Ring Road To Nowhere

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

No I dont recall that at all, always had to go around and under via Heritage.

Just to expand on this, Since I moved here in 1992 you have always had to hit the east part of Heritage to go from NB Deerfoot onto Glenmore. The difference was that prior to Ikea et al being built, there was a ramp right from Deerfoot onto Heritage. You can see the hill that was used on the right side of the road here:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.98617...7i13312!8i6656

Basically they took what was a round about way of getting from Deerfoot onto Glenmore and made it longer. Technically the new way is probably a dozen metres shorter, but more 60 km/h zone, more intersections/driveways, and an extra set of lights.

Going NB Deerfoot to EB Glenmore is much easier now though.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Just to expand on this, Since I moved here in 1992 you have always had to hit the east part of Heritage to go from NB Deerfoot onto Glenmore. The difference was that prior to Ikea et al being built, there was a ramp right from Deerfoot onto Heritage. You can see the hill that was used on the right side of the road here:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.98617...7i13312!8i6656

Basically they took what was a round about way of getting from Deerfoot onto Glenmore and made it longer. Technically the new way is probably a dozen metres shorter, but more 60 km/h zone, more intersections/driveways, and an extra set of lights.

Going NB Deerfoot to EB Glenmore is much easier now though.

You can also take the EB Glenmore turn off that is another km or so up the road, and then take the first exit and turn left at the lights to get to the same place. I find this is faster during shopping times, when strugglers fill the original turn off on their way to buy meatballs at Ikea.

[DoubleK]

Mmmmmmm. Meatballs

[Acey]

Back to the ring road for a sec... completion dates for the SW leg are now firm. For the first time on an Alberta ring road leg, the project is being split into 2 completion dates a year apart, to ensure the critical section through Tsuu T'ina is completed on time. They're calling it the "Priority New Infrastructure" (PNI) and it must be done by October 1, 2020. That includes widening Glenmore from Discovery Ridge to 37 St, extending Sarcee down to Fish Creek Blvd with a couple of interchanges along the way, including an absolutely gigantic complex at Glenmore/Sarcee to replace the current intersection.

The "Remaining New Infrastructure" (RNI) is one year later on October 1, 2021, and it includes everything else: finishing the last bit of Stoney from Fish Creek Blvd down to a big interchange at 22X, then huge upgrades to 22X including a mega interchange at 22X/Macleod, bridges everywhere, basketweaves, the works.

So October 1, 2021 is the day to mark on your calendar if you're in Bridlewood, Silverado et al., but also Discovery Ridge because the 69 St interchange is part of the RNI. Canyon Meadows, Braeside, and everything north of Fish Creek your date to mark is the 2020 date unless you go south a lot, but I doubt life will be that horrible at that point with Macleod/162 Ave open.

If anything goes majorly wrong they'll bail on all the 22X work to make sure everything north of Fish Creek is done in time.

[Resolute 14]

The construction at Glenmore and Sarcee might become the biggest clusterfata in city history. But all the pain will be worth it in the end.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The construction at Glenmore and Sarcee might become the biggest clusterfata in city history. But all the pain will be worth it in the end.

Did you find the Glenmore causeway and Elbow/5 Street interchanges to be bad? Did you find Deerfoot and Stoney in the South to be bad? I assume it will be similar. There's lots of land to move the roads around while they do the work.

[You Need a Thneed]

For the most part the work at Sarcee/Glenmore is outside of the area currently occupied by the intersection, work shouldn't actually be too bad.

[4X4]

I'm pretty impressed at how good Calgary has gotten with construction. I live in the deep SW, and I have to traverse mcleod @ 162nd every day (twice a day) because of my daughter's school is on the other side. The headaches were pretty minimal. They were extremely clever in a few different ways, getting traffic through, and keeping it going. I can't believe how fast the first bridge went up, and if I knew who to high five, I would. I know the job is only half done, but now that Mcleod is free flowing, it makes getting over Mcleod so easy and quick.

