Ring Road To Nowhere

[nixon45]

Originally Posted by red sky

On mobile so won't link the source but no more left hand turns off of 101 onto highway 8 nor lefthand turns getting onto 101. My kids go to school at elbow valley and now will likely have to go down to 69th Street. Not sure why they didn't just wait two more weeks until school is over. But that intersection was a cluster f.

I live in Elbow Valley.

This is really really annoying.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by morgin

Which would be fine if they left room for the rest of the intersection to be functional, but due to putting bike sidewalks on both sides of 24th there, it narrows and limits the room for the turn lanes. Takes very few cars backed up in those lanes to make the remainder of the intersection completely non-functional so you have no one making it through straight or left as they all wait for the right turn traffic to move. They should have done actual bike lanes instead of those asphalt sidewalks beside the concrete sidewalks - they don’t bother plowing them in the winter, so essentially it’s just a place to dump snow?

It’s just a completely botched execution of whatever problem they were trying to solve. Makes using 24th during peak hours essentially impossible.

There used to be a merge there, that people treated as a yield.

You deserve the lights.

[Acey]

So they've decided to just greenlight everything at the same time and make all of Stoney NW a construction zone. Late summer, all will be going, and all are extensive projects.



Still waiting for a single dollar for Deerfoot Trail. Just one dollar.

https://www.calgary.ca/transportatio...-projects.html

(edit: to clarify, these are all subsidized by developer levies, in particular the 11 St interchange being built for literally nobody)

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Acey

(edit: to clarify, these are all subsidized by developer levies, in particular the 11 St interchange being built for literally nobody)

I looked all over the place for an actual 11 St NE in that area and thought it was a typo for 15 St NE until I switched to Satellite view and... what the hell. One of the problems with Deerfoot Trail is how many interchange entrances/exits are so close together which causes a lot of weaving. They're going to do the same damn thing with Stoney if they don't knock it off.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

They're going to do the same damn thing with Stoney if they don't knock it off.

11 St is the last one in the north planned ahead of time, anything else they try to squeeze in should be shut down by the province. 60 St NE will be a full interchange at some point, likely sooner rather than later since money grows on trees for Stoney interchanges. City also planning flyovers with no access at 64 and 80 Aves NE. 130 Ave SE is the next one to find magic money for.

On Google Maps you can switch to satellite view to see where the 11 St interchange is going and that it was planned all along, the grading for it was done when the NW leg extension to Deerfoot was completed in 2009. With so much traffic coming off southbound QE2 to go west on Stoney, it's going to be a nasty weave in 20 years if Lewisburg and Keystone Hills are built out. It's sort of a pseudo-dilemma where the developer north of Stoney doesn't want an Evanston repeat, so they're subsidizing Stoney access to be in place before they really dig in. A proper fix for westbound there will be expensive, with CPR tracks, Nose Creek and powerlines all in the way. To maximize weave distance, the westbound exit ramp should be a loop ramp like what everybody now hates on westbound Glenmore to get to 69 St. I'm shocked it isn't.

Of note is that the second Harvest Hills Blvd bridge is being built far enough from the other one for Green Line to go up the middle. New Shag bridge will be in tight to the existing one. 14 St interchange should be open by the end of summer, the rest allegedly end of 2022 but I doubt it.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by Acey

11 St is the last one in the north planned ahead of time, anything else they try to squeeze in should be shut down by the province. 60 St NE will be a full interchange at some point, likely sooner rather than later since money grows on trees for Stoney interchanges. City also planning flyovers with no access at 64 and 80 Aves NE. 130 Ave SE is the next one to find magic money for.

On Google Maps you can switch to satellite view to see where the 11 St interchange is going and that it was planned all along, the grading for it was done when the NW leg extension to Deerfoot was completed in 2009. With so much traffic coming off southbound QE2 to go west on Stoney, it's going to be a nasty weave in 20 years if Lewisburg and Keystone Hills are built out. It's sort of a pseudo-dilemma where the developer north of Stoney doesn't want an Evanston repeat, so they're subsidizing Stoney access to be in place before they really dig in. A proper fix for westbound there will be expensive, with CPR tracks, Nose Creek and powerlines all in the way. To maximize weave distance, the westbound exit ramp should be a loop ramp like what everybody now hates on westbound Glenmore to get to 69 St. I'm shocked it isn't.

