Calgary Roads

[KrisYYC]

Obviously some intersections are probably too big for roundabouts, many on the smaller streets would be good candidates. Hell just about every 4 way stop should be one unless it's right by a school where a lot of kids are crossing.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by KrisYYC

Obviously some intersections are probably too big for roundabouts, many on the smaller streets would be good candidates. Hell just about every 4 way stop should be one unless it's right by a school where a lot of kids are crossing.

Or a playground. Or a senior's home. Or somewhere else where some grieving family has been on TV, crying "if it will only save one life...".

In other words, 95% of Calgary.

It's really a shame, too - traffic circles rock in low volume areas. Too bad no one knows how to drive them here. Yes, I'm looking at you, McKenzie "town".

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Or a playground. Or a senior's home. Or somewhere else where some grieving family has been on TV, crying "if it will only save one life...".

In other words, 95% of Calgary.

It's really a shame, too - traffic circles rock in low volume areas. Too bad no one knows how to drive them here. Yes, I'm looking at you, McKenzie "town".

Traffic circles are remarkably easy when they are only one lane. Replacing 4 way stops with mini roundabouts makes way too much sense.

[Bigtime]

I'd love to see the mini roundabouts replace 4 way stops in Calgary. Heck it seems like most motorists don't even know the proper rules for a 4 way stop anymore. Then again that could make a traffic circle a complete disaster!

[reflexzero]

Speaking of potholes, there is one that runs along 52nd St NE from McKnight Blvd to 16th Ave.

There was also a sinkhole opening up near a drain on my street. They plugged it up, but it's eroding from underneath, not as a result of frost damage. Just waiting for someone to lose a vehicle in there now.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'd love to see the mini roundabouts replace 4 way stops in Calgary. Heck it seems like most motorists don't even know the proper rules for a 4 way stop anymore. Then again that could make a traffic circle a complete disaster!

Yep. You should see some of the idiots I've seen using the new traffic circle in Crowfoot... it got to the point the city put barricades with arrows on them so people wouldn't try to go around it the wrong direction (I saw numerous people do that if they were going south on Crowfoot Circle).

[Oliver Klozov]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

There is a roundabout with lights at all 4 entrances here in Brisbane. ......
It is kind of odd that Brisbane seems to be moving in the opposite of Calgary. Here, I get many calls from residents (I work for the Department of Main Roads) wanting to have roundabouts removed and replaced with signalized intersections.

There is one in Alberta - 118 Ave & St Albert Road/Groat Road in Edmonton. It works quite well and was a big improvement over the regular traffic circle it replaced.

Traffic circles (politically correct term: round-abouts) do indeed work well in lower traffic volume situations. They break down on major roads when there is an imbalance in inflow. One entrance seems to get unrestricted access and constant flow. If the next entrance counterclockwise also has high volume, they get fewer chances to get in the circle and that traffic backs up. That's what happened to many of the old circles in Edmonton.

[DizzyEdge]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...62146-sun.html

More bad news for 16 Ave.
UPDATED: 2009-04-09 02:54:57 MST

Construction-weary business owners brace for eight weeks of lane closures

By JENNA MCMURRAY, SUN MEDIA

Shop owners along the 16 Ave. corridor, already frustrated by decrease in business due to construction, are bracing for more headaches.

Starting Monday, there will be eight weeks worth of lane closures along 16 Ave. N.W. as part of the North Urban Corridor Project and businesses located on the traffic artery say they've already lost too many customers since the project began in July 2005.

"We don't get the drive-by traffic we used to and our sales have dropped 20% to 30%," said Stuart McAllister, owner of the Cat 'n' Fiddle pub, which has been located at 540 16 Ave. N.W. for 15 years.

"We'll never get that back I don't think. The damage is already done."

Forecasting the drop in sales for businesses due to limited access from the construction, the city launched the Wide Open campaign in 2007 -- a two-phase promotional initiative including flags reading "16th Ave. Shops Are Open For Business."

"We wanted to raise awareness that the businesses were open during construction," said Jennifer De Vries of Transportation Infrastructure at the city. "It's aimed at getting motorists to stop."

But Cameron Treleaven, owner of Aquila Books, located at 826