Ring Road To Nowhere

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

That would be the key. Everyone seems to like to camp in the centre lane when there are 3, even when no vehicles are merging. It negates the benefit of the extra lane, and even worse, creates an unsafe passing on the right scenario.

Scott Lake Hill, anyone? Third lane appears, everyone putzes along in the centre (including trucks), and passing happens on the left and the right. Imagine that all the way to Edmonton...

Not gonna lie, I get a lot of passing done in that right lane. It's mostly empty.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Not gonna lie, I get a lot of passing done in that right lane. It's mostly empty.

Yup, and also the one north of Airdrie until Carstairs. And yes, it's poor design (in my opinion) adding the new lane on the right rather than adding it on the left.

[kevman]

The funny thing is I do most of my Scott Lake Hill passing in the right lane at 110km/hr. You don't even need to speed to pass everyone on that hill.

[Acey]

Want to just quickly say that it's been fun following along with you guys on this project for 10+ years and sharing what I know about it and answering questions, nice to finally see it wrap up.

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Expect an announcement tomorrow I guess but not sure if other insiders like Acey have same information

Unfortunately I did no work on the west and don't really know anyone involved. I was on the hunt for updates all year just like the public.

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

It would frankly be reasonable to bump it's limit to 130 km/h given its design

Its design is for 110 kph, for what it's worth. There can be a debate as to whether or not the design guide is too conservative, but that's a slightly different conversation. The other thing nobody considers is noise which, believe it or not, we actually care about and is modeled/measured. QEII in the middle of nowhere is one thing but noise mitigation measures for resedential areas in the vicinity of Stoney were done based on a 100 kph limit.

I'm aware the general response to this is "shouldn't have lived next to a freeway if you don't like noise" and while that's somewhat true it doesn't really change the answer.

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

Time to start watching social media for drivers going for a record Cöwburgring time.

I lived in Edmonton when Henday opened in October 2016 and a whole bunch of car clubs/groups did this. Given how mild winter has been, I'd expect at least a few to give it a spin.

Originally Posted by Ducay

Looking forward to seeing the effects on Bow/Sarcee after the holidays. There was a massive change in traffic pattern after the first west leg opened up and took the vast majority of Bow to North Sarcee traffic away.

I do have to say, based on being over there a few times last week I'm starting to get the feeling that Stoney will have a bigger positive impact on Bow/Sarcee than I originally thought, but we'll have to give it a few months and a summer to see how traffic patterns settle.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Barnes

There's no way or is this actually a thing?

20 km crosses Siksika and the speed limit has been dropped to 80. Hwy goes through some pretty populated parts of the Reserve and I cant see the residents interested in 4 lanes at 100km/h nor can I see it worth it for a bunch of overpasses.

I can't recall where I've seen it and don't know if it was true, but there has been speculation, at least, that it would become the new #1 route. Until more people catch on, even at 80km/h through the reserve, it will be the fastest E - W route bypassing Calgary now that the ring road is complete.

[Acey]

It is true! There has been talk in planning studies of Trans-Canada being re-routed along the now completed Stoney west leg, Stoney SW, 22X, then Highway 901 to Gleichen.

Open House from 2010: http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...esentation.pdf

tl;dr: They're looking at an alignment for a freeway bypass of Highway 1 at Strathmore, and upgrading 22X and 901 to a freeway to meet Highway 1 at Gleichen.

If your first thought is that this would not ever be required, you're probably right. There's planning studies on lots of stuff around here, like full twinning of Highway 22 from Highway 8 up to Cochrane, Highway 8 twinning, Glenmore/Highway 560 twinning from Stoney out to Langdon, they've actually got some pretty concrete plans for the inevitable Macleod/194 Ave interchange that I saw earlier this year, the list goes on.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Looking forward to seeing the backups on the bridge still under construction once the rest of the ring road opens up

And between Piegan and 16th where they inexplicably decided to go down to 2 lanes for a bit, like ****ing 6th graders, leading to daily stoppages and long back ups.

Insanity, honestly. It defies average intelligence.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

I would never live where I'd have to have that portion of Deerfoot on my commute.

Good way to lose needless hours of your life sitting in traffic.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by D as in David

That's a win for the Southies, too! Gotta keep you Northies off our pristine lands.

You guys destroy every bit of wetlands and pristine land in your quadrant, leading to the deaths and destruction of thousands upon thousands of animals and ecosystems. It is not pristine land with your people there, full stop.

You've wrecked everything in that area with zero care for life, lol.

[Acey]

The south bridge down by Cranston we're talking about? I don't think there will be a noticeable difference in volume there with the full ring open. I'm just thinking about the specific trip where you'd be using both the west Stoney leg and the south Bow bridge and if can't be that many people.

[Mr.Coffee]

I know it’s been mentioned a couple times in the past but it truly is worth repeating. The length of time to do the bridge construction on that south Bow River….. whatever they’re doing… has been absolutely asinine.

Canadian road construction projects need stricter time limits and way more restrictions around how much road they can just close off and leave for months and days at a time with no real meaningful work being done. It’s insane.

The bridge shouldn’t have taken 15 years to do, again, whatever it is they’re even doing. Embarrassing.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

I'm going to drive the whole west leg up and down a dozen times tomorrow for catharsis' sake.

Heck, I could do the whole loop if I wanted to. This is fun.

[TheScorpion]

It's astonishing how long it's taken to finish that job at the south end. I avoid that leg of Stoney like the plague. I'll take northbound MacLeod over Deerfoot if I need to get on Stoney just to get around that bridge work.

[Minnie]

Oh nice! We were on it yesterday, to Bow Trail (eldest lives on the edge of Rosscarrock) and noticed a whole bunch of construction stuff had disappeared - well, I did, I've been on it in the past 3 weeks, the husband guy has not. I wondered aloud to him how long until it would open, as it looked pretty finished to us. I guess that's our answer.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

whatever it is they’re even doing. Embarrassing.

Completely nuking a bridge and rebuilding it over a major river. Not a small project. You are 1000% right though, don't get me wrong. It's taking a criminally horrendous length of time, but it's at least worth mentioning that it's a fairly large scope of work.

[RedIcipher]

Not exactly ring road related, but does anyone know what is going on with Deerfoot between Glenmore and Anderson? It looks like they've got piling equipment going in and they've permanently closed the Lafarge access from Bow Bottom.

[Barnes]

The 4 guys that are working on the bridge from 10 to 4:30 4 days a week are working very hard. Give them a break.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by RedIcipher

Not exactly ring road related, but does anyone know what is going on with Deerfoot between Glenmore and Anderson? It looks like they've got piling equipment going in and they've permanently closed the Lafarge access from Bow Bottom.

https://www.deerfootimprovements.ca/...ottom-trail-2/

[TheIronMaiden]

It is encouraging that the improvements aren't just meant for the road conditions but for the flow of traffic.

[Nancy]

Northbound does not appear to be open yet just southbound.