City Ok's Crowchild Expansion

[the_only_turek_fan]

All I can say is FINALLY!

Expected to take three years, the city's Crowchild project will see that road widened to six lanes, with interchanges at Nose Hill Dr. and Sarcee Tr. N.W., while the LRT will be extended to Crowfoot Centre, at Nose Hill Dr. N.W.

[@theCBE]

wow.. thats huge... the interchanges at nosehill/sarcee and crowhchild are going to make crowchild run way smoother too

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Gee, I'm glad they finally decided to extend the LRT to Crowchild (Something that any rational person could see was needed/inevitable when they extended it to Dalhousie). Oh well, at least it's getting done now, though I'm still a little p*ssed at the time/money wasted in doing the expansion in 2 parts.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Having previously lived in that area for 20 years, it's a desperately needed change.

Still it's a joke, because all that free flowing traffic across 6 lanes is suddenly bottlenecked at McMahon to Kensington. Both lights and 4 lanes are the culprit here. WHen they shut that bridge just after 16th they really should have made it 6 lanes. Yet another shining example of City planning.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse@Apr 26 2005, 08:28 AM
Having previously lived in that area for 20 years, it's a desperately needed change.

Still it's a joke, because all that free flowing traffic across 6 lanes is suddenly bottlenecked at McMahon to Kensington. Both lights and 4 lanes are the culprit here. WHen they shut that bridge just after 16th they really should have made it 6 lanes. Yet another shining example of City planning.

Agreed. It baffles me how the part of the north arm of Crowchild closest to the city centre is the least developed.

Nosehill/Sarcee are badly needed, but now those of us that need to go past stony trail will probably see a line up there, but thats what we get for moving out so far. It should still be WAY better.

Nothing could be worse than Stoney trail on a Saturday afternoon... 3 lights to get through the intersection!?!? I think some re-programming is needed.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Hulk, I hate hulse the thing that really baffles me is why the NW is only getting 2 LRT Stations and they built 4 in the south.

IMO, they could use one at Northland as well.

The Dalhousie - Brentwood run is quite a long one.

[Reaper]

Originally posted by the_only_turek_fan@Apr 26 2005, 08:15 AM
Hulk, I hate hulse the thing that really baffles me is why the NW is only getting 2 LRT Stations and they built 4 in the south.

IMO, they could use one at Northland as well.

The Dalhousie - Brentwood run is quite a long one.

Part of the issue with building lrt stations in the NW is physical space required for a station and parking facilities.

That kind of space existed in the deep south while in the NW each station would have to be shoehorned into the median of Crowchild Trail.

The final three stops on the lrt line in the deep south also have no parkades like what will be required for the final three stops on the NW end of the lrt line. Parkades cost way more money to build than parking lots.

It's not just the cost of the line that comes into consideration when budgeting for stations, it's the cost of the station itself.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally posted by Reaper@Apr 26 2005, 09:27 AM
Part of the issue with building lrt stations in the NW is physical space required for a station and parking facilities.

That kind of space existed in the deep south while in the NW each station would have to be shoehorned into the median of Crowchild Trail.

The final three stops on the lrt line in the deep south also have no parkades like what will be required for the final three stops on the NW end of the lrt line. Parkades cost way more money to build than parking lots.

It's not just the cost of the line that comes into consideration when budgeting for stations, it's the cost of the station itself.

You reminded me of something I wanted to mention.

Dalhousie is usually full before 7am from what I hear, and there is even less room to park at crowfoot, infact, almost none. Its going to take some kind of fancy shmancy parking structure to fill the needs of that station.

[V]

If you haven't noticed, construction on the Crowchild/Sarcee interchange has already begun. The detour at that location should be operational on May 15. Also, the widening started last year. Crowchild/Nose Hill interchange will be built next year, I believe. Good for me, I'm designing all of the electrical/street lighting on that monster project.

[V]

I'm not with Stantec anymore. I left that place almost a year ago.

It's a good place to start, but a great place to leave.

[JohnnyO]

Anyone living West of Nosehill, Cochrane and Bearspaw be prepared for some serious potential Road rage in the next couple of years. Major Construction on Stoney and Crowchild. Once its done it will be great but super annoying until then. Plus you will still have a delay getting in and out of downtown.

Whoever planned to have traffic stop for the C train at 4,5,6 Ave at 10/9 street is not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by JohnnyO@Apr 26 2005, 11:01 AM
not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

I hear this one a lot from my friends, but personally the interchange doesn't bother me that much. I recognize that space was limited there and that short of cutting off traffic from Northland & Brisebois onto Crowchild, there's not a whole lot that could be done.

I've also heard lots of griping about the new "split diamond" (vs a cloverleaf) that's in favor with designers now. Most people don't like the 2 sets of lights they have to navigate through. I seem to recall reading that the split diamond is more efficient during high volume situations.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally posted by hulkrogan+Apr 26 2005, 09:43 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hulkrogan @ Apr 26 2005, 09:43 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Reaper@Apr 26 2005, 09:27 AM
Part of the issue with building lrt stations in the NW is physical space required for a station and parking facilities.

That kind of space existed in the deep south while in the NW each station would have to be shoehorned into the median of Crowchild Trail.

The final three stops on the lrt line in the deep south also have no parkades like what will be required for the final three stops on the NW end of the lrt line. Parkades cost way more money to build than parking lots.

It's not just the cost of the line that comes into consideration when budgeting for stations, it's the cost of the station itself.

