Ring Road To Nowhere

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Even if he does, he has a point. The 201 is supposed to be a full freeway. Half assing it now makes no sense whatsoever.

The half assing happened when they designed (and started building) the roadway without having all of the right of ways in place. It is simply not possible to full-ass this now. Say you build an 8 lane roadway down 37th. How do you squeeze all of the traffic together with the existing Glenmore traffic along the 37th-Sarcee corridor. You going to try to expand that into 14+ lanes?

If you want to build a pretty 16 lane circle around the city, you need to start over. Hopefully, they will have learned some lessons for when they go to tackle the outer ring road.

[Kerplunk]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

They are supposed to be putting an overpass there. There is some space but not a lot. I saw some proposals on the city site at one time and none of them were simple.

http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/...house_june.pdf

Right now we are "Stage One", which is building up the space for the roads. The current approved plan, "Concept A", basically builds an limited overpass. It will only allow North/South traffic to go West on 16th, and only Eastbound traffic on 16th will be able to go North/South on 68th. This is because the commercial/residential zones were put so close to the road, and it is deemed too costly to build complex merge lanes or yank out existing buildings.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Oh, and I totally agree, MYK. The SW portion does not really need to be as highway-esque as the north portion. The north portion is perfect for the E/W traffic that is just passing through. They'll bounce off 16th ave, onto stoney, avoid the city, and hit 16th again on the other side. If they need gas, they can hit the Petro just past the city limits.
The SW portion will not really serv any external purpose except for maybe people from Cochrane going to the #2 south. It'll mainly ease the ridiculous congestion on 37th/Glemnore, McLeod Tr., and 14th St.

I disagree. There is a lot of Semi-Truck traffic from BC that has been taking the TransCanada east to Highway 22 south (Cochrane turnoff) to Highway 8 east in order to get to Glenmore (to eventually head to SE Calgary or Deerfoot South) and avoid the whole 16th Ave / Sarcee Trail / Glenmore fiasco. Having the SW portion would lighten the truck (and other) traffic on Highway 8 tremendously.

[Flacker]

Hate to say it as they are ugly as sin, but a possible solution at Glenmore/Sarcee/37st is to stack vertically with an elevated section that turns south down 37th. They have some room out at the south end of Sarcee for onramps. Hell keep it elevated right through Lakeview.

Alaskan Way (99) in Seattle is a great example of what can be done when you have little or no footprint for the roadway but as stated before they are autrocious to look at. Great sections of interstate through Seattle is also elevated. Biggest drawbacks are cost and appearance.

[Shazam]

Regardless of what happens with the ring road, 37th/Glenmore needs an upgrade.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Flacker

Hate to say it as they are ugly as sin, but a possible solution at Glenmore/Sarcee/37st is to stack vertically with an elevated section that turns south down 37th. They have some room out at the south end of Sarcee for onramps. Hell keep it elevated right through Lakeview.

Alaskan Way (99) in Seattle is a great example of what can be done when you have little or no footprint for the roadway but as stated before they are autrocious to look at. Great sections of interstate through Seattle is also elevated. Biggest drawbacks are cost and appearance.

I'd go the other way. One direction level, the other in a tunnel. Same strategy and not ugly.

[Hemi-Cuda]

this pisses me off, construction is finally finished on the ring road but the speed limit is still posted as 70 from outside the city limits on 16th ave all the way to the construction still going on at the 68th St intersection. i was looking forward to that stretch being bumped back up to 90 the most since i drive it everyday going from Chestermere to Calgary, but i guess the city is hesitant to lose one of their best speed traps

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I'd go the other way. One direction level, the other in a tunnel. Same strategy and not ugly.

Or do the natives have mineral rights to their land? If not, build a huge tunnel underneath.

Seriously, time to do it once and do it right. We've seen what happens when you build the road to be just right for the time. (Deerfoot at either Glenmore or Anderson/Bow Bottom)

[corporatejay]

is there a map out there for the 37th street alternative?

[SeeGeeWhy]

Seriously, what is the point of a ring road for a city that refuses to stop growing outwards?

[Draug]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Seriously, what is the point of a ring road for a city that refuses to stop growing outwards?

Because you need to navigate those suburbs quickly. And, people going through the city, need to do so quickly too.

Money (and other costs) always talk ... as long as its cheaper to grow outward, every city will.

[ken0042]

^^ In 30 years we rename it "The Inner Freeway"- then build the new ring road which connects Okotoks, Cochrane, Airdrie, and Strathmore.

[You Need a Thneed]

SE Ring road announced.

Construction starts May 2010, completion in fall of 2013.

[Tyler]

Awesome news! Is 22x going to be widened?

[Ducay]

So whats the deal with the SW ring road? Looks like the provincial ring road map has no SW leg on it anymore

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by ken0042

^^ In 30 years we rename it "The Inner Freeway"- then build the new ring road which connects Okotoks, Cochrane, Airdrie, and Strathmore.

This isn't so far from the truth.

Houston's on to their third ring road now.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Awesome news! Is 22x going to be widened?

You can look at the "Stage 1 functional plan" Here.

According to that, it will be widened, it appears.

[Jayems]

I am so sad they're not putting an interchange at 130th.

according to this, there is

but not on the new map:

[SebC]

“This project demonstrates that now is definitely the right time to keep investing in our public infrastructure. We’re taking advantage of lower construction prices while providing jobs for hundreds of people. The excellent industry response to this project shows confidence in Alberta’s future and that the province is a great place to invest. Projects like these ensure Alberta has the infrastructure it needs for a strong economic recovery.” - Ed Stelmach

Sounds like Ed finally gets it, but then why did he cut infrastructure spending?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Jayems

I am so sad they're not putting an interchange at 130th.

If they ever extend 130th east of 52nd Street, they might, but with 52nd being twinned down there, it is only a very short hop to 114th to get on the ring road.