Ring Road To Nowhere

[Acey]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I do not agree. I have driven past it about 300 times in the last year, and there is so much space to do what I'm talking about.

What appears to be full ######ation is more accurately described as a severe restriction of movements and in doing so they, and I, can pretty much guarantee Stoney/Deerfoot will flow freely and safely at oh, I dunno... 140,000+ vehicles per day.

Deerfoot has the potential to grind to a halt at less than two thirds that volume, for those keeping score.

And I believe I've figured out what movement you're trying to describe, but if I haven't it doesn't matter; due to the expansion that will take place for the ultimate design of the interchange (what's built now is a "stage 1" type of thing) any extra movements would be nuked. They've planned ahead on this one, indeed at the expense of our current sanity but when Mahogany and Seton and everything is built out... we'll be glad.

[4X4]

The full ######ation was the 52nd and Stoney interchange. That's just going to get worse. Much worse. No access to southern McKenzie or northern Cranston can happen or not happen, AFAIC, but I'm saying this because with what they've done at 52nd, I don't see why they couldn't do a little off shoot underpass exit like what Crowchild has, for those people going WB and wanting to access Cranston or McK.

[Acey]

They've thrown 52 St under the bus to allow Stoney/Deerfoot to meet the aforementioned performance targets, a logical decision. The double loop ramp at 52 St will fail in time, yes.

I've thought about how they could make McK/Cranston work, and ended up sketching it out in the SSP thread back in 2012/2013 before the opening. So I first thought of this. Take the red ramp out and add the two green, Crowchild style:



Would not work as it clashes with the ultimate design and creates a terrible weave with the NB-WB loop ramp.

See the red dotted lines here, they're basically building two smaller bridges alongside 22X to allow three thru lanes each way over Deerfoot:



Access to Cranston Ave/Seton Blvd could have been provided by something like this:



It's a mini-version of what's already at Peigan/Barlow/Deerfoot to get southbound where you loop back under yourself. Ehh probably not worth it. My conclusion was that it just isn't worth it.

Originally Posted by Acey

There's no real easy way they could have done the WB to Cranston without additional weaving, or another lengthy bridge. Big inconvenience, but I'm sure a bunch of engineers were sitting around a table for hours trying to figure out if there was way to safely include the movement without significant extra cost. Apparently the answer was no. Here's my take on it, given their weaving/merging requirements. It would take something like this... not even sure the green bridge is physically possible, and the red bridge would be crazy high and expensive. The other option is to make SB Deerfoot - WB Stoney go straight through McKenzie Blvd so they're not merging onto WB Stoney until west of that interchange. That'd save you one basketweave. But you'll still have a sky high flyover that'd need to be as high as the SB Deerfoot - EB Stoney flyover up in the northeast, and it'd be for hardly any traffic.

I no longer live in Calgary and unfortunately no longer have the hours of free time to do crap like this any more, but I doubt trying to figure it out again would yield a different result. The plans have been drawn up since before I was born, so it was a fool's errand, really...

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Acey

I figure they leave the red ramp in, and add the eastern green one, and it underpasses the red one. That's a perfect drawing of what I meant.

[Acey]

Will not work, because of the upcoming revision to the NB-WB loop, which has it merging in further west than it currently does. So currently it'd make an unacceptable weave, and in the ultimate design it would be impossible. That's why you've got to do something bonkers like a huge ramp flying over the whole complex, or one going up the middle of 22X and then jumping WB 22X to join up on the north side, like I drew in the other picture. Possible? Yes. Worth it? Not a chance.

[Acey]

Red ramp creates the conflict.

[4X4]

I see. Once the SW RR is complete, you are right about how this could be a completely different picture (volume wise). As it is, there just isn't the traffic coming off NB DF to WB ST to explain the lack of what I am proposing, but once the traffic increases dramatically, the NBDF to WBST traffic weaving the WBST to Cranston/McK traffic would suck balls.

Thanks for the lesson.

[sureLoss]

Prentice government delays Glenmore to Transcanada part of the ring road to 2021.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...another-decade

[burn_this_city]

The delay is to the start of construction, truthfully we won't see it complete until 2024.

[Acey]

Of note is the fact that the time critical section that goes through Tsuu T'ina is unaffected.

[ken0042]

That won't be too bad for those of us in the SE heading to Banff. SWRR to Glenmore, then Glenmore to highway 22. If they had to slash $1.5B from the project, I'd rather see it there than to have the future proofing taken away.

[Stealth22]

At this point, forget finishing the ring road. It would be a miracle if they ever START construction on the damn thing.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

At this point, forget finishing the ring road. It would be a miracle if they ever START construction on the damn thing.

It's like 75% complete.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by getbak

It's like 75% complete.

I meant the W and SW legs. But thanks.

[Resolute 14]

Only a colossal idiot would cancel the SWRR. Especially given the crap we went through to finally get a deal.

[Acey]

No kidding. The commitment of Alberta to the Edmonton and Calgary Ring Road projects has been made clear, both cities' outskirts have been massive construction zones for the better part of 10 years. The only thing miraculous would be anything other than SW Calgary in a similar state; this Prentice budget is merely a bump in the road. The outrage if the $275M we paid for the land were to go up in smoke. Oh lawd.

[Joborule]

This one is easy to deal with because if things pick up, then they can start up construction the west piece of the ring road, while construction is ongoing for the SW piece of the ring road.

[Violator]

I guess if you cancel a hospital you have to cancel a ring road.One of those things you have to sit there and take and not like it.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by ken0042

That won't be too bad for those of us in the SE heading to Banff. SWRR to Glenmore, then Glenmore to highway 22. If they had to slash $1.5B from the project, I'd rather see it there than to have the future proofing taken away.

You say that, not realizing how big of a mess the Glenmore/Sarcee/Hwy8 T-intersection already is. They've neglected it because they're basically just biding time until the SWRR came in and got rid of it. Now we're stuck with it for another 10 years. Add in the additional traffic from the RR and its gonna be even more fun!

[Joborule]

That section is getting built, no?