Ring Road To Nowhere

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Maybe not incompetence, but everyone I talk to who drives through it regularly thinks it is a complete mess.

I don't doubt this, but this is not the first time a section of Stoney or Henday has made life difficult for people living near a sequence of tight interchanges. It's frustrating that people in that area had to sit through 4 years of construction for life to actually get worse, but their commute times unfortunately do not factor into the greater purpose of Stoney Trail as a road system.

[Fuzz]

The confusing one seems to be the second sign. The first one says Macleod Trail, so that means north and south. The second one says Macleod Trail north, with no mention of south. It should just say Macleod Trail, right? I get that it has the right arrow, and is a lead to the following sign, but having it right at the split might cause confusion. With no mention of the south, it looks like the entire exit is dedicated to north.

[Ryan Coke]

And the first one that says [Macleod Trail - City Center], but doesn’t say anything about South or Lethbridge, I can see how that looks misleading.

It should be just [Macleod Trail] if they aren’t going to have both directions indicated. If I saw the current sign then I would expect another exit for [Macleod Trail - Lethbridge] to appear next.

[curves2000]

A little pet peeve from a design perspective driving on WB Glenmore and taking the NB Sarcee exit.

It appears you need to make your way all the way to the right far lane in order to take the exit which results in a lot of cars needing to cross over.

Given the amount of traffic heading on Glenmore onto Sarcee, is this the best design?

It doesn't appear to be as smooth as it should be and the more I drive some of this new road network, the more I see lot's of poor design elements.

[timun]

I don't see what you're complaining about. The two right-most lanes turn on to northbound Sarcee: that's essentially the exact same as before, but now you have three other lanes on the left that go west or south rather than everyone going west piling into the left lane in anticipation of the left turn at highway 8. And it's not as though there's lots of traffic having to weave to the right while other traffic weaves to the left: you have lots of time and space to stay right.

Besides, don't forget that when the rest of Stoney is complete the traffic that currently goes from WB Glenmore to NB Sarcee to get to 16th Ave NW will disappear almost entirely.

[lazypucker]

Maybe put more signs further in advance to direct people to go to the right lanes to get to NB Sarcee would be nice.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by curves2000

A little pet peeve from a design perspective driving on WB Glenmore and taking the NB Sarcee exit.

It appears you need to make your way all the way to the right far lane in order to take the exit which results in a lot of cars needing to cross over.

Given the amount of traffic heading on Glenmore onto Sarcee, is this the best design?

It doesn't appear to be as smooth as it should be and the more I drive some of this new road network, the more I see lot's of poor design elements.

That's not a problem with the design, it's a problem with drivers. Far too many people hanging out in the left-most lane between Crowchild Trail and 37 Street who need to go north onto Sarcee but insist on being as far away as possible.

It would be a singular lane change for people in the middle lane and the right-most lane could just stay put. Although I would agree with lazypucker that some advance signage might encourage people to change over a little earlier.

[Lubicon]

Taking the new SW portion to beer league hockey at Southland is way better now than the old Glenmore-14th route. It's shaved 5 minutes off a 30 minute trip which is significant. My only gear grinder is the connector from 90th down to Southland. It's two lanes (fine) but speed limit is set at 50 so it seems to take forever. It's in the middle of nowwhere, seems to me the City could have set the limit at 60 or even 70.

[Lil Pedro]

Any update on the remaining SW leg? Was really hoping 162nd could be done sooner

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Taking the new SW portion to beer league hockey at Southland is way better now than the old Glenmore-14th route. It's shaved 5 minutes off a 30 minute trip which is significant. My only gear grinder is the connector from 90th down to Southland. It's two lanes (fine) but speed limit is set at 50 so it seems to take forever. It's in the middle of nowwhere, seems to me the City could have set the limit at 60 or even 70.

It is 60, isn't it? I've driven that a few times now and almost certain it's 60.

It's 2 lanes for now but looks as though they started the 2nd, separate dedicated road. Would imagine they'll only do that once traffic gets denser.

[boosterjuice]

They are painting lines on the west bound 22x just west of the ring road. 53st. intersection lights are flashing and appear to be ready. Looks like it will be ready by Nov 6.
http://www.swcrrproject.com/wp-conte...-Alignment.pdf

ALSO, for those of that use the ring road to cross McLeod Trail, we'll be moving to the south side bridge on Friday.

http://www.swcrrproject.com/wp-conte...-alignment.pdf

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Taking the new SW portion to beer league hockey at Southland is way better now than the old Glenmore-14th route. It's shaved 5 minutes off a 30 minute trip which is significant. My only gear grinder is the connector from 90th down to Southland. It's two lanes (fine) but speed limit is set at 50 so it seems to take forever. It's in the middle of nowwhere, seems to me the City could have set the limit at 60 or even 70.

