Ring Road To Nowhere

[malcolmk14]

Drove it from Bow Trail south to 162nd. What a treat.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Acey

I haven't watched it yet and I feel for the kid, but his own people voted for this instead of forcing us to tunnel under the city. Doesn't make it any easier a pill to swallow, but I can't believe he was up there arguing with Nenshi.

I can, calculated move by the City and province to keep some (social media) peace. He can have his opinion, but I am sure he's well aware of the grandstanding, both the last time, and this time.

If he wasn't part of it, there would be the inevitable social media calls of everyone involved silencing him.

Instead they can let him say his piece and get his further 15 minutes, while all the dignataries take a drive down the road 15 minutes later.

[sleepingmoose]

I was one of the first cars northbound after they removed the barrels. It was really nice to head to the west side that way, but surprisingly a short distance for so much waiting…literally just a corner.

I noticed them trying to take the CLOSED stickers off the gantry signs - it doesn’t seem to be going well. Guess they need some Goo Gone.

[Acey]

Only a couple bridges didn't already have traffic on them, and they've been done for so long so any issues like expansion joints would have been dealt with already.

Originally Posted by DoubleK

It's very nice. Colossally overbuilt, but very nice.

I mostly disagree that it's a colossal overbuild.

10 years after opening we are now having to fix NW Stoney, NE Stoney, and SW Henday at big cost because they were underbuilt. Actual lane capacity is about the same as SE Stoney which felt excessive in 2013, but traffic has grown 35% on SE Stoney since it opened, which is insane. Parts of Henday are up 50% since 2011.

Stoney and Henday have become worldwide case studies of the sprawl ring roads can induce. With this leg now done it clears the way for the new community of Providence, planned for 32,000 people. Even if SW Stoney only grows 25% in 7 years, I'd still consider it correctly built.

Originally Posted by stevinder

Just came back from my drive on it. Very nicely done.

Crews were removing the "CLOSED" stickers on the BGS's (Big Green Signs) and they were actually removing the material that makes up the sign. Big & expensive problem for the contractor.

I saw that. Hoping it's left over residue and not the material of the sign that came off. If not then yeah... they're replacing the whole panel. That's what happens when signs are one of the first things to go up and those closed stickers stay on there for a year and a half.

[DoubleK]

Acey, there is no way that portion of the highway needs to be that wide.

Some of those overpasses are THREE times wider than they needed to be.

I get having a modest amount of future proofing.

Comparing the transgressions on Henday and NW Stoney is a red herring.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Acey

Exactly. Same guy. I just came southbound to drive it and was the LAST car they forced to exit to Fish Creek Blvd, everyone after me is through. Northbound already open.

Haha, I might have literally been behind you. Saw the guy moving the first plyon, asked if I could go through, and he said "I guess." Pop the roads public cherry!

[Acey]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Some of those overpasses are THREE times wider than they needed to be.

Correct, a standard 30 meter median would have been fine. That aspect of it is certainly overbuilt and there's plenty of blame to go around. I was talking only about the actual number of traffic lanes on the mainline.

Originally Posted by Joborule

Haha, I might have literally been behind you. Saw the guy moving the first plyon, asked if I could go through, and he said "I guess." Pop the roads public cherry!

I was the first car to go over the WB-SB flyover at 22X/Deerfoot before they closed it again to fix the joints, so that was cool.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Acey, there is no way that portion of the highway needs to be that wide.

Some of those overpasses are THREE times wider than they needed to be.

I get having a modest amount of future proofing.

Comparing the transgressions on Henday and NW Stoney is a red herring.

It is colossally overbuilt for the (unlikely) need to build express lanes in the future. The idea is that this section of the ring road would double as also part of the outer city ring road. And to negotiate with the nation again to gain land to build that would be a major headache. So they just got all the land they would every need, and build the outer lanes for the meantime.

I don't really think they will ever build the inside, but in the future if it does become a need, it's at least ready to go. Better to be safe, than sorry.

