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  #2741  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 5:03 AM
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Originally Posted by 5seconds View Post
It honestly sounds like a second roundabout there would help, even a single-lane one (with dedicated turns). It's a wide area, the traffic from the south originates as a single lane, the traffic from the north will eventually narrow to a single lane, and there are enough people turning in all directions. I think it would be a good candidate for a circle.
At that intersection now? No. A left-turn signal would be a good quick-fix. As for a circle, the City would have to buy up land to do it right.
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  #2742  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 6:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Ferreth View Post
One that I find amusing is the "traffic square" in Coventry, here.

It's a perfectly OK traffic distributor, but putting a playground in the middle of it - doesn't seem the best idea in my books.

The city is trying to push more traffic circles, but there is some resistance - my neighborhood of Mayland Heights was against the idea of a traffic circle at 19th & 14th Ave - we ended up with a traffic light instead
i was on that traffic committee. the city said they sent out flyers to the community asking the residents if they would like to see a roundabout. guess what the uninformed public said?
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  #2743  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 3:22 PM
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i was on that traffic committee. the city said they sent out flyers to the community asking the residents if they would like to see a roundabout. guess what the uninformed public said?
The said "not my tax dollars!" as usual.
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  #2744  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 3:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Ferreth View Post
On another front, today's Alberta budget showed a marked decrease in funding for road infrastructure - nothing of any significance for the whole province in terms of new projects.

About the only road thing I see in the Calgary area is a 2012 contract to 6-lane the #2 between Crossfield and #581 (Carstairs exit)
This makes me wonder what kind of timeframe we're looking at in terms of seeing #2 made 6 lanes between Calgary and Edmonton. And #1 the same all the way to Canmore. I know the plans are on the books, but are we talking 10 years? 20? 40? With the growth here I have a hard time believing these roads will be sufficient in 20 years time.
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  #2745  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 3:52 PM
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this makes me wonder what kind of timeframe we're looking at in terms of seeing #2 made 6 lanes between calgary and edmonton. and #1 the same all the way to canmore. I know the plans are on the books, but are we talking 10 years? 20? 40? With the growth here i have a hard time believing these roads will be sufficient in 20 years time.
hsr?
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  #2746  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 5:18 PM
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hsr?
Consider me more than a little skeptical about that one. I'm all for it however. I've been advocating for HSR into Banff as well, but that will never, ever fly.
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  #2747  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 5:25 PM
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Consider me more than a little skeptical about that one. I'm all for it however. I've been advocating for HSR into Banff as well, but that will never, ever fly.
If that could get me from DT Calgary to Banff and then immediately on a shuttle to Louise, I would be all for it. It would mean I wouldn't have to limit myself to just one pint at lunch.
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  #2748  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 6:23 PM
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If that could get me from DT Calgary to Banff and then immediately on a shuttle to Louise, I would be all for it. It would mean I wouldn't have to limit myself to just one pint at lunch.
Plus avoid the 7am driving in pitch black January.
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  #2749  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2012, 8:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Ferreth View Post
On another front, today's Alberta budget showed a marked decrease in funding for road infrastructure - nothing of any significance for the whole province in terms of new projects.

About the only road thing I see in the Calgary area is a 2012 contract to 6-lane the #2 between Crossfield and #581 (Carstairs exit)
I guess if you by new you mean "we have never heard about this until now", even though the Highway 2 6-laning isn't "new" either. There's a ton of huge $$$ projects on that list though that will be built in the next few years.

I'm personally glad they're going to do the Highway 1 / Dunmore Road Interchange in Medicine Hat. The intersection is a disaster especially now that the new power center thingy opened on the South side of the Highway.
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  #2750  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2012, 4:40 AM
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Originally Posted by 5seconds View Post

Garrison Woods has a similar one here

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=...berta&t=h&z=18
Yeah, that's better, at least its less of a "child running across the street" magnet as a park. I was thinking space like that could work as a neighborhood strip mall space - it wouldn't suffer from the typical problems of limited access from certain directions that you get when you put them on a corner of a major road and a feeder road.
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  #2751  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2012, 3:59 PM
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I've found in using the roundabouts in this city, at the very least, it is fairly easy to identify and avoid the users that can't figure them out. As the yield entry gives a lot of discretion in when you enter it is pretty easy to just wait for clear space and then go for it. So, yes, they don't always operate at peak efficiency due to unfamiliar users but I suspect they don't actually result in a great number of accidents. One could describe them as designed to fail gracefully. (Does anyone have any stats on this?)