I'm not a huge fan of the lights at the Southland/90th intersection. They always seem to be red for me and and there's no one there.

Originally Posted by boosterjuice

They are painting lines on the west bound 22x just west of the ring road. 53st. intersection lights are flashing and appear to be ready. Looks like it will be ready by Nov 6.
http://www.swcrrproject.com/wp-conte...-Alignment.pdf

ALSO, for those of that use the ring road to cross McLeod Trail, we'll be moving to the south side bridge on Friday.

http://www.swcrrproject.com/wp-conte...-alignment.pdf

Oh good. Another set of lights that's entirely pointless.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

It is 60, isn't it? I've driven that a few times now and almost certain it's 60.

It's 2 lanes for now but looks as though they started the 2nd, separate dedicated road. Would imagine they'll only do that once traffic gets denser.

It is 60, but it does feel slower on such an empty, open road.

One thing to keep in mind is there are plans for a commercial development where Southland and 90s meet. At that point the traffic density will probably increase, and 60 will be about right.

[Bill Bumface]

I should have paid more attention to this thread. I went to drive a new road on a nice day by taking Deerfoot to Stoney, and all of the roads tried their hardest to send me to Bragg Creek.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

It is 60, isn't it? I've driven that a few times now and almost certain it's 60.

It's 2 lanes for now but looks as though they started the 2nd, separate dedicated road. Would imagine they'll only do that once traffic gets denser.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

It is 60, but it does feel slower on such an empty, open road.

One thing to keep in mind is there are plans for a commercial development where Southland and 90s meet. At that point the traffic density will probably increase, and 60 will be about right.

I'll look again this weekend but I swear the sign is 50 WB where the road narrows from 4 lanes to 2. I don't recall seeing a sign headed SB so assumed it was 60 as that is the last posted speed limit on 90th. Then saw 50 heading the other direction so now I'm not sure what to think.

[zarrell]

Any news about them fixing 53rd St. to make it drivable? I can't even take my pickup on that road. It's a joke that the city thinks this is an acceptable detour.

[boosterjuice]

Originally Posted by zarrell

Any news about them fixing 53rd St. to make it drivable? I can't even take my pickup on that road. It's a joke that the city thinks this is an acceptable detour.

53rd road is the worst. I haven't heard anything of them fixing. I'm holding out hope that they will open the last leg of the SW ring road early. The bridges appear to be completed. All the light poles are up. Roads appear to be all paved. They should just open it early if it is safe.

[CarlLester]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I should have paid more attention to this thread. I went to drive a new road on a nice day by taking Deerfoot to Stoney, and all of the roads tried their hardest to send me to Bragg Creek.

I had to drop off a couple of things on Friday night. First in Cranston, then in Silverado. So I headed west towards Silverado. I casually keep an eye on this thread so I thought I was aware of the challenges in getting into Silverado when going west.

It was dark and I was unfamiliar and I missed the exit . Ok, no problem. Will just turn around as soon as I can. I think it was around Red Deer Lake school where I was finally able to turn around. Thought for sure we were ending up in Bragg Creek!

Once we got turned around, and the city lights became visible again, my 4 year old in the back seat: "I can see the lights of China!". It only felt that long, kid, it only felt that long.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by zarrell

Any news about them fixing 53rd St. to make it drivable? I can't even take my pickup on that road. It's a joke that the city thinks this is an acceptable detour.

Reminder again that the city has very little to do with this project

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by zarrell

Any news about them fixing 53rd St. to make it drivable? I can't even take my pickup on that road. It's a joke that the city thinks this is an acceptable detour.

53rd is a terrible detour. Took it today as I needed to go to Millarville and thought the new RR would be a good option. Easy enough until the 53rd detour which is poorly marked, and even more poor of a detour. Maybe I would have been better backtracking east along 146th but I didn't know how far I would need to go before a road connecting to Hwy 22?

And I took the 90th Ave/Southland road again last night. There is no posted speed limit on the SB connector from 90th to Southland so the last posted speed limit is technically (I believe) in effect which is 60. However coming north there is a speed limit sign dropping from 60 to 50 as the connector reduces to two lanes from four. So an inconsistency in signage on the part of the City.