Calgary Roads Discussion Thread

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

What’s the deal with the intersection of Riverfront Ave and 1st St SE? Why do East and West bound traffic have to stop when 1st St SE is one way going South? If it’s for pedestrians give them a crossing button because most of the time I’ve had to stop there there aren’t any in sight.

The amount of time I spend at red lights for no reason in this city is ridiculous.

I believe it is part of the improvements to connect the Riverwalk pathway system into Chinatown proper via 1st street. There is a temporary cycle track on the east side of 1st street that you can then use to access 3rd avenue and the cycle track that starts west of Centre street.

And to counter your anecdote, I ride home that way almost every afternoon and I see pedestrians and cyclists using it.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by getbak

The city got traffic light crazy recently. They added new lights at every even-numbered avenue on Edmonton Trail between 8th and 20th within the last year. There were always lights at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th, but now they're also at 10th, 14th, and 18th.

I'm not sure why those were deemed necessary.

It's part of the climate strategy. Make vehicles stop and start as much as possible. Works hand in hand with "block random streets all over the area north of 16th ave" which makes drivers travel excess distance every time they hit one of the random blockages. It's all very green, you see.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I believe it is part of the improvements to connect the Riverwalk pathway system into Chinatown proper via 1st street. There is a temporary cycle track on the east side of 1st street that you can then use to access 3rd avenue and the cycle track that starts west of Centre street.

And to counter your anecdote, I ride home that way almost every afternoon and I see pedestrians and cyclists using it.

I’m all for making things easier for pedestrians and cyclists. I love to use the pathway along the river myself. But having lights on a timer during off-peak hours makes little sense to me.

And the reason the city is getting rid of turn-on-green is because drivers suck. Too many #######s in their large vehicles misjudging how much room they occupy or strugglers who can’t find the gas pedal and cause serious accidents. It’s annoying but since we’re obviously not interested in teaching proper driving skills we’re stuck, again, at red lights.

[btimbit]

Like I said the other day, most lights being on a timer is still a holdover from COVID when they didn't want people to have to touch the walk signal.

Nobody knows why they haven't been switched back yet. Maybe they don't even intend too, who knows

I've touched on this before but I get a kick out of how most city departments have a rivalry with others, but everyone hates Signals. I just don't understand how I can have a doorbell that buzzes my phone when someone walks up the steps, but we can't have lights that can tell when I want to turn left

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I've touched on this before but I get a kick out of how most city departments have a rivalry with others, but everyone hates Signals. I just don't understand how I can have a door will that buzzes my phone when someone walks up the steps, but we can't have lights that can tell when I want to turn left

The scourge of the early morning bike commuter. I will get to the lights at 19th street and 32nd avenue NE and my bike won't trip the sensor to change the lights. Traffic is almost nil around 6am, so I usually BREAK THE LAW and go through the intersection on a red.

[btimbit]

I hear that. I work nights and drive about 100km a shift, those timed lights infuriate me and frankly when it's quiet, I just treat most of them like a stop sign

[StoneCole]

Originally Posted by Dan02

They're slowly getting rid of all left hand turn on greens in the city.

Macleod and 42nd is now another one where we get the pleasure of sitting there for 2 minutes watching no one drive the other direction waiting for the arrow.

I don't think it's all intersections. Mostly just places where it's a single left turn opposing three lanes of oncoming traffic at medium to high speeds. Believe it or not there's actually a few drivers on the road that aren't too great at judging the gap in that environment

...mostly it's being done to just arbitrarily make you guys sit at signals for longer though...

Macleod / 42 Ave is probably a place where it's a good idea. The Holiday Inn there will be retrofit to affordable housing - also a bad idea based on feedback that lots of citizens provide.

[DownInFlames]

Speaking of Macleod Tr they need to update it like 17th Ave SE and set up intersections so you can do U turns.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by getbak

The city got traffic light crazy recently. They added new lights at every even-numbered avenue on Edmonton Trail between 8th and 20th within the last year. There were always lights at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th, but now they're also at 10th, 14th, and 18th.

I'm not sure why those were deemed necessary.

The extra light they added on 5th ave around the East Village superstore is literally the worst. It feels like it takes an extra 2 light cycles to get out of downtown ever since they added it.

[calgarygeologist]

Not related to Calgary roads but we drove through Red Deer last weekend and stopped at Gasoline Alley and I'm very impressed with the new traffic circles and the flow of traffic at the southern end now. Eliminating the lights at either end of the bridge has made a huge difference.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Not related to Calgary roads but we drove through Red Deer last weekend and stopped at Gasoline Alley and I'm very impressed with the new traffic circles and the flow of traffic at the southern end now. Eliminating the lights at either end of the bridge has made a huge difference.

The county did a good job there. Just don’t venture into the actual city… traffic lights everywhere.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Just don’t venture into the actual city…

What could possibly entice someone to willingly venture into Red Deer?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The scourge of the early morning bike commuter. I will get to the lights at 19th street and 32nd avenue NE and my bike won't trip the sensor to change the lights. Traffic is almost nil around 6am, so I usually BREAK THE LAW and go through the intersection on a red.

We found him! Get him boys!

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by chemgear

We found him! Get him boys!

You'll never catch me as I run all the reds and stop signs!

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Not related to Calgary roads but we drove through Red Deer last weekend and stopped at Gasoline Alley and I'm very impressed with the new traffic circles and the flow of traffic at the southern end now. Eliminating the lights at either end of the bridge has made a huge difference.

That's good to hear. We generally avoid Gasoline Alley now since they effed it up by removing direct access off QE2, and the bridge at the south end was a complete cluster due to all the traffic. Maybe one of those problems has been rectified.

[driveway]

I spent two weeks in Calgary in June and I’ve been in Chicago for the last two weeks and I gotta say, drivers and road conditions in Calgary are orders of magnitude better than Chicago.

First, the roads here are trash. The pothole situation is outrageous, particularly on arterial roads, imagine something like Blackfoot being so riddled with potholes people are swerving in and out of lanes. The weather-caused road deterioration can’t be worse here than it is in Calgary, but the roads are god-awful.

What’s worse is the drivers. People here drive like complete a-holes. The number of people recklessly speeding, making wild, unsignalled, multi-lane moves is berserk. Lakeshore drive in particular is wild. The posted speed limit is 40 mph. If you’re doing 50 you’ll get someone up your ass in a matter of seconds, who then veers wildly around you, only to come flying back through your lane to make their exit. This behavior is relentless, it’s insane to see.

The mass of scooters makes Taipei traffic look insane, but it’s so much better than driving in Chicago, holy hell.


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[btimbit]

Yeah the entire Midwest and NE US has way, way worse roads than us. We get the same weather damage but we actually fill potholes and re-pave often compared to other cities

[Ducay]

City of Calgary once again proving they're a bunch of numbskulls. Allowing multi-lane closures on both EB 5th Ave and EB 9th Ave right at the entrance to the downtown core at the same time.

What could possibly go wrong constricting 2 of the main 4 inbound arteries? Humans would have a heart attack with that much arterial blockage...but for the city, c'est la vie.

[timun]

By "multi-lane closure on EB 5th Ave" do you mean the emergency water main repair last week that took... a day?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by timun

By "multi-lane closure on EB 5th Ave" do you mean the emergency water main repair last week that took... a day?

Well it was closed today. Mind you there wasn’t anything actually going on I could see. Just pylons.