Winnipeg Roads & Infrastructure

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by YWG-RO

Speaking of Henderson and Main:

Does anyone know why NB Main allows parking while NB Henderson does not allow parking during rush hour?

The stretch of Main around Leila always seems to bottleneck. Always seems to be just one parked vehicle tying everything up.

I'm pretty sure it's because of the active small businesses along the routes, and they have very limited parking behind their respective buildings.

[1ajs]

this is bloor st in toronto interestingly this change made traffic flow better with the proper designation of lanes in this configuration

[bomberjet]

Henderson has all kinds of businesses just like Main St does.

[morty]

I noticed this weekend that the city has put up a protected left turn light at Moray and Portage for EB to NB traffic. It should be interesting to see how that plays out as the turn stacking lane can only hold about 4 cars.

The city seems to be on a big push for these separate phase left turns over the past year or two, but so far it's generally been limited to 80 kph zones such as Waverley or Kenaston.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by morty

The city seems to be on a big push for these separate phase left turns over the past year or two, but so far it's generally been limited to 80 kph zones such as Waverley or Kenaston.

What I wish the city would focus on instead is to add the Ontario-style flashing green light protected left turn at intersections that don't have separate left-turn lanes.

It's annoying as all hell when on undivided major arteries (Osborne, Logan, Jubilee, Ellice, etc.) traffic in the median lane gets held up for an entire cycle because someone wants to turn left. 5 seconds of flashing green would help cut down on a lot of those logjams by ensuring that more than 1 or 2 cars can turn left per cycle.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by morty

I noticed this weekend that the city has put up a protected left turn light at Moray and Portage for EB to NB traffic. It should be interesting to see how that plays out as the turn stacking lane can only hold about 4 cars.

Portage EB to NB Moray doesn't seem to get a lot of traffic so the light should be more than adequate. The challenge here is that new signal may overlap with the WB to SB left turn and cause issues for WB through traffic that normally starts the same time as WB left turns.

[morty]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Portage EB to NB Moray doesn't seem to get a lot of traffic so the light should be more than adequate. The challenge here is that new signal may overlap with the WB to SB left turn and cause issues for WB through traffic that normally starts the same time as WB left turns.

That's definitely true about low turning numbers, however the current situation makes that turn extremely difficult as it's hard to see past traffic which is sitting at the red light for WB to SB. The safety concerns are probably why they're putting up the light, but I'm worried that making the turn more convenient may induce demand and would quickly mess up the left lane of through traffic on EB Portage if there's a backup of cars.

The WB through traffic will also definitely be a challenge during the afternoon rush hour. The intersection as a whole seems to perform reasonably well compared to many other major intersections in Winnipeg, though.

[CoryB]

^^ As the area off Moray north of Portage is primarily residential I don't think a new left turning signal will induce a lot of demand. All it might do is divert some of the left turning traffic going onto residential streets a block or two west of Morary onto Morary itself as they don't need to avoid the light and take advantage of the gap in traffic.

In terms of the intersection itself, the EB to SB turn can actually backup well past the storage lane, easily the worst I have seen in terms of spillover on any city maintained streets. If something goes wrong anywhere in that area or there is a construction impact it quickly turns into a complete gong show as there are few alternatives.

[WildCake]

I know that we've basically concluded a completely grade separated kenaston is never going to happen in anyone's lifetime and that the "inner ring road" eventual freeway will continue from bishop and William Clement's extensions, but I had always imagined major intersections to get some form of upgrade eventually. I found the site plan for seasons of tuxedo and pad sites are planned right up to the corner of Kenaston and Sterling Lyon. So much for that intersection being upgraded

http://seasonswinnipeg.ca/directory

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by esquire

What I wish the city would focus on instead is to add the Ontario-style flashing green light protected left turn at intersections that don't have separate left-turn lanes.

It's annoying as all hell when on undivided major arteries (Osborne, Logan, Jubilee, Ellice, etc.) traffic in the median lane gets held up for an entire cycle because someone wants to turn left. 5 seconds of flashing green would help cut down on a lot of those logjams by ensuring that more than 1 or 2 cars can turn left per cycle.

We had some intersections with flashing solid green lights at select locations up until the 80s from what I can recall. Then they were all converted to arrow signals.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by WildCake

I know that we've basically concluded a completely grade separated kenaston is never going to happen in anyone's lifetime and that the "inner ring road" eventual freeway will continue from bishop and William Clement's extensions, but I had always imagined major intersections to get some form of upgrade eventually. I found the site plan for seasons of tuxedo and pad sites are planned right up to the corner of Kenaston and Sterling Lyon. So much for that intersection being upgraded

http://seasonswinnipeg.ca/directory

How peculiar... by contrast, the intersection of Kenaston and McGillivray clearly has ample room set aside to accommodate the ramps that would be needed for a diamond interchange.

Or maybe the existing right of way is wide enough? It's hard to believe the city wouldn't have at least contemplated an grade separatioon there even if it never intends to actually build it.

