Calgary Officially One Million??

[troutman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...reas_in_Canada

1Toronto CMA (Mississauga), Ontario4,682,897 5,304,600
2Montréal CMA (Laval), Québec3,426,350 3,635,842
3Vancouver CMA (Surrey), British Columbia1,986,965 2,208,300
4Ottawa–Gatineau CMA, Ontario–Québec1,063,664 1,148,800
5Calgary CMA, Alberta951,395 1,060,300
6Edmonton CMA, Alberta937,845 1,016,000
7Québec CMA (Lévis), Québec682,757 717,600
8Winnipeg CMA, Manitoba671,274 706,900

[Reaper]

One of things I find odd about Calgary's population reaching the 1,000,000 mark is that people are all celebratory about it as if it were a sports team win or something. Perhaps there are people who have felt insecure about the status of Calgary in the nation's hierarchy and this is reassuring to them. I've heard people boasting about Calgary reaching 1,000,000 and it sounds so ridiculous to do so. Did you personally have anything to do with the population increase? I doubt you had 30,000 kids this year so quit bragging! It's not much more than an interesting statistic.

[V]

I think traffic's great in Calgary. I take the Deerfoot every day from Glenmore/Blackfoot to Whitehorn, and even in rush hour most days it take me no more than 25 minutes to get home. It could be so much worse, just go to any other city that's bigger than us, or even some others like Surrey or Langley BC to see what real traffic problems are. We've got it easy.

[J pold]

It funny we go up in population, but up the QE2 it just keeps dropping…Pronger, Samsanov, Peca, Spacek….

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

I think traffic's great in Calgary. I take the Deerfoot every day from Glenmore/Blackfoot to Whitehorn, and even in rush hour most days it take me no more than 25 minutes to get home. It could be so much worse, just go to any other city that's bigger than us, or even some others like Surrey or Langley BC to see what real traffic problems are. We've got it easy.

or richmond, or delta, or poco, or north/west van.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Reaper

One of things I find odd about Calgary's population reaching the 1,000,000 mark is that people are all celebratory about it as if it were a sports team win or something. Perhaps there are people who have felt insecure about the status of Calgary in the nation's hierarchy and this is reassuring to them. I've heard people boasting about Calgary reaching 1,000,000 and it sounds so ridiculous to do so. Did you personally have anything to do with the population increase? I doubt you had 30,000 kids this year so quit bragging! It's not much more than an interesting statistic.

Toronto went ape**** when the City of Toronto proper reached 1,000,000 in the 1970s IIRC.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

I think traffic's great in Calgary. I take the Deerfoot every day from Glenmore/Blackfoot to Whitehorn, and even in rush hour most days it take me no more than 25 minutes to get home. It could be so much worse, just go to any other city that's bigger than us, or even some others like Surrey or Langley BC to see what real traffic problems are. We've got it easy.

Well, Edmonton's metro population is similar to Calgary but has nowhere near the traffic problems. I agree, Calgary is way better than Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver though. I haven't experienced Vancouver but have no trouble believing that.

But almost any American city with 3 million in population or less has a better traffic situation than Calgary. Somewhere along the way, Calgary lost the vision it had when it created Deerfoot Trail in the 1970s. Sarcee should have been Deerfoot v2.0 and should have been expanded in the late 80s.

[V]

Well then I guess things have dramatically changed in the 4 years since I left Edmonton, because it was terrible when I left. Yellowhead Trail? When wasn't it backed up? How can you possibly justify putting traffic signals on a freeway??? Last time I was there they had removed one or two of the signals, but there's still a bunch of them in operation. Brutal.

Whitemud? That always seemed backed up as well. My most used road to work was St. Albert Trail. What a nightmare, almost day in and day out.

Two major roads, St. Albert Trail and 118 Ave meet at a traffic circle. With lights. How assinine is that?

Groat Rd was always a nightmare as well.

Try coming into the city during any hour close to rush hour along Gateway Bv. Wow, I think that spot is probably the worst of the worst in that city. They better finish that ring road soon.

I honestly don't know how you could possibly use Edmonton as a benchmark for how roads should be planned. It's a huge cluster##### of traffic circles with signals, freeways with signals and enviros holding back developments that make sense (Western Bypass by Big Lake).

[Incogneto]

Originally Posted by red '00

Just think, places like LA and New York still dwarf us.

in Population...we beat them in total land mass, though, no?

