Ring Road To Nowhere

[Acey]

Westbound Glenmore is now on the new lanes going under the Discovery/69 St bridge. It's flag people operating the intersections so... good luck. There's still a chance that fully opens by Oct 1, but again it's not a requirement.

Originally Posted by CroFlames

There's been traffic jams on Stoney between 17ave SE and 16th Ave NE every single day since it opened because it narrows to two lanes.

Why go through all the trouble of building a freeway, then engineer a bottleneck so you can expand it in the future.

That's not true. The NE opened in 2009 and it was smooth sailing. As Mazrim said, it didn't become a problem until Nov 2013 when the SE opened, and even then it wasn't a big problem till maybe 2015ish. It's ready for widening, and the 17 Ave SE to TCH section will be first which alone will mostly fix it.

It's not an "engineered bottleneck", both the NE and SE are designed to the same ultimate standard. It's a combination of their traffic predictions being off and the funding available at the time.

Originally Posted by Lubicon

That looks and sounds like a terrible solution. Slow right down as they try to cross over which should blend well with the others doing 80-100.

Crisis averted, they poured a full height concrete barrier there today for the entire length of the conflict zone. That's maybe more than they even needed there, but that's the end of that discussion. If anybody ever goes through there and has a look, it's readily apparent why I was worried about potential mayhem without the barrier there.

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

anyone know if the 6th street and James Mckevitt overpasses opened today?

No. Maybe tomorrow... it looks pretty close. NB Macleod is on its new lanes, but nothing else down there has opened on the day they say it would this week. The new SB-EB loop ramp at Macleod/22X was supposed to be yesterday, but it's not even paved so it won't be tomorrow either. The WB-SB flyover could maybe be late tomorrow, but probably left lane only they have to send sweepers over the whole thing and paint lines.

[MacDaddy77]

drove it tonight. 6th street and James Mckevitt are both open now and its awesome

[Acey]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

its awesome

Unless you want to access 22X from 6 Street.

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by Acey

Unless you want to access 22X from 6 Street.

I don't so I'm happy. Can't you access west 22x from the overpass? looks like a left hand turn light there

[Acey]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

I don't so I'm happy. Can't you access west 22x from the overpass? looks like a left hand turn light there

There is a ramp yes, but it's not open yet.

[The Fisher Account]

So apparently you can't access Stoney eastbound from Sheriff King anymore? Who the heck thought that was a good idea?

[Canadianman]

heard that they intend to have the discovery blvd/69th st overpass open by early Oct, along with the rest of the SW section.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

So apparently you can't access Stoney eastbound from Sheriff King anymore? Who the heck thought that was a good idea?

Guessing it is too close to Mcleod Trail exits to meet Alberta Transportation's minimum spacing requirements between exits/entrances. (??)

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Guessing it is too close to Mcleod Trail exits to meet Alberta Transportation's minimum spacing requirements between exits/entrances. (??)

Ah that would make sense. Annoying though. I guess I can just take the Spruce Meadows/McKevitt exit instead.

[Calgary14]

^That's what I heard as well - 6th st interchange is too close to the Macleod Trail one so no eastbound 22x access from northbound 6th st

[timun]

Originally Posted by Canadianman

heard that they intend to have the discovery blvd/69th st overpass open by early Oct, along with the rest of the SW section.

Yes, it is supposed to be done.

For everyone's info, here's a PDF from the project website showing what's supposed to be open on Oct 1: link

[Boblobla]

There were signs up on the weekend in Shawnessy saying that traffic would change on Sept. 11th but the change still has not happened. You can still exit the shopping center to the south and it meets with the Macloed exit to 22x. There still seemed to be some paving work required on the Macloed southbound to 22x E/W before that can all be opened.

[Lil Pedro]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

There were signs up on the weekend in Shawnessy saying that traffic would change on Sept. 11th but the change still has not happened. You can still exit the shopping center to the south and it meets with the Macloed exit to 22x. There still seemed to be some paving work required on the Macloed southbound to 22x E/W before that can all be opened.

Yeah I live near the Macleod/22X interchange and they still have a lot of work...was expecting those new routes to be open last week but they don't look close yet.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Guessing it is too close to Macleod Trail exits to meet Alberta Transportation's minimum spacing requirements between exits/entrances. (??)

Yeah there's just no room for everything down there with all those accesses so close together. It would require a redesign of everything all the way to west to 24 Street.

If it's something like Crowchild with a limit of 80 kph you can bunch up interchanges and ramps like the city did in the NW and it works out, but Stoney is at a design speed of 110 kph. The new highway design standards for that speed have weave distance limits and on-ramp and off-ramp length requirements to prevent a Deerfoot repeat, which limits accesses to communities even when it looks like on a map that something should work.

Even with the ramps 2 miles long there's still people merging onto Stoney going 80.

I've just quickly drawn something that would work but my god this is expensive for such little gain.

[vegasbound]

First time driving over the new James McKevitt overpass... only took 35 mins to get out of Bridlewood and onto 22x at 3:30, which is something that normally has taken me 5 mins. Hopefully this traffic gets better!

[Acey]

With all said and done, access to/from 22X to McKevitt might be a bit slower vs the time it took before the project started, but that is negated by not ever having to stop at 6 St or Macleod anymore.

Only people who used 6 St/Sheriff to access 22X to/from the east will have tangibly longer drives.

[Lil Pedro]

I heard on the radio there is more work planned on the SE leg of the ring road near the bow river? Are they making the East Bound bridge on Stoney by McKenzie Golf Course 3 lanes? I may be wrong

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Lil Pedro

I heard on the radio there is more work planned on the SE leg of the ring road near the bow river? Are they making the East Bound bridge on Stoney by McKenzie Golf Course 3 lanes? I may be wrong

Correct. Announced this morning. Original bridge was built in 1974 to carry 22X, now obviously carries only eastbound. The 3-lane westbound bridge was built in 2007 to twin 22X; it will be widened - not sure the extent of that project. This project is being marketed by the province as an economy spur, like the recently announced Highway 11 twinning.

Not sure what the sequence of events will be in terms of what will be done on which bridge at which stage, but I can guarantee an absolute traffic nightmare for the duration of the project. Stoney carries about 50k vehicles per day over the river on that segment.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/province-...iver-1.5110693

[Lil Pedro]

Oh wow I didn't know that they would be completely replacing that 1974 bridge....you're right that is going to be a traffic nightmare

[BlackArcher101]

Pardon my ignorance, is that a big massive pinch point causing traffic backups? Why this project over the anderson/glenmore deerfoot improvements that are constantly in the works it seems?