Ring Road To Nowhere

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Acey

Which is fine and logical. But I want this same sign at the gore point, where the inner lane is not marked as exit only... because it isn't. I dunno. Because by their logic, any standard single lane exit, like:

Should be marked as exit only.

For the Stoney sign at the exit, would it still bother you if the same sign panel was at the "end" of the exit (also known as the painted gore) instead of where the left turning lane is only 2-2.5 meters wide? It might make more sense when it's over two fully developed lanes at the (painted) point of no return.

The Airport Trail exit sign you posted is part of a series of retrofit signs the government did to save money. Instead of building new structures to fit appropriately sized signs, they crammed in a ton of info into smaller panels to fit on the old structures. I'm guessing that in that case, the designer couldn't nicely fit an exit only tab onto that sign without it looking even worse than it is now. They did that in a few places, unfortunately.

[Acey]

No, it's like that everywhere. They don't sign a single exit lane as exit only. Which makes sense. It just seems different than what they do for dual lane exits. Doesn't much matter.

[lazypucker]

I drove through Sarcee to Glenmore East overpass again today. The lane-change area to the 37 St exit consists of a single sign on a pole sticking up in the middle of a flat giant patch of 5 lanes with no island or any bumps. Sooner or later that sign will get mowed down by some errand driver...

[Acey]

I have to think they'll put a more acceptable permanent solution at some point but the whole thing is already improvised so it's tough to say what's actually okay there.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Sooner or later that sign will get mowed down by some errand driver...

That’s pretty specific, what makes you so confident they’ll be running errands when they errantly hit the sign?

[mrkajz44]

I have the same beef as Acey with those "exit only" signs. In his example (post 4038), there are four lanes of traffic approaching the exit. The signs show the two right lanes as "exit only", but that's not actually true. Only the far right lane has to exit where the other three do not have to exit.

[Acey]

Quick photoshop of what I want it to be based on what makes sense to me:



and again what it actually is:

[Fuzz]

But there are 3 through lanes, each flagged. There are 2 exit lanes, that are flagged as exit only, at the point where the sign is. If you are in those 2 lanes, you must exit. If the sign was further back from there, that would make sense. But at the point where the sign is, it is accurate.

In your image, you could be in that inner exit lane, but assume that it doesn't actually exit and you would still have the option of staying on Stoney. Obviously that would be incorrect and misleading signage. As is, I don't see what the issue is?

[cam_wmh]

If you're in the far right lane, you're already in the Must Exit lane.
If you're in the second from left right, you're headed to Edmonton (condolences).

Originally Posted by Fuzz

you could be in that inner exit lane, but assume that it doesn't actually exit

Fuzz, if one is signaling into a lane you labelled "inner exit lane", when does such a scenario ever occur on a lane like that, where you are NOT departing the original freeway?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

But at the point where the sign is, it is accurate.

See post #4042.

Your logic is fine, my issue is the inconsistent application.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Acey

See post #4042.

Your logic is fine, my issue is the inconsistent application.

I'd have to look around, but is that because in the dual lane example, it is a travel lane that becomes must exit, whereas the single lane is an exit on it's own, not a travel lane turning into an exit?

[Mazrim]

I don't have an issue with Acey's suggestion, but in the interest of helping the driver who looks at the sign for half a second, I can safely say that the sign out there now is quicker to understand.

Blur your eyes when looking at the image Acey photoshopped and the original sign, and only look at the picture for less than a second. Can you tell what the optional exit arrow does in that example? To a driver who is unfamiliar with the area and didn't start looking at the sign until they were close to the exit, they aren't even reading anything, just looking at colors and symbols while panicking over where to go. If you're lucky they'll read the numbers in the highway symbols or maybe just "Edmonton" and "Stoney".

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

If you're in the far right lane, you're already in the Must Exit lane.
If you're in the second from left right, you're headed to Edmonton (condolences).

Fuzz, if one is signaling into a lane you labelled "inner exit lane", when does such a scenario ever occur on a lane like that, where you are NOT departing the original freeway?

Probably not often. Technically you can exit here in the inner exit lane, and just stay in that lane all the way past Deerfoot, and rejoin Stoney, so the "must exit" is a lie.

https://goo.gl/maps/bcnpTCHKzyUQbP6N7

[Lubicon]

Some new traffic movements at Stoney / 16th NW. The new SB Stoney > WB TCH movement was open this morning, I don't know about the others but assume they are as well.

https://westringroad.ca/2020/11/20/t...-bridge-opens/

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Probably not often. Technically you can exit here in the inner exit lane, and just stay in that lane all the way past Deerfoot, and rejoin Stoney, so the "must exit" is a lie.

https://goo.gl/maps/bcnpTCHKzyUQbP6N7

WB Stoney approaching Deerfoot is an anomaly because there aren't many places set up like that. It's resulted in this hackjob of a sign cover up a few hundred meters prior, as it's not evident until too late that you cannot go to SB Deerfoot from the right lane:

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I can safely say that the sign out there now is quicker to understand.

100% agree. And also, I get that at the exact point the gantry exists, it is technically correct. But you are not making a decision with your steering wheel at the exact point your vehicle is under the gantry.

[Fuzz]

So here is a single exit lane, that results in a travel lane turning into an exit:

https://goo.gl/maps/zm6VwjvkwnFi2e2t5

And they have the yellow flag. So it seems to me, if it is an exit, stays green, if it is a travel lane turning to an exit, it's yellow. Which makes it all seem pretty consistent to me.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

So it seems to me, if it is an exit, stays green, if it is a travel lane turning to an exit, it's yellow.

What I'm saying is that here, the inner exit lane is an exit, and per you should therefore be green as I shopped it in post #4047, but it is not. Thus, there is inconsistency in the way dual and single exits are signed.

[Fuzz]

OK, gotcha.

[Acey]

Coincidentally, the example you chose for that Street View is about to become a dual lane exit in the summer when the interchange construction is done; that's why the sign appears to be a dual exit lane sign that is missing the left arrow. So once they add the other arrow next summer, it will be the same as the Deerfoot signs in our other example.

[curves2000]

I am still not too thrilled with this particular road's signage in a lot of ways. It seems very confusing and I've grown up in the area and really know my city well with the roads, directions etc.

I don't think I am the only one as friends and family have also taken wrong lane's, exit's, are confused with names and directions.

The Sarcee, Glenmore, Highway 8, Tsuu Tina, Stoney area just seems like a mess. Too much going on and the entire section just seems overbuilt in terms of design.

Today I tried going to North Glenmore Park for a walk from Sarcee. It was the first time I used the 37th Street turnoff to use the exit lane. I have excellent vision and I caught it at the last second and was able to exit no problem but several friends and family have had issues not being able to exit and than need to drive until Crowchild Trail and go into Lakeview.

The best way to describe my experience and others who I have talked to, is overthinking the drive. You really need to think where you are going, the direction, the road and the lane you should be in. I can't think of another part of the road network in the city I know very well that has me as perplexed.

A lot of my friends live in the Evergreen area and I live on the westside part of the city. I have encouraged them to use the new ring road and a lot of them have had similar issues, and this is with them using GPS which is another comical disaster in it's self.

Perhaps I will get used to it and when all the smaller, side construction and everything is completed it will make more sense. I just find it a little hard to navigate for someone who knows the roads, the directions, the city road names and has excellent vision. I don't even want to think about some of the elderly drivers trying to navigate this or people who are just using the bypass route to get into/out of town.