[Acey]

This one is iffy... the jury is still out, even within AB Transportation. In this instance somebody conceded that we will almost surely never build the inner lanes, and that the wide median is an overbuild. Somebody who cares more about their called it future-proofing. It added significant cost, maybe $400-600M, and some cost of additional ROW that was required. They claimed that a redesign was too difficult given the time constraints of the Tsuut'ina deal.

But Brian Mason said his government has no choice but to honour the plan crafted by the previous PC government that he said is considerably overbuilt, with the potential to contain 16 traffic lanes due to the inclusion of a 100-metre-wide median.

“We are hamstrung in the effort to change the alignment of the roadway, the design is locked in,” he said. “It would have to be all renegotiated.”

Mason said the eight extra lanes were originally meant to tie into a since-abandoned outer ring road...

https://calgaryherald.com/news/polit...-fulfilling-it

So yes, in summary, we paid $300M to build the road on their land, then overbuilt the median by half a billion dollars.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Drove it from Bow Trail south to 162nd. What a treat.

Sounds fun! The portion from Bow Trail to Hwy 8 is still a few years from completion.

Originally Posted by Amethyst

So if I drove it from the northeast right now, I could go all the way around to Highway 8? Then I need to take Highway 8 out of town?

Well technically you can also continue straight ahead on Sarcee to the TCH when you get to Glenmore SW.

[Robbob]

I live is Sundance and was able to get from the traffic circle on highway 8 to home in around 25 mins. Nice to have that quick access to the mountains.

[D as in David]

Had to travel from Woodbine to Saddleridge and back today. On the way there, I went the usual way ie. Anderson, Deerfoot, McKnight, etc. Distance was 32km and it took 33 minutes.

Took 201 for the return and it was 42km and 35 minutes. And much more enjoyable.

[Ducay]

Think someone mentioned it above, but took it down to Shawnassey yesterday night, and I was shocked how short the last leg was. Literally just a curve and connection to 22X after the Costco. Sad it wasn't initially awarded with a completion date of 2020 like the rest of the leg, doesn't seem like it would have been that unachievable.

[Calgary14]

It's funny because it's a big deal for obvious reasons but when you drive the new leg the drive itself is total a non-event. For me it was less than 5 minutes on a straight road doing 100 which is awesome

Nice to see it seemed fairly busy this morning

[boosterjuice]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Think someone mentioned it above, but took it down to Shawnassey yesterday night, and I was shocked how short the last leg was. Literally just a curve and connection to 22X after the Costco. Sad it wasn't initially awarded with a completion date of 2020 like the rest of the leg, doesn't seem like it would have been that unachievable.

It still boggles my mind that it wasn't completed along with the Tsuu'Tina leg. Everything was done. The roads were paved for a year. Signs and lights were all up.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by boosterjuice

It still boggles my mind that it wasn't completed along with the Tsuu'Tina leg. Everything was done. The roads were paved for a year. Signs and lights were all up.

They were literally paving up until last week on 22x. I can see them not wanting to open it to funnel more traffic directly into the active construction zone still.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

They were literally paving up until last week on 22x. I can see them not wanting to open it to funnel more traffic directly into the active construction zone still.

Yeah was going to say, this portion included a ton of brownfield activity so there wasn't much reason to open that segment until the 22x stuff was all done. Though it feels kind of funny now with the bridge work further east lasting another year or two.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Sounds fun! The portion from Bow Trail to Hwy 8 is still a few years from completion.



Well technically you can also continue straight ahead on Sarcee to the TCH when you get to Glenmore SW.

Haha good catch. I was on Sarcee for the first stretch.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by boosterjuice

It still boggles my mind that it wasn't completed along with the Tsuu'Tina leg. Everything was done. The roads were paved for a year. Signs and lights were all up.

The rumour I heard (and I have no way of knowing about the accuracy of this to be fair) is that the maintenance contract didn't start until now, so there was no chance of early opening. That makes sense to me, but I don't pretend to understand why they couldn't have pushed this along. I could've saved them a chunk of money by not installing the lights at 53rd!

[Shazam]

Cost of lawyers > Additional revenue from early start of maint. contract.