Of note is that the second Harvest Hills Blvd bridge is being built far enough from the other one for Green Line to go up the middle. New Shag bridge will be in tight to the existing one. 14 St interchange should be open by the end of summer, the rest allegedly end of 2022 but I doubt it.

That 80th one is pretty intense, those 5 houses go from being the dead end of a community to living on a major roadway. Lol.

I think the 130th ave SE one is right on right off isn't it? It was always included as "future" in the Stoney plans when they were building it and I think some of the grading was done too.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Ahuch

That 80th one is pretty intense, those 5 houses go from being the dead end of a community to living on a major roadway. Lol.

I think the 130th ave SE one is right on right off isn't it? It was always included as "future" in the Stoney plans when they were building it and I think some of the grading was done too.

80 Ave will allegedly be only emergency services, transit, and peds/cyclists. Still sucks for those people and they have already complained in the news, but not as terrible as full traffic over it. 64 Ave will be 4 lanes full traffic. City wanted 64 Ave to be an actual interchange with Stoney and the province told them to get stuffed.

130 Ave is too close to 22X and therefore planned as only a half diamond, for which grading was done.

Spoiler!

[MacDaddy77]

Acey, everytime I see you post in this thread I'm hoping for news of 22x and 162 opening

[sec304]

Originally Posted by Acey

So they've decided to just greenlight everything at the same time and make all of Stoney NW a construction zone. Late summer, all will be going, and all are extensive projects.



Still waiting for a single dollar for Deerfoot Trail. Just one dollar.

https://www.calgary.ca/transportatio...-projects.html

(edit: to clarify, these are all subsidized by developer levies, in particular the 11 St interchange being built for literally nobody)

I saw them doing surveying this weekend at Shaganappi. That'll be a big project, 14th street is pretty much done though isn't it?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Acey, everytime I see you post in this thread I'm hoping for news of 22x and 162 opening

I reached out to KGL last week to see if can get any better update. Up till now I've just got some variation of "the work is progressing on schedule and opening will be at the discretion of AB Transportation when work is complete", which is pretty much the same as what I was told by the Stoney SE team who then opened 6 weeks late.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by sec304

I saw them doing surveying this weekend at Shaganappi. That'll be a big project, 14th street is pretty much done though isn't it?

Yes the Shag project is big as they're also re-doing that Hidden Valley intersection with lights so you can actually turn right out of there. 14 St is just "end of summer" for completion but they're clearly under no time crunch there. These 3 new bridges going up will have to be at a much quicker pace to finish everything by the end of next year as they claim.

[powderjunkie]

Hidden Valley reminds me of Sudden Valley in Arrested D.

Originally Posted by Joborule

Technically no. The mainline lanes can be added, while the loop lanes go in on the outer tunnels of the bridge that currently have the earthfill slopes.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.08870...7i16384!8i8192

I wonder if it would make more sense to do left turn lanes to get off Old Coach Road instead of the loops...the loops are pretty nasty yields onto a road that speed (and the loops would have to get even tighter to make the outer tunnel.

A traffic circle might be sensible south of the TCH where OBCR also splits to RR31.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by nixon45

I live in Elbow Valley.

This is really really annoying.

Wow, even just coming home from golfing out at Redwood and Elbow Springs, this is indeed really annoying.

I understand limiting the left hands from 101 to EB Hwy 8 (cross traffic, high volume) but from 8 to 101st is a lot safer and they have a dedicated turn lane and everything. Especially with the cross traffic turns closed, that makes those LH turns even less of a deal.

Who does one to complain to about such an item?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Wow, even just coming home from golfing out at Redwood and Elbow Springs, this is indeed really annoying.

I understand limiting the left hands from 101 to EB Hwy 8 (cross traffic, high volume) but from 8 to 101st is a lot safer and they have a dedicated turn lane and everything. Especially with the cross traffic turns closed, that makes those LH turns even less of a deal.

Who does one to complain to about such an item?

When did this happen?

The post you quoted is from the 12th and i made that turn twice on the 11th.... not a single sign stating that is closing.,.

So you cant turn from 101st to highway 8 anymore? They had signs up for weeks about lower springbank road closing from 101st to 85th....

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Weitz

When did this happen?

The post you quoted is from the 12th and i made that turn twice on the 11th.... not a single sign stating that is closing.,.

