Calgary Roads Discussion Thread

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I think that 9th Ave. issue is here to stay until the end of the year. Just a gong show in the mornings, affecting basically anyone coming in from the SW/W/NW part of the city.

[Robbob]

2 left hand lanes on 5ave from about 5th st to 2nd st have been shut off for at least couple weeks I think.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Weitz

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

I'm quite literally looking out a west-facing window up 5th Ave, and I haven't the foggiest idea WTF you're talking about. Maybe you mean this:

Originally Posted by Robbob

2 left hand lanes on 5ave from about 5th st to 2nd st have been shut off for at least couple weeks I think.

... which isn't "right at the entrance to the downtown core".


The kind of grievance espoused by Ducay is nothing but ignorant, petulant whining. If you stagger roads and utilities upgrades projects it'll take twice as long to get them done, in which case people bitch, bitch, bitch. If you have them concurrent? Bitch, bitch, bitch... When would you prefer this work to be done? I know the answer—at a time and manner in which you are never, ever personally inconvenienced—but this is the real world and it doesn't work that way. In reality there is no time, no phasing, that would satisfy many people, so they plod ahead and get the bloody job done. Boo-hoo, deal with it.

[BigNumbers]

We must have the most inept, useless roads group in the developed world. It’s unbelievable how long stuff takes here and how very few projects see 24/7 activity, which is the norm in major US cities.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

We must have the most inept, useless roads group in the developed world. It’s unbelievable how long stuff takes here and how very few projects see 24/7 activity, which is the norm in major US cities.

A lot of this is because contractors know they can milk the hell out of projects, what the City does a really bad job of doing is staying on them and having people with the knowledge to recognize it

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

We must have the most inept, useless roads group in the developed world. It’s unbelievable how long stuff takes here and how very few projects see 24/7 activity, which is the norm in major US cities.

This part mystifies me as well, at least on the major projects. Or even run 12 hour shifts, 7 days/week.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by timun

I'm quite literally looking out a west-facing window up 5th Ave, and I haven't the foggiest idea WTF you're talking about. Maybe you mean this:



... which isn't "right at the entrance to the downtown core".


The kind of grievance espoused by Ducay is nothing but ignorant, petulant whining. If you stagger roads and utilities upgrades projects it'll take twice as long to get them done, in which case people bitch, bitch, bitch. If you have them concurrent? Bitch, bitch, bitch... When would you prefer this work to be done? I know the answer—at a time and manner in which you are never, ever personally inconvenienced—but this is the real world and it doesn't work that way. In reality there is no time, no phasing, that would satisfy many people, so they plod ahead and get the bloody job done. Boo-hoo, deal with it.

It sure was closed during the commute this morning at 7:30. 2 lanes on the north side.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by timun

I'm quite literally looking out a west-facing window up 5th Ave, and I haven't the foggiest idea WTF you're talking about. Maybe you mean this:



... which isn't "right at the entrance to the downtown core".


The kind of grievance espoused by Ducay is nothing but ignorant, petulant whining. If you stagger roads and utilities upgrades projects it'll take twice as long to get them done, in which case people bitch, bitch, bitch. If you have them concurrent? Bitch, bitch, bitch... When would you prefer this work to be done? I know the answer—at a time and manner in which you are never, ever personally inconvenienced—but this is the real world and it doesn't work that way. In reality there is no time, no phasing, that would satisfy many people, so they plod ahead and get the bloody job done. Boo-hoo, deal with it.

Every other major city with a dedicated planning function is generally able to better schedule and complete these works. As noted by a bunch of other posters this is different from the emergency water main and has been ongoing for over a week. Love all the adjectives you've used but constricting your core access at 50% of the main thoroughfares is just bad design and planning. Lazy work by the bureaucrats in city hall, nothing more.

[timun]

O wise sage infrastructure project manager, please enlighten us all: how would you plan it? Please, share all this knowledge of how "every other major city" does it.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Every other major city with a dedicated planning function is generally able to better schedule and complete these works. As noted by a bunch of other posters this is different from the emergency water main and has been ongoing for over a week. Love all the adjectives you've used but constricting your core access at 50% of the main thoroughfares is just bad design and planning. Lazy work by the bureaucrats in city hall, nothing more.

Have a lot of experience in every other major city, do you?

[btimbit]

Not to mention, how many of those cities have restrictions like "This has to happen before the ground freezes"

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Not to mention, how many of those cities have restrictions like "This has to happen before the ground freezes"

All the more reason to make hay while the sun is shining.

[Erick Estrada]

I think Calgary roads are maintained better than any other city in Alberta so I would never gripe about the road conditions. However I feel road construction projects are brutally slow in this city. I am stunned that the McKnight Boulevard pedestrian bridge rehabilitation costs $1.8 million. It's a small and very basic pedestrian bridge not to mention the fact that it took from April to October.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think Calgary roads are maintained better than any other city in Alberta so I would never gripe about the road conditions. However I feel road construction projects are brutally slow in this city. I am stunned that the McKnight Boulevard pedestrian bridge rehabilitation costs $1.8 million. It's a small and very basic pedestrian bridge not to mention the fact that it took from April to October.

It cost that much becuase they took so long to do it! For what it is, it has been so slow. And they managed to mix blue, green and poop brown into what might be the ugliest colour combination in the city.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It cost that much becuase they took so long to do it! For what it is, it has been so slow. And they managed to mix blue, green and poop brown into what might be the ugliest colour combination in the city.

Yeah I don't understand the multi-colors at all. Just pick one color and go with it.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think Calgary roads are maintained better than any other city in Alberta so I would never gripe about the road conditions.

Anyone who has driven in Edmonton should be 100% in agreement here. Holy hell, it's like Winnipeg with freeways.

[Muta]

That 9th Ave two-lane closure has been absolutely frustrating. Coming down from Bow Trail in the morning, it's bad. A few times even backed up all the way to Westbrook Mall. If this is gonna be anything like the 5th Street / 12 Ave SW water main change they did earlier this year, which took AGES.... I'm gonna be pissed. I'm already re-routing through Sunalta, and now everyone is doing that too, and now both areas are plugged up.

The amount of construction right now in YYC is frustrating. I like the improvements and support them, but geezus - can't they space them out across a calendar?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Muta

That 9th Ave two-lane closure has been absolutely frustrating. Coming down from Bow Trail in the morning, it's bad. A few times even backed up all the way to Westbrook Mall. If this is gonna be anything like the 5th Street / 12 Ave SW water main change they did earlier this year, which took AGES.... I'm gonna be pissed. I'm already re-routing through Sunalta, and now everyone is doing that too, and now both areas are plugged up.

The amount of construction right now in YYC is frustrating. I like the improvements and support them, but geezus - can't they space them out across a calendar?

You could take the LRT. Sounds like you are starting near it anyway.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You could take the LRT. Sounds like you are starting near it anyway.

Definitely a fair point. I've got a free parking spot at work in the Beltline and often have to run to client sites though, so I do need my vehicle daily.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Muta

Definitely a fair point. I've got a free parking spot at work in the Beltline and often have to run to client sites though, so I do need my vehicle daily.

Well if OTHER people took the LRT, they wouldn't be in your way. So encouraging transit its the way out of your issue. As a cyclist, this is my strategy.