Really well done, CoC. Bunk, tell your ex boss that even though I didn't vote for him last time, I think he's doing a good job, road-wise. And whoever is the mastermind behind the "construction zones", he or she did a very good job with this interchange, so far.

[4X4]

Regarding the SW leg of the RR, I'm so happy that it's actually happening. Pretty much the worst corner of the city to be in, if you need to get to another corner. For awhile, I was living in Bridlewood, and working in Evanston, and the best way to get there, was taking Stoney, the long way around. 65km each way, every day. I would have been suicidal if I had to drive Deerfoot every day, so I shouldn't complain that I had to take the long way on Stoney, but having the West portion finished will make a lot of the jobs in the west end and the northwest reasonable to get to.

The downtown commuters will have Deerfoot and Crowchild all to themselves, and us periphery people will share Stoney with the truck traffic. It will be glorious.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I'm pretty impressed at how good Calgary has gotten with construction. I live in the deep SW, and I have to traverse mcleod @ 162nd every day (twice a day) because of my daughter's school is on the other side. The headaches were pretty minimal. They were extremely clever in a few different ways, getting traffic through, and keeping it going. I can't believe how fast the first bridge went up, and if I knew who to high five, I would. I know the job is only half done, but now that Mcleod is free flowing, it makes getting over Mcleod so easy and quick.

I know someone who has worked on the project from the very beginning and I've passed this message on to them for you. Considering the only feedback construction projects get is from people who are upset about something, I'm sure they'll be happy to see some positive stuff!

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I know someone who has worked on the project from the very beginning and I've passed this message on to them for you. Considering the only feedback construction projects get is from people who are upset about something, I'm sure they'll be happy to see some positive stuff!

Please do. Seriously impressed. And you know me, I have no patience for incompetence. They really did manage to keep the traffic flowing as best they could.

You know how sometimes you go through a construction zone, and it's glaringly obvious that if they'd only do 'that', so much more traffic would get through? Not on this project. They did a great job with what they had to work with. It still sucked, but only because construction always sucks. The suck level was pretty much as low as it could be on this one.

Kudos to your buddy and his colleagues.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

For the most part the work at Sarcee/Glenmore is outside of the area currently occupied by the intersection, work shouldn't actually be too bad.

This.

The 22X/Macleod situation will be worse.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Regarding the SW leg of the RR, I'm so happy that it's actually happening. Pretty much the worst corner of the city to be in, if you need to get to another corner. For awhile, I was living in Bridlewood, and working in Evanston, and the best way to get there, was taking Stoney, the long way around. 65km each way, every day. I would have been suicidal if I had to drive Deerfoot every day, so I shouldn't complain that I had to take the long way on Stoney, but having the West portion finished will make a lot of the jobs in the west end and the northwest reasonable to get to.

The downtown commuters will have Deerfoot and Crowchild all to themselves, and us periphery people will share Stoney with the truck traffic. It will be glorious.

Isn't that mostly on the construction contractor, and not the city? As far as I know, the city doesn't actually do these projects. I'd imagine if the roads dept were involved, you would know. They suck. I've got a bit of a grudge with them.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Isn't that mostly on the construction contractor, and not the city? As far as I know, the city doesn't actually do these projects. I'd imagine if the roads dept were involved, you would know. They suck. I've got a bit of a grudge with them.

While the contractor does the design and construction strategy The city is very involved in the cost vs schedule vs road closure decisions.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Isn't that mostly on the construction contractor, and not the city? As far as I know, the city doesn't actually do these projects. I'd imagine if the roads dept were involved, you would know. They suck. I've got a bit of a grudge with them.

The ring road legs are P3 contracts with massive penalties for being late that pretty much solve problems associated with late delivery and generally massive incompetence.

Gifs from the video: you can see the existing Glenmore/Sarcee intersection pretty much sits right on the new W-N ramp... if that pavement doesn't need to be at a different elevation it would only have to be a huge mess from maybe the latter part of 2019 till opening.



