Ring Road To Nowhere

[InglewoodFan]

Time to start watching social media for drivers going for a record Cöwburgring time.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I know I'm a bike guy, but yes to this. And implement the rule that semis are in the right hand lane and middle lane only to pass. Left lane wide open Europe style.

That would be the key. Everyone seems to like to camp in the centre lane when there are 3, even when no vehicles are merging. It negates the benefit of the extra lane, and even worse, creates an unsafe passing on the right scenario.

Scott Lake Hill, anyone? Third lane appears, everyone putzes along in the centre (including trucks), and passing happens on the left and the right. Imagine that all the way to Edmonton...

[timun]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

The one off highwood going towards the dome is made paritcularly bad becuase for some reason they have the outside lane not exiting right away which the people entering probably expect.

Highfield Road

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "the outside lane not exiting right away", but yeah, it's very confusing in general because:

- two of the branches off it are each two-lanes (26th Ave and Dartmouth Rd branching to the south),
- one of them is one-lane in and out (Dartmouth branching to the north), and
- the Highfield Road entrance is two-lane but the exit is a single lane.

You can use the right-hand lanes entering at any point to leave at the next exit of the circle (and in fact to go from NB Dartmouth to SB Highfield you must use the right lane, because it's a one-lane exit from a two-lane entrance), but there are traffic movements that seem super screwy if you're used to a regular two-lane roundabout all the way around. The key thing to remember about this roundabout is it's not two-lane all the way around: between the exits at SB Dartmouth and Highfield Roads it's only ONE lane.

This causes a very ####ed up movement from NB Highfield to NB Dartmouth, because NB Dartmouth is also a single lane exit. When you approach the roundabout from Highfield Road both lanes are signed as allowing "left" turns, but by that they mean a >300° turn around the circle to go onto SB Dartmouth Rd toward 25th Ave, NOT ~235° around the circle to go onto NB Dartmouth. That's the "straight through" movement, which you have to do from the RIGHT lane (purple in the diagram below), not the left. The only movement you're supposed to do from the left lane of Highfield (blue in the diagram below) is go all the way around the circle and exit (in the left lane) onto SB Dartmouth Road.

What this all ultimately ends up causing is a mandatory lane-change in the middle of the train tracks for traffic coming from NB Dartmouth and exiting NB Dartmouth; the red line in the diagram below:



They HAVE to cut off the traffic from Highfield and 26th! And they have to do it in the middle of the circle! It's STUPID.

[PepsiFree]

Surprising the amount of chutzpah coming from southies when you guys are down there driving on headless starfish.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by JBR

So does this thread get the lock tomorrow at 8:59am?

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

We’ll need at least a couple of weeks to complain about the completed project

9:00am tomorrow: Ongoing Calgarians complaining about the ring road thread

[Weitz]

What are the chances I can drive on the ring road from bow trail to highway 1 and old Banff coach without having to drive 80?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

You won't get any complaining from me.

I'm giddy about knocking 5-10 minutes off the commute and now having fun planning potential alternate routes to places I frequent.

Only complaining I can foresee is suicidal drivers treating the ring like the autobahn.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Weitz

What are the chances I can drive on the ring road from bow trail to highway 1 and old Banff coach without having to drive 80?

I never go 80 through that section as it is, so... 100%?

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

You won't get any complaining from me.

I'm giddy about knocking 5-10 minutes off the commute and now having fun planning potential alternate routes to places I frequent.

Only complaining I can foresee is suicidal drivers treating the ring like the autobahn.

Technically, I think I've read here that the SWRR was engineered to "Autobahn standards"...

All of the other sections seem to have the left lane(s) flowing at a reasonable rate above the posted 100km/h and it doesn't seem "suicidal", so not sure why opening the WRR will change anything.

[iggy_oi]

I pay my taxes and I want the autobahn option

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

It would frankly be reasonable to bump it's limit to 130 km/h given its design, otherwise what is its purpose anyways? I drive it at that speed on average except for the new section (as do many) and it feels pretty safe as all the exit ramps curve gently and there are plenty of lanes.

Just crack down on the beaters pushing 170 through the narrower sections like the interchange at signal hill.

[Ducay]

mentally I was convinced they were going to stick with the Fall/Oct 2024 deadline for the Bow to Hwy 8 piece - after the whole "finished but letting it sit until contractually mandated to open" approach they took to the SWRR.

Shocked.

Looking forward to seeing the effects on Bow/Sarcee after the holidays. There was a massive change in traffic pattern after the first west leg opened up and took the vast majority of Bow to North Sarcee traffic away.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Hessen

No thanks.

A train from Airdrie would save lives.

[GioforPM]

^^^ timun: yeah, I had the problem wrong. It's that the right lane of the circle has an arrow on the pavement saying keep going. And the both lanes can turn right into the one lane at the second turn.

Back to the ring road. I will be one of the first to use it tomorrow. If it's not a gong show.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

A train from Airdrie would save lives.

No it wouldn't, their lives would still suck living in Airdrie.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

The next project should be C train Airdrie all the way to Okotoks.

Airdrie and Okotoks should be the ones paying for that line, not Calgary.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

Airdrie and Okotoks should be the ones paying for that line, not Calgary.

Well given the context of the ring road thread, the idea being that it would be a provincial project not a city of Calgary project. Provincial funds already went to other c train lines as well

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Scott Lake Hill, anyone? Third lane appears, everyone putzes along in the centre (including trucks), and passing happens on the left and the right. Imagine that all the way to Edmonton...

This drives me nuts. WHY DO THEY ADD THE LANE ON THE RIGHT!?

It's simple. Add lanes on the left, take them away on the right.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Well given the context of the ring road thread, the idea being that it would be a provincial project not a city of Calgary project. Provincial funds already went to other c train lines as well

Both of those cities will basically be in Calgary by the time 30 years passes.

[Knut]

Of course today is the day I have to travel from Royal Oak to Bonavista. Why couldn’t it be open today. Wtf

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

A train from Airdrie would save lives.

I want an LRT to banff just to accommodate the costco drone families that drive outside the city three times a year and don't know how.