I Love Deerfoot Trail

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MaxPower

This bothers me. 120kph is too fast for a "large truck". Current speed limits are ridiculous for modern cars and light trucks, but it doesn't make sense for a heavy vehicle with brutal brakes to be going that fast.

It's not too fast for his truck if he has those fake bull balls. Not only do they add 15hp (at least!) they balance out the truck and reduce drag (chrome version only) allowing it to travel at proper large truck speed (which is a speed too fast for you and the speed limit sucka!). Not only that but they also increase the statistically probability of encountering total awesomeness on the road as described in his story.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Peanut

But look at the Deerfoot during non-rush hour times. 4-5 lanes is ridiculously overbuilt for the other 22 hours of the day. I hope they don't pump a ton more tax dollars into expanding it, to be honest. All the people who live in the deep south have chimed in saying it's really not that bad, anyways.

I would disagree, Deerfoot was not built to handle the traffic volumes that is currently on it. If the main traffic flow is going to continue to travel on Deerfoot the road has to be expanded to keep up with the Cities growth.

Sure the ring road will help but its not going to solve the problems in my opinion.

There is a reason, why the high impact area's are on Deerfoot. By the way its not only folks living in the deep south that have problems. Deerfoot at Beddington has a very high accident ratio for the folks travelling South Bound.

[4X4]

I just called 266-1234 and asked the cop whether it's illegal to turn over the double solid. Her answer: "Absolutely illegal."
And just to make sure I was clearly understanding her, I gave her my example of going down 14th street and turning left over the double solid into a gas station... Her answer: "Absolutely illegal."

I feel vindicated. I will continue to lean on my horn whenever some ###### does that in front of me...

[ken0042]

At least you did your homework before leaning on the horn. Last Sunday some idiot blasted me for turning left at a sign that read "No left turns 3:30-6:00 Monday to Friday."

[4X4]

Originally Posted by ken0042

At least you did your homework before leaning on the horn. Last Sunday some idiot blasted me for turning left at a sign that read "No left turns 3:30-6:00 Monday to Friday."

That happened to me a few weeks ago on 17th. It was a really nice day and my windows were down and so were his. He started honking and stuck his head out the window and yelled something. I stuck my head out the window and yelled back something to the effect of "read the f'n sign".
At least he was cool about it... He glanced up and read the sign. I watching him in the rearview and when he figured it out, he did the palms up, cringe-face thing to apologize, so I stuck my arm out the window and gave him a thumbs up and then everything was sunshine and lollipops again.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by flambers

I would disagree, Deerfoot was not built to handle the traffic volumes that is currently on it. If the main traffic flow is going to continue to travel on Deerfoot the road has to be expanded to keep up with the Cities growth.

Sure the ring road will help but its not going to solve the problems in my opinion.

The ring road will make 16th Ave a viable road for cars though.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by 4X4

That happened to me a few weeks ago on 17th. It was a really nice day and my windows were down and so were his. He started honking and stuck his head out the window and yelled something. I stuck my head out the window and yelled back something to the effect of "read the f'n sign".
At least he was cool about it... He glanced up and read the sign. I watching him in the rearview and when he figured it out, he did the palms up, cringe-face thing to apologize, so I stuck my arm out the window and gave him a thumbs up and then everything was sunshine and lollipops again.

I lol'd. I know exactly what you're talking about. Its like the jizz-in-my-pants face but with a lot more shame.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by 4X4

That happened to me a few weeks ago on 17th. It was a really nice day and my windows were down and so were his. He started honking and stuck his head out the window and yelled something. I stuck my head out the window and yelled back something to the effect of "read the f'n sign".
At least he was cool about it... He glanced up and read the sign. I watching him in the rearview and when he figured it out, he did the palms up, cringe-face thing to apologize, so I stuck my arm out the window and gave him a thumbs up and then everything was sunshine and lollipops again.

Hahaha how many times have you exchanged the "palms up, cringe-thing" when you are in the wrong? It's like the male equivalent of some lame female "let's make up" hug. It cures all wrongs.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by flambers

I would disagree, Deerfoot was not built to handle the traffic volumes that is currently on it. If the main traffic flow is going to continue to travel on Deerfoot the road has to be expanded to keep up with the Cities growth.

Sure the ring road will help but its not going to solve the problems in my opinion.

There is a reason, why the high impact area's are on Deerfoot. By the way its not only folks living in the deep south that have problems. Deerfoot at Beddington has a very high accident ratio for the folks travelling South Bound.

It's designed for the volumes. You can't/don't design for rush hour. It doesn't make sense from the economics/engineering standpoint.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Peanut

It's designed for the volumes. You can't/don't design for rush hour. It doesn't make sense from the economics/engineering standpoint.

