Deerfoot Trail problems - Ideas, solutions?

[normtwofinger]

From a home office? Not that I ever did.

I worked construction in the core when I lived in Calgary. I maybe had to use Deerfoot 2-3 times a year.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Rerun

I've come to the conclusion that Deerfoot Tr is beyond repair.

Throwing out some guess here... maybe $400 million to fix the mess at Anderson/Bow Bottom, then maybe $400 million more to fix Glenmore, maybe another $400 million to fix merge lanes and everything else combined... at which point you've surpassed the cost of SE Stoney. And boy are they ever going balls to the wall on SE Stoney, if anyone has seen the plans for the southern Stoney/Marquis & Deerfoot interchange.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

Solution to Deerfoot? Move and work in the NW.

Nope... move to the SE. Thats where all the cool companies are moving to these days.

[Wormius]

If Deerfoot's problems all originate in the S, I don't know why NB Deerfoot past Glenmore is the pits.

[Bunk]

Southeast LRT and North-Central LRT are surely the best way to reduce overall peak-hour congestion. That said, there are those that espouse the idea that urban freeways will always be congested almost no matter what you do, and you can't build your way out of it - the "law of congestion".

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...g-traffic/315/#

Personally, I think the best thing to do is to provide transit and other mobility options that mean you don't have to sit on a crowded deerfoot if you don't need to.

The best transportation systems have a high distribution across modes - transit, pedestrian, cycling and auto. Too much reliance on one mode (usaully auto) guarantees congestion of that mode. Slightly reduce the mode share of auto by making other options more viable and the whole system will work better.

But remember this when you're on the deerfoot - this is a Provincial Road - not Municipal.

[getbak]

The biggest interchange that needs to be fixed is Glenmore. Deerfoot should be a minimum of 3 lanes of travel along its entire length.

The next biggest problem is the places where the on-ramp from one road is too close to the off-ramp to the next road. Southland and Anderson on southbound Deerfoot, and 16th and 32nd on northbound are the biggest problems, but many others aren't much better.



One of the biggest annoyances on Deerfoot is people who don't properly accelerate to Deerfoot speed before trying to merge. Every on-ramp gives you plenty of room to get up to 100km/h, and yet you always see people trying to merge at 60 or 80. There are no speed limit signs on any of the acceleration lanes.

I wonder if it would make any difference if they put up signs that said something to the effect of: "Highway merge ahead. Accelerate to Highway speed." with a speed limit sign?

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Wormius

If Deerfoot's problems all originate in the S, I don't know why NB Deerfoot past Glenmore is the pits.

A lot of it is due to the mentality of "oh, traffic is bad so i'll just leave a huge gap because i'm going to hit another wall of traffic anyway"

Once you get past 16th ave, the best move is to change lanes to the far right lane and continue on past 32nd ave and then past mcknight in that lane. It's completely backwards.

Everyone thinks it's just hurry up & wait, when in reality there aren't any traffic lights all the way to Edmonton. There really isn't a reason to have stop & go traffic without an accident.

Deerfoot requires strategic navigation every time, especially at around 3:30pm onwards in both directions.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Wormius

If Deerfoot's problems all originate in the S, I don't know why NB Deerfoot past Glenmore is the pits.

Large volume of traffic merging northbound, and the inability of that traffic to properly merge at speed. I'd somewhat disagree with you that the current merge lanes are adequate for getting up to speed and finding a gap in traffic, getbak... the merge lanes for all the new interchanges on Stoney are a good example of proper merge lanes.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Yet a lot of the time people are going 80 when they merge onto Stoney, too. smh

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Yet a lot of the time people are going 80 when they merge onto Stoney, too. smh

And it only takes one person going 80kph screw everything up. It means everybody behind them can't merge at 100, and they slow down everybody when they do merge.

I don't know if that's an easily solvable problem. It seems like one misstep by someone driving along Deerfoot creates and mess.

I like the idea about more signs. There should be also some to tell people to move way off the road if they're in a fender bender or get a flat. They shouldn't park it inches away from traffic that should be going 100kph.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Yet a lot of the time people are going 80 when they merge onto Stoney, too. smh

Yep. Exact thing happened to me today, trying to merge from WB Crowchild to NB Stoney which must be the longest merge lane in the world. Woman in front of me insisted on going 75 the whole way down. When possible, what I usually do is slow down as much as feasible to give myself some room to throttle up and merge at the proper speed by the time I get to the end.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Yet a lot of the time people are going 80 when they merge onto Stoney, too. smh

A lot of times there's a wall of traffic, which makes the merges ineffective anyway. They don't see a point in getting up to speed.

I think yield signs would work better than merges in some places honestly. Deerfoot has too many merges already. Volume is the biggest problem and merges just compound it. I agree with the sentiment that more lanes are necessary. Calf robe is still a parking lot 80% of the time and funny enough, the fastest lanes are the closest to the merges.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I have never, ever seen a wall of traffic on the west and north sides of Stoney. Ever. Not in rush hour. Not because of an accident. Ever.

[nik-]

Expanding the deerfoot to 4 lanes really does nothing unless you address the flow onto and off of it. Also, I'm pretty sure I saw read somewhere that simply expanding roads is a massively ineffective use of resources. Extra cars just eat it up and negate gains.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I have never, ever seen a wall of traffic on the west and north sides of Stoney. Ever. Not in rush hour. Not because of an accident. Ever.

Stoney is pretty underutilized though, imo.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by nik-

Expanding the deerfoot to 4 lanes really does nothing unless you address the flow onto and off of it. Also, I'm pretty sure I saw read somewhere that simply expanding roads is a massively ineffective use of resources. Extra cars just eat it up and negate gains.

It needs to be done strategically. I always see those car counter boxes in residential areas, but never on any of the merges, etc. The need for volume is the biggest obstacle right now.

I think a lot of business owners would appreciate the quicker shipments. Maybe build a commercial lane?

Originally Posted by Wormius

Stoney is pretty underutilized though, imo.

The design of the road system should have nothing to do with the ability of the driver. That's why slower traffic should keep right in the first place.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by nik-

Expanding the deerfoot to 4 lanes really does nothing unless you address the flow onto and off of it. Also, I'm pretty sure I saw read somewhere that simply expanding roads is a massively ineffective use of resources. Extra cars just eat it up and negate gains.

There will just be more of those dirty parasitic communities/suburbanites to eat up the extra lane.

[Jbo]

Deerfoot will not be fixed. The commute in this city from the South (used to live in Bridlewood) to downtown/foothills Industrial took years off my life.

Moved to Mission, and I will never look back to the suburbs, as long as I work downtown.

Calgary road planners were definitely the D students

[Frank MetaMusil]

Does anyone here ever drive EB/WB glenmore during peak times?

Did the changes make anything better, or is it still a parking lot as well?

[KelVarnsen]

Westbound slows down big time around Crowfoot to 37th Street but after that it is all right.