On the other hand, traffic at Macleod/22X will be screwed for a while, it's kind of a bunch of design elements from other Stoney interchanges smushed into one. The current bridge carrying 22X over Macleod is being demolished and 2 new ones are being built, plus 3 more for ramps. Then 4 more bridges carrying 22X over ramps. They'll build one side, put two-way traffic on it, then build the other side. And they have to do that 3 times. 11 total bridges will be the most for one interchange in Alberta, but Sarcee/Glenmore's will be longer and higher. Neither will touch the ramp height of Yellowhead/Henday in northeast Edmonton.



Aside from these 2, everything else seems relatively straight forward, assuming there's no unforeseen environmental issues around Fish Creek, or sensitive issues with Tsuu T'ina historical artifacts, remains, etc.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Acey

On the other hand, traffic at Macleod/22X will be screwed for a while, it's kind of a bunch of design elements from other Stoney interchanges smushed into one. The current bridge carrying 22X over Macleod is being demolished and 2 new ones are being built, plus 3 more for ramps. Then 4 more bridges carrying 22X over ramps. They'll build one side, put two-way traffic on it, then build the other side. And they have to do that 3 times. 11 total bridges will be the most for one interchange in Alberta, but Sarcee/Glenmore's will be longer and higher. Neither will touch the ramp height of Yellowhead/Henday in northeast Edmonton.



Aside from these 2, everything else seems relatively straight forward, assuming there's no unforeseen environmental issues around Fish Creek, or sensitive issues with Tsuu T'ina historical artifacts, remains, etc.

I hate the figure 8 design for traffic going from eastbound Stoney to northbound Macleod. They have something very similar for southbound Stoney onto eastbound Crowchild. I find that it becomes really scary to navigate in slippery winter conditions because of the multiple curves and elevation changes.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I hate the figure 8 design for traffic going from eastbound Stoney to northbound Macleod. They have something very similar for southbound Stoney onto eastbound Crowchild. I find that it becomes really scary to navigate in slippery winter conditions because of the multiple curves and elevation changes.

Yeah those loops at Crowchild are pretty tight. It's kind of a tough decision for them I guess... weaving on the mainline is not acceptable, and they also only want one exit per direction to a major road. Therefore this is your only other option:



The other loop is now tighter, and plus you've got to build an extra bridge plus widen another one done at the bottom to let that lane merge on, plus decrease the weave zone to Sun Valley/Chap. Neither option is ideal, but overall what they've gone with is cheaper and slightly safer.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Yeah that Stoney South to Crowchild East ramp is a death trap in the winter. I'm always surprised I don't hear about more cars sliding right off thru the rail and ending up landing on Crowchild with how fast some people take that thing in the winter.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Acey

Yeah those loops at Crowchild are pretty tight. It's kind of a tough decision for them I guess... weaving on the mainline is not acceptable, and they also only want one exit per direction to a major road. Therefore this is your only other option:



The other loop is now tighter, and plus you've got to build an extra bridge plus widen another one done at the bottom to let that lane merge on, plus decrease the weave zone to Sun Valley/Chap. Neither option is ideal, but overall what they've gone with is cheaper and slightly safer.

I don't understand why the off ramp has to curve/loop back on itself. Once that exit way passes over Macleod they should just curve it north so join up with Macleod. Looping it south in a circle is stupid.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't understand why the off ramp has to curve/loop back on itself. Once that exit way passes over Macleod they should just curve it north so join up with Macleod. Looping it south in a circle is stupid.

Keeping in mind that the curve north has to be at an acceptable radius, I'm not sure they'd be able to tuck it under 22X in time to not have to make those bridges longer which is no good - they're much wider, and possibly going to be steel which is more expensive.

That said, this design isn't final and the contractor is technically free to design whatever they want as long as it abides by all the rules. But there hasn't been any significant deviations from these initial designs on any ring road leg so far.