Not true, Deerfoot was designed to handle a certain City population. Since then the City has grown much higher than the Road Capacity.

Calgary has made lots of improvements to help with rush hour problems....

- Removed the Lights// added Overpasses

- Fixed the Barlow intersection

- Beddington intersection was worked on. (still a problem)

However there is problem area's which need to be explored. Such as Glenmore area which decreases to two lanes.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by flambers

Not true, Deerfoot was designed to handle a certain City population. Since then the City has grown much higher than the Road Capacity.

Calgary has made lots of improvements to help with rush hour problems....

- Removed the Lights// added Overpasses

- Fixed the Barlow intersection

- Beddington intersection was worked on. (still a problem)

However there is problem area's which need to be explored. Such as Glenmore area which decreases to two lanes.

It's always over capacity at rush hour. Basically all major roads are over capacity during rush hour. They are not over capacity during non rush hour. It's how all roads are designed.

That's all I'm saying.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Peanut

It's always over capacity at rush hour. Basically all major roads are over capacity during rush hour. They are not over capacity during non rush hour. It's how all roads are designed.

That's all I'm saying.

I know folks who work with the City and they would disagree with you....

There is a reason why Overpasses were recently put in place, why the Barlow intersection was totally redone etc.....

Problem is some area's are so poorly done its really difficult to fix.

Not to mention the amount of funds it would take to fix it.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Didn't mean to diss your home. I see how it came off that way and I apologize for that.

No problemo.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by flambers

I know folks who work with the City and they would disagree with you....

There is a reason why Overpasses were recently put in place, why the Barlow intersection was totally redone etc.....

Problem is some area's are so poorly done its really difficult to fix.

Not to mention the amount of funds it would take to fix it.

Really? Tell them I say Hi, because I used to work there as well... doing overpasses and road upgrade projects, actually. This was until I wised up and realized that Petroleum Engineers get better jobs than Transportation Engineers.

How about we can agree to disagree?

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Really? Tell them I say Hi, because I used to work there as well... doing overpasses and road upgrade projects, actually. This was until I wised up and realized that Petroleum Engineers get better jobs than Transportation Engineers.

How about we can agree to disagree?

LOL, how about 22x as another example. Technically it was not over capacity during non rush hour. However a major upgrade was required and it was done.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by flambers

LOL, how about 22x as another example. Technically it was not over capacity during non rush hour. However a major upgrade was required and it was done.

I'm not sure where I said they don't do upgrades when required? Clearly they do, construction projects are happening all the time and I've worked on a couple of them.

My whole point was that you can't design a road for rush-hour volumes, because it doesn't make sense for the volumes on the road the other 22 hours a day.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Peanut, I'm with flambers.

What kind of basis does an honours degree in civil engineering and multiple years worth of relevant professional project experience give you to speak about transportation design?

Now hush woman, you're embarassing the family name.

[mykalberta]

I am with Peanut.

The City had to know that building to the south like mad would do this to Deerfoot. And convieniently the Province is responsibile for it so it gets all the flack. IMO its a classic Bronco tactic.

Also, if the commute is say 50 min and widening it 1 or 2 lanes would only decrease it by 20 minutes. Its not economically feasible IMO. And its a cost of living in that area.

You can also use the C Train if you dont like the Deerfoot

[BigFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I'm not sure where I said they don't do upgrades when required? Clearly they do, construction projects are happening all the time and I've worked on a couple of them.

My whole point was that you can't design a road for rush-hour volumes, because it doesn't make sense for the volumes on the road the other 22 hours a day.

But wasnt Deerfoot designed when the population was MUCH smaller than it is now? I'm sure that it was designed bigger than needed at that particular time. As the city grows I would think they would need to plan for the future and expand it. What was satisfactory 20 years ago would not work today. And even though it may be adequate now wouldnt they be planning for the next 20-30 years?

I have no idea what is involved in this but it seems to me that they wouldnt just be thinking of whether it is adequate during no-rush hour at this point. I would want to hear they are thinking more long term than that.

[ken0042]

Maybe I am foolishly expecting engineering to make sense, but wouldn't they design something to handle its maximum load? They wouldn't build a bridge to withstand 50 tonnes if only 5% of the time 60 tonne trucks will be driving over it, for example.

Back in the early 90's Deerfoot was fine. Only times there were traffic jams there was also some kind of accident. So at some point it was designed to handle rush hour, but that was in a city of 700,000 not 1.1 million; and south of Bow Bottom was designed for the ~4,000 people who lived in Douglasdale and the 100 people in McKenzie Lake. Now there's 100,000+ people there plus it is now Highway 2; as opposed to Anderson being Highway 2.

The other interchanges were also designed to handle the full load at the time; without looking forward. Like Beddington Trail only able to turn south onto Deerfoot; and the bridge never being built to anticipate 2 way traffic.