You reminded me of something I wanted to mention.

Dalhousie is usually full before 7am from what I hear, and there is even less room to park at crowfoot, infact, almost none. Its going to take some kind of fancy shmancy parking structure to fill the needs of that station. [/b][/quote]
Thats about the same time I take the train.

And you are correct it does get packed.

I expect a lot of the feeder buses from Hawkwood, Arbour Lake, Scenic Acres, Silver Springs etc. to go to Crowfoot now.

I wonder how full the train will be when it does get down to Dalhousie?

[V]

The split diamond is definitely more efficient as far as space goes. It takes far less space than a cloverleaf, so if space is tight that's definitely the way they're going to go. I know that the Stoney/Hwy 1 interchange is going to be a big cloverleaf, but not too many of them are these days. Crow/Sarcee is going to be kind of a hybrid. It's the split diamond except for the people exiting southbound Sarcee onto eastbound Crow, where there's a cloverleaf.

I'm not sure what the interchange at Glenmore/5 St is going to look like, but if you want to talk about frustrating traffic, just imagine trying to drive through there in rush hour while construction is going on. That's going to be an absolute nightmare.

[JohnnyO]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse+Apr 26 2005, 11:22 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (I-Hate-Hulse @ Apr 26 2005, 11:22 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-JohnnyO@Apr 26 2005, 11:01 AM
not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

I hear this one a lot from my friends, but personally the interchange doesn't bother me that much. I recognize that space was limited there and that short of cutting off traffic from Northland & Brisebois onto Crowchild, there's not a whole lot that could be done.
[/b][/quote]
The only problem I have with the Bresbois/Crow Interchange is that you cant go from Brentwood mall or the University to Northland without using Northmount or going around from Shaganappi.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by JohnnyO@Apr 26 2005, 05:01 PM
Anyone living West of Nosehill, Cochrane and Bearspaw be prepared for some serious potential Road rage in the next couple of years. Major Construction on Stoney and Crowchild. Once its done it will be great but super annoying until then. Plus you will still have a delay getting in and out of downtown.

Whoever planned to have traffic stop for the C train at 4,5,6 Ave at 10/9 street is not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

what is wrong with the Brisebois/Crowchild interchange? i find it pretty good. It way better than what they had before the C-train extension. It was hell turning left into brisebois.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally posted by fotze+Apr 26 2005, 07:29 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (fotze @ Apr 26 2005, 07:29 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-I-Hate-Hulse@Apr 26 2005, 08:28 AM
Having previously lived in that area for 20 years, it's a desperately needed change.

Still it's a joke, because all that free flowing traffic across 6 lanes is suddenly bottlenecked at McMahon to Kensington. Both lights and 4 lanes are the culprit here. WHen they shut that bridge just after 16th they really should have made it 6 lanes. Yet another shining example of City planning.

They just need to eliminate all the inner city neighborhoods and make them into 10 lane arteries into the core along with massive parking lots. [/b][/quote]
Finally, some sense on the board

[Reaper]

Originally posted by JohnnyO@Apr 26 2005, 10:01 AM
Whoever planned to have traffic stop for the C train at 4,5,6 Ave at 10/9 street is not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

Well, the only way to have the C Train run through downtown is to have it above ground so the only way to have it work is to sync traffic lights.

The reason why traffic yields to the C Train during rush hour is to keep the train on time. Why should people who drive downtown (causing rush hour congestion in the first place) get preferential treatment over those who commute by transit?

There was a failed project where the C Train was to run underground along Bow Trail but there were too many flooding concerns due to our crazy weather. You can see where the inlet to the Bow Trail tunnel from inside the Dalhousie/Somerset tunnel immediately south of the downtown core on the west side of said tunnel.

[JohnnyO]

Originally posted by Reaper+Apr 26 2005, 12:09 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Reaper @ Apr 26 2005, 12:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-JohnnyO@Apr 26 2005, 10:01 AM
Whoever planned to have traffic stop for the C train at 4,5,6 Ave at 10/9 street is not much brighter then the dude who designed the Breisbois/Crow interchange.

Well, the only way to have the C Train run through downtown is to have it above ground so the only way to have it work is to sync traffic lights.

The reason why traffic yields to the C Train during rush hour is to keep the train on time. Why should people who drive downtown (causing rush hour congestion in the first place) get preferential treatment over those who commute by transit?

There was a failed project where the C Train was to run underground along Bow Trail but there were too many flooding concerns due to our crazy weather. You can see where the inlet to the Bow Trail tunnel from inside the Dalhousie/Somerset tunnel immediately south of the downtown core on the west side of said tunnel. [/b][/quote]
I didnt mean to imply the train should yeild to car traffic. Although it sometimes does.

The train should pass above or below traffic and end up on 7th ave or onto Kensington bridge. That would almost eliminate the traffic congestion at the West end of downtown.

As the city adds more trains the delay at those crossings will get worse. Spending a ton of money in the burbs is nice but getting in and out of the core also needs to be addressed.

[Mr. Ski]

Interesting note: We live pretty far north and were out for a drive the other day and noticed that there's a large sign along the west side Harvest Hills Blvd saying, "Home of Future LRT Station, etc, etc." This is directly north/west of the bus trap off Beddington Blvd; adjacent to the driving range.

Here's a map and satellite image. The sign was roughly in the center of the picture on the green space.

Wonder how many year's before that leg of the train gets built, and where else it will go? Anyone know?