My biggest complaint with Calgary's implementation is the 1.5 lane situations we see in some locations or the ones designed for 2 lanes eventually but painted for 1 for now. Somehow the engineers behind these have failed to realize that we have snow and gravel on the roads for half the year or more. Roundabouts need to be designed so that one can clearly tell if there is 1 or 2 lanes even when you can't see the lines on the road and have never driven it before. This could be more detailed signage, extra barriers, small grade differences etc. There are many options but one way or another better communication is needed. The wavy entries don't improve matters either as you are busy trying to navigate them when you could be looking at signage to figure out if you have 1 or 2 or more lanes to deal with. And, finally, half opening them with non-final traffic patterns results in people learning the wrong way to use them - these habits are hard to break when users are already uncertain.

So yes, we need more roundabouts, but there is still a ways to go on making them user friendly in our climate.
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  #2752  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2012, 5:53 PM
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Originally Posted by mwalker_mw View Post
I've found in using the roundabouts in this city, at the very least, it is fairly easy to identify and avoid the users that can't figure them out. As the yield entry gives a lot of discretion in when you enter it is pretty easy to just wait for clear space and then go for it. So, yes, they don't always operate at peak efficiency due to unfamiliar users but I suspect they don't actually result in a great number of accidents. One could describe them as designed to fail gracefully. (Does anyone have any stats on this?)

My biggest complaint with Calgary's implementation is the 1.5 lane situations we see in some locations or the ones designed for 2 lanes eventually but painted for 1 for now. Somehow the engineers behind these have failed to realize that we have snow and gravel on the roads for half the year or more. Roundabouts need to be designed so that one can clearly tell if there is 1 or 2 lanes even when you can't see the lines on the road and have never driven it before. This could be more detailed signage, extra barriers, small grade differences etc. There are many options but one way or another better communication is needed. The wavy entries don't improve matters either as you are busy trying to navigate them when you could be looking at signage to figure out if you have 1 or 2 or more lanes to deal with. And, finally, half opening them with non-final traffic patterns results in people learning the wrong way to use them - these habits are hard to break when users are already uncertain.

So yes, we need more roundabouts, but there is still a ways to go on making them user friendly in our climate.
I read somewhere that roundabout accidents were less serious for injuries than traditional intersection accidents as they are usually a sideswipe and not a t-bone or a head-on.

30 Ave & 4th St & Mission Road should have a roundabout as the 3 way traffic light is ridiculous.
I saw a police van go through a red light on 4th St because they were presumably looking at the green light on 30 Ave and if they can't figure it out, then how can the average incompetent Calgary driver know what to do?
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  #2753  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2012, 7:20 PM
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  #2754  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2012, 9:05 PM
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Personally, I would love to see more roundabouts! I suspect any trouble navigating them could be partly addressed by having one-way signs at each entrance - at least until the populace is generally more familiar with roundabouts.

Last time this discussion came up here, there was a link to an article in the Herald saying the city's policy was to change traffic light controlled intersections to roundabouts when it came time to 'renovate' them, as warranted.

As I live in Scenic Acres, the intersections I would love to see changed to roundabouts are:
  • The two lights at the Stoney-Scenic Acres/Tuscany interchange
  • The three lights on Nose Hill just south of Crowchild
  • The intersection just before the bus gates in the Crowfoot LRT station south parking lot
  • The intersection at Scenic Acres Blvd and Scenic Acres/Scurfield Dr. That one was changed from a 4-way stop to traffic lights just after we moved into Scenic Acres; I guess traffic studies indicated that a traffic light was necessary there, but the 4-way stop seemed to be working fine (at least IMHO).

Scenic Acres seems to be generally overly conservative when it comes to traffic issues, so I'm not sure if these changes would fly, assuming they ever come up for discussion. If I get motivated enough, I may pursue looking into having the bus gates open at least during off-peak hours, and also have the lights at SA Blvd-SA/Scurfied Dr. changed to flashing red/yellow during off peak hours...

In any case, my fantasies about changing traffic lights to roundabouts caused me to think: under what conditions are roundabouts UNsuitable choices for an intersection? In my dream list above, I think certain directions have far more traffic flow than others; would that preclude a roundabout?
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  #2755  
Old Posted Feb 12, 2012, 6:05 AM
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Roundabout are fine. I dont care if people know how to use them. Build more!
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  #2756  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2012, 5:24 AM
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Roundabout are fine. I dont care if people know how to use them. Build more!
I concur. We need much more of them. People will learn; shoot they can barely operate a 4-way stop as it is.
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  #2757  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2012, 11:46 PM
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This is what bow trail entering Calgary should look like.





From Vancouver SSP:





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  #2758  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2012, 11:49 PM
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whoops
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  #2759  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2012, 1:40 AM
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It will look way better than that once West Village gets up and running!

I love how visible that bike lane is on the second street(towards the right) in that pic. I dunno if it is very new or the salt and sand just hasn't destroyed it like the bike lanes on our streets.
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  #2760  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2012, 4:37 AM
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96th Ave - Deerfoot Bridge construction

As of Jan 31st:

96th Ave Construction i6094 by ferreth, on Flickr
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