So you cant turn from 101st to highway 8 anymore? They had signs up for weeks about lower springbank road closing from 101st to 85th....

Friday night at like 10pm I believe (11th) it closed. You can't make any left turn at that intersection now (either 8 to 101 or 101 to 8) with concrete barriers up to block it.

Right hands are still allowed, which just means frequent illegal u-turns are happening.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Acey

Yes the Shag project is big as they're also re-doing that Hidden Valley intersection with lights so you can actually turn right out of there. 14 St is just "end of summer" for completion but they're clearly under no time crunch there. These 3 new bridges going up will have to be at a much quicker pace to finish everything by the end of next year as they claim.

They have so much room in that area which should be able to accommodate some sort of option that doesn't include lights at Shag/Hidden Valley. It makes no sense to have lights there.

If the city wants a long term plan/solution for the area they should just elevate Shag south of Country Hills so that they can eliminate the lights at that intersection and elevate the road all the way north to the interchange at Stoney. Hidden Valley can then become an underpass/tunnel situation similar to the TransCanada at Valley Ridge.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

They have so much room in that area which should be able to accommodate some sort of option that doesn't include lights at Shag/Hidden Valley. It makes no sense to have lights there.

If the city wants a long term plan/solution for the area they should just elevate Shag south of Country Hills so that they can eliminate the lights at that intersection and elevate the road all the way north to the interchange at Stoney. Hidden Valley can then become an underpass/tunnel situation similar to the TransCanada at Valley Ridge.

This sounds like a lot of money. We sure seem to have endless money for freeway projects.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Friday night at like 10pm I believe (11th) it closed. You can't make any left turn at that intersection now (either 8 to 101 or 101 to 8) with concrete barriers up to block it.

Right hands are still allowed, which just means frequent illegal u-turns are happening.

Haha as if the people in charge of this development couldn’t screw it up more.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

They have so much room in that area which should be able to accommodate some sort of option that doesn't include lights at Shag/Hidden Valley. It makes no sense to have lights there.

Lights are required because they're also adding a protected dual left turn from southbound Shag into Hidden Valley, a movement that currently doesn't exist. Overall, this is a massive win if you live in Hidden Valley and a mild inconvenience if you're through-traffic on Shag, which is more than negated by the reduced delay from the bridge over Stoney being increased from 1 to 3 lanes.

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

If the city wants a long term plan/solution for the area they should just elevate Shag south of Country Hills so that they can eliminate the lights at that intersection and elevate the road all the way north to the interchange at Stoney. Hidden Valley can then become an underpass/tunnel situation similar to the TransCanada at Valley Ridge.

The original plan, even after the completion of Stoney NW in 2009, was for the opposite of what you suggest, for Hidden Valley Drive to bridge over top of Shag and join it from the south side. Also, the Shag/Stoney interchange to be a soaring 3-level complex that looked closest to what was built in 2016 at Henday/Yellowhead NE in Edmonton. As absurdly expensive a fairy tale as any I can recall seeing in the ring road plans.

The city, since 2009, has downgraded Shag's overall importance. Why the mega interchange isn't happening, per the city's Q&A:

Q. Why not build the originally planned full-systems interchange with the eastbound to southbound and westbound to northbound flyovers that the area is already graded for?
A. Based on current functional planning with projected traffic volumes, the eastbound to northbound flyover is not deemed to be required anymore. There is future allowance for the westbound to southbound flyover, however it wouldn’t be required within the next 30 years.

Given the reduced importance of Shag, elevating the road doesn't do much for you besides incite Capitol level riots from people who definitely didn't sign up for that, a distinct contrast from the people who bought properties backing onto Stoney Trail's transportation and utility corridor and were surprised a freeway is going up there.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Wow, even just coming home from golfing out at Redwood and Elbow Springs, this is indeed really annoying.

I understand limiting the left hands from 101 to EB Hwy 8 (cross traffic, high volume) but from 8 to 101st is a lot safer and they have a dedicated turn lane and everything. Especially with the cross traffic turns closed, that makes those LH turns even less of a deal.

Who does one to complain to about such an item?

I'm sure there are plenty of Elbow Valley & west side residents complaining already, but actually wondering who to direct feedback on this closure to? KGL's main contact email for the SWCRR? 311?