Maybe not L.A.

I know Paris has 9M people, and is physically smaller than Calgary.

....but don't worry, Bronco...we have no sprawl problems. jerk.

Lets dump a TON of cash into public transport, and C-Train. there is no reason why it isn't underground downtown, and why there aren't 5-10 lines in the city. One of my biggest beefs about Calgary.

[Incogneto]

Wasn't the Transit system in Calgary (C-Train, mainly) meant to transport something like 100,000 people a day, and is now moving over 250,000?

Seriously, put the C-Train undeground downtown, and it would free up another road for drivers (7th Ave). I mean, they even started to go underground before the Olympics in '88, and abandoned the plan then. As far as I am aware, there is even a station built under City hall, and the starters for a tunnel system.

just makes no sense to me.

[Incogneto]

Here is some interesting info on the C-Train...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Train

Read the 'Other Future Improvements' section...

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Well, Edmonton's metro population is similar to Calgary but has nowhere near the traffic problems. I agree, Calgary is way better than Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver though. I haven't experienced Vancouver but have no trouble believing that.

But almost any American city with 3 million in population or less has a better traffic situation than Calgary. Somewhere along the way, Calgary lost the vision it had when it created Deerfoot Trail in the 1970s. Sarcee should have been Deerfoot v2.0 and should have been expanded in the late 80s.

I don't see that at all. Calgary is nowhere near as good traffic wise as it was 20 years ago or even ten, but I have no problems with my daily commute (and I'm in the semi-suburbs). I've visited a few US cities that seemed much worse to me (albeit I was always a passenger)...and I'm not even convinced EDM is much better. although I think if your point is that Calgary has grown too big too quickly I 'd agree

while 'metro' EDM and 'metro' CGY are both around the same population, I certainly believe the rate of increase in CGY has been much quicker

[arsenal]

I agree. The CTrain is in serious need of an upgrade now. The improvments they are planning by 2023 are needed now. By the time 2023 roles around, the city will be over 1.5 million (based on the city growing by 93 people / day). The city is about 15 years behind on it's infrastructure plans. Sad really for a city that wants to be an international player.

[Bobblehead]

They are laying track for the new NE spur. The overpass has been underconstruction for a year. The work on the new yards in the NE appears to have begun full scale in just the last couple of weeks.

[Incogneto]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

They are laying track for the new NE spur. The overpass has been underconstruction for a year. The work on the new yards in the NE appears to have begun full scale in just the last couple of weeks.

Thats cool...but I have to ask...did City Hall forget about the West for a while in there????? Why are there NO tracks to the west at all????

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by InCoGnEtO

Thats cool...but I have to ask...did City Hall forget about the West for a while in there????? Why are there NO tracks to the west at all????

shhh nobody lives there.

Don't worry, they are extending the current northeast line into Signal Hill and Westhills-ish. That will be around in a few years, so hang tight ok?

C-Train = Worst. Planning. Ever.

[Neeper]

C-Train is a joke. It never should havebeen made above ground. The only reason why it was made above was to show off to the world in the 88 Olympics. "Look at our C-Train, we got lasers in them! Look how nice they look on the surface holding up 36th Street."

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

shhh nobody lives there.

Don't worry, they are extending the current northeast line into Signal Hill and Westhills-ish. That will be around in a few years, so hang tight ok?

C-Train = Worst. Planning. Ever.

Worst? You ever seen the LRT in Edmonton? One track. University - downtown - the stadiums all contected to.... nothing. All for about the same cost as the C-Train. But in 10 years they should be 15 blocks further south

[photon]

Didn't someone post a good analysis of the C-Train a while ago.. basically that extending the legs is useless as it only moves where people park. They can't increase the # of cars (platform lengths) or the frequency of the trains (intefere with traffic), so the only real way to really increase the # of people it can move into the core per unit time is to put the "free fare zone" underground and add additional legs.

It was an interesting read, wish I could find it.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

I honestly don't know how you could possibly use Edmonton as a benchmark for how roads should be planned. It's a huge cluster##### of traffic circles with signals, freeways with signals and enviros holding back developments that make sense (Western Bypass by Big Lake).

Edmonton is by no means a benchmark! The benchmark is larger American cities such as Minneapolis. I'm just saying, for similar population, Edmonton's traffic situation is a lot better than Calgary's.