Ring Road To Nowhere

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I suspect another year, it looks like there is some remediation work and an additional lane being added to the existing bridge. I'm hoping they get 3 lanes going in both directions soon while they complete the rest of the work for the inner span. Eastbound was backed up to Macleod trail yesterday at 530.

They are closing the existing bridge to work on the new-old bridge. It will be worse than it was as it will still be two lanes in each direction but now with a much shorter merge lane from Chaparral onto the new bridge. Plus, people taking a hard right to get from eastbound into Cranston and position themselves into only one Deerfoot exit lane.

The West portion will be done before this. It's bonkers.

[Calgary14]

It seems significantly worse since today as they shift volume from the old bridge onto the new one. Another year of this will be fun

[rohara66]

22x is another year!!!!?!???!

WHAT! NO!

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by rohara66

22x is another year!!!!?!???!

WHAT! NO!

And a worse one, at that, from the sounds of it.

[TheIronMaiden]

It is going to be great when the ring road is done.
Honestly they should start making the next one now. Calgary's growth is un stoppable.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Honestly they should start making the next one now. Calgary's growth is un stoppable.

We should have put a stop to Calgary's expanding footprint a long ass time ago, frankly. Sprawl is expensive.

[Jimmy Stang]

From today's newsletter:

In early October, eastbound and westbound Bow Trail will open to public traffic from 85 Street S.W. to 101 Street S.W. At the same time, Stoney Trail will open to traffic between Bow Trail and the Trans-Canada Highway.

So there you have it. A partial opening to Bow within a few weeks.

[lazypucker]

F### yeah!!

The newsletter didn't say about the OBCR interchange though. Hopefully that will open as well...

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Yes! Finally!

It's a small step but it will make such a difference for people in the SW needing to go to and from the NW.

Bow trail and sarcee is a headache that we've had to put up with for very long time as the sole direct NW access route inside the city.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

F### yeah!!

The newsletter didn't say about the OBCR interchange though. Hopefully that will open as well...

I mean, it's all but done. Ramps and overpass paved, and traffic lights functional.

I don't see any way they open it to the Bow exit without also opening OBCR.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

F### yeah!!

The newsletter didn't say about the OBCR interchange though. Hopefully that will open as well...

Considering obcr is between the 2 I’d assume it’s open.

[sleepingmoose]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

F### yeah!!

The newsletter didn't say about the OBCR interchange though. Hopefully that will open as well...

I don’t know if they updated, but when I read the newsletter, it says OBCR is also open:

All movements at the Old Banff Coach Road and Trans-Canada Highway interchanges will open to traffic, however, northbound Stoney Trail will be reduced to one lane approaching the Bow River bridge until the bridge rehabilitation is complete and the northbound bridge over the river re-opens.

[calf]

So, at TCH, they're going to have the existing disaster where EB and WB converge, then a single NB land squeezing in as well? Sounds terrible

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

What are they even doing with the first stoney Bridge?

I thought they might be sprucing it up and just matching the two cosmetically but it looks like it won't be used for a while.

The way they schedule all this construction is so ass backwards.

They've paved and re-paved all those overpasses a dozen times since it began. Seems wasteful. Like they forgot something so they had to rip up the road all over again.

Is it not feasible to get both NB/SB bridges going for the opening?

Otherwise that area is going to be a bottleneck, at least heading northbound.

[Acey]

They're rehabbing the whole bridge deck, it's decades old so the repairs are more than just cosmetic. The fact that it won't be done is another consequence of the early opening because the timing of the projects has been completely thrown upside down.

This early opening will create a traffic disaster on multiple levels (northbound Stoney is one lane at the river) and I'm quite surprised they found a way to split the projects so it could be released. I'm more than happy to admit I was wrong.

[sleepingmoose]

I just went through there yesterday - I recall it was two lanes over the river. It’s one lane approaching the from the EB-NB off TCH (and presumably from Stoney NB when it opens) but the WB-NB on-ramp adds a second lane back over the new bridge.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

I just went through there yesterday - I recall it was two lanes over the river. It’s one lane approaching the from the EB-NB off TCH (and presumably from Stoney NB when it opens) but the WB-NB on-ramp adds a second lane back over the new bridge.

The traffic from EB and WB Trans Canada each currently get their own lane over the river without having to merge together. It flows alright.

The new configuration will have both EB and WB Trans Canada merge into one, and the new NB Stoney will also reduce to the one other lane. I think that’s a lot of cars to pinch into two lanes, and I expect WB TCH to NB Stoney to fare the worst.

Bowness Road, for example, will likely take on more traffic because people will bail at Bowfort Road and cut the corner off when the TCH to Stoney is backed up.

I also think that in the SW, 85th, 69th, Old Banff Coach Road, and Bow Trail will all see a lot more cars, and it will cause quite a bit of congestion.

But who am I kidding? I’m glad to see it open, and I see a few scenarios where I’ll be using it. I do think that there will be a ripple effect on surrounding roads though.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

The traffic from EB and WB Trans Canada each currently get their own lane over the river without having to merge together. It flows alright.

The new configuration will have both EB and WB Trans Canada merge into one, and the new NB Stoney will also reduce to the one other lane. I think that’s a lot of cars to pinch into two lanes, and I expect WB TCH to NB Stoney to fare the worst.

Bowness Road, for example, will likely take on more traffic because people will bail at Bowfort Road and cut the corner off when the TCH to Stoney is backed up.

I also think that in the SW, 85th, 69th, Old Banff Coach Road, and Bow Trail will all see a lot more cars, and it will cause quite a bit of congestion.

But who am I kidding? I’m glad to see it open, and I see a few scenarios where I’ll be using it. I do think that there will be a ripple effect on surrounding roads though.

I guess if the side roads like 85th and 69th take some of the pressure off the Sarcee-Bow intersection, that’s a net good, even though they become busier (I don’t see trucks taking those routes yet anyway).

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I guess if the side roads like 85th and 69th take some of the pressure off the Sarcee-Bow intersection, that’s a net good, even though they become busier (I don’t see trucks taking those routes yet anyway).

It doesn't help that 85th St has a set of lights at EVERY intersection like a 100 ft apart. Will be fun.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Bow/Sarcee should've been made into an overpass like 17th/Sarcee was.. would've saved a lot of grief on those NW-SW commutes.

I avoid it like the plague, especially in the busy times.

Hard to say how the opening will turn out. But like the one poster said, WB TCH to NB Stoney will be backed up the most by the addition of northbound traffic from the new ring road section.

When they finally reopen both bridges, it's interesting to think about how instead of taking a slow-moving Crowchild to access the NW from downtown, taking Bow all the way out to the ring road could take roughly the same time to reach the far NW communities.

Taking pressure off of any major overused and over-crowded artery will be a good thing.