[rrskylar]

Came back from a couple days out west and travelled the west perimeter took the lightly used and unnecessary Centreport Canada Way. Noted three new overpasses over Saskatchewan and three more for CPCway, wouldn't it have made more sense to close Saskatchewan at the perimeter and have it re-routed to CPCW only half a KM away.

Centerpoint Canada Way is a joke with a set of lights at Sturgeon just a KM in from the perimeter, what was the point for a supposed free flowing road, who designed the thing anyway?

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Came back from a couple days out west and travelled the west perimeter took the lightly used and unnecessary Centreport Canada Way. Noted three new overpasses over Saskatchewan and three more for CPCway, wouldn't it have made more sense to close Saskatchewan at the perimeter and have it re-routed to CPCW only half a KM away.

Centerpoint Canada Way is a joke with a set of lights at Sturgeon just a KM in from the perimeter, what was the point for a supposed free flowing road, who designed the thing anyway?

Isn't there a railway along SaskatchewanAve which is why it is grade separated?

[bomberjet]

Yes, the railway is there. Saskatchewan also serves some areas, including Assiniboia Downs on the west side.

But yeah I agree the design is a bit stupid in that there are future interchanges where the lights are, and the railway crossing at the foot of the rail overpass. Makes zero sense. That rail line should be re-routed to go under the overpass with the CP tracks.

[CoryB]

I agree the rail line crossing CCW at grade at the foot of a rail specific overpass seems like a poor design choice.

My understanding is the at grade rail crossing is only used by Prairie Dog to access their maintenance shed. I heard they use a different gage and can't run on the CP line.

A better solution may have been to buy out the maintenance site and relocate it to the north of CCW and eliminate that rail crossing.

As for pushing Saskatchewan under the new Perimeter overpass, if I had to take a guess it likely has to do with emergency vehicle access to the Assiniboine Downs site. Not sure the specific location of the fire hall but would guess it is in the residential neighbourhood east of the Perimeter and south of Saskatchewan. It could be the first response unit or the secondary/backup unit for ASD which is actually inside the Winnipeg boundary despite being outside the Perimeter.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

I agree the rail line crossing CCW at grade at the foot of a rail specific overpass seems like a poor design choice.

My understanding is the at grade rail crossing is only used by Prairie Dog to access their maintenance shed. I heard they use a different gage and can't run on the CP line.

A better solution may have been to buy out the maintenance site and relocate it to the north of CCW and eliminate that rail crossing.

That track is the PDC's connection to the outside world, so it had to remain in place. They use standard North American operating gauge, so there is no issue on that front.

PDC apparently funds its operations by providing railcar storage and related services to companies, so really only that traffic and the occasional maintenance equipment would be crossing CCW. A train going across CCW would be an extremely infrequent sight, so it's not really worth a grade separation.

[CoryB]

Forgot to mention, the eastbound to northbound turn light at Portage and Moray is up now but still bagged.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by esquire

That track is the PDC's connection to the outside world, so it had to remain in place. They use standard North American operating gauge, so there is no issue on that front.

PDC apparently funds its operations by providing railcar storage and related services to companies, so really only that traffic and the occasional maintenance equipment would be crossing CCW. A train going across CCW would be an extremely infrequent sight, so it's not really worth a grade separation.

It can also get CN/BNSF rail traffic going to/from the Patterson Grain Terminal as CN has running rights on the former CN Oak Point Subdivision at the CP Woodman Jct north to the top of the Patterson grain terminal loop.

[morty]

Originally Posted by esquire

How peculiar... by contrast, the intersection of Kenaston and McGillivray clearly has ample room set aside to accommodate the ramps that would be needed for a diamond interchange.

Or maybe the existing right of way is wide enough? It's hard to believe the city wouldn't have at least contemplated an grade separatioon there even if it never intends to actually build it.

In 2009, the developers paid for a study which concluded that an interchange wouldn't help with traffic. I question the veracity of that claim, as even a simple par-clo would have made a big difference by separating the straight-through traffic on Kenaston from everything else.

Here's a quote from the study:

The forecast LOS and delays are based on a number of assumptions, including background traffic growth remaining constant over time and estimated trip generation, distribution and assignment for the proposed development. It is suggested that traffic volumes at the intersection be monitored to determine actual LOS and delay levels as development proceeds. It should be noted that a variety of interchange options were examined as part of this review and it was found that they did not relieve the traffic operation issues at the intersection. The interchange issues were primarily due to heavy turning movements and weaving problems brought about by high weaving volumes and limited weaving distance.

[EastK]

Originally Posted by morty

In 2009, the developers paid for a study which concluded that an interchange wouldn't help with traffic. I question the veracity of that claim, as even a simple par-clo would have made a big difference by separating the straight-through traffic on Kenaston from everything else.

Here's a quote from the study:

What makes it even worse is that there is another set of lights just south of Sterling Lyon to access Ikea which makes an already over capacity road even slower. Classic Winnipeg; traffic lights everywhere! I avoid that area like the plague unless I have to go through there.