there. There was no real rush, but with the minimal contact possibilities, barely available opening hours, and all paperwork done by hand...the whole process almost took 2 years. Working at a consulate seems like the ultimate government job of government jobs.

[The Fisher Account]

My wife never deletes stuff she watches off the PVR.

“Have you watched this show we recorded in April?

Yeah.

Umm are you gonna watch it again?

No.”

*Throw's remote

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Brendone

Almost no one signals

That doesn’t seem that bad, especially in our tiny Calgary traffic circles.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by Wormius

That doesn’t seem that bad, especially in our tiny Calgary traffic circles.

If there’s a pretty solid flow it means entry gets backed up as you have no ideas who’s exiting before or after you.

22 and 8 gets pretty busy with a lot of semis, dump trucks and trailers. If your heading north through that circle (red), you have a 50/50 shot the southbound traffic (blue) is going to Calgary or Bragg. I’m not going to anticipate a big rig is going to Bragg if the aren’t signalling and getting destroyed when I’m wrong.

[Superflyer]

WGMG is churches, not the whole religion thing, just churches. I do not go to them very often just for things like weddings, funerals etc.
I had to go to one yesterday, 30 degrees outside, no AC, no ceiling fans, nothing. We were not allowed to bring in drinks, even water. It was so hot and brutal inside, nobody was comfortable. Also the seats are always hard and uncomfortable. It is like they make them terrible so people will not want to go.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

WGMG is churches, not the whole religion thing, just churches. I do not go to them very often just for things like weddings, funerals etc.
I had to go to one yesterday, 30 degrees outside, no AC, no ceiling fans, nothing. We were not allowed to bring in drinks, even water. It was so hot and brutal inside, nobody was comfortable. Also the seats are always hard and uncomfortable. It is like they make them terrible so people will not want to go.

Your suffering is nothing compared to that of Jesus. Reflect on that, then feel bad for complaining. I think that's how it is supposed to work.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Your suffering is nothing compared to that of Jesus. Reflect on that, then feel bad for complaining. I think that's how it is supposed to work.

Shouldn’t they allow wine and chocolate bunnies?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

WGMG is churches, not the whole religion thing, just churches. I do not go to them very often just for things like weddings, funerals etc.
I had to go to one yesterday, 30 degrees outside, no AC, no ceiling fans, nothing. We were not allowed to bring in drinks, even water. It was so hot and brutal inside, nobody was comfortable. Also the seats are always hard and uncomfortable. It is like they make them terrible so people will not want to go.

blah blah black.....Jesus suffered for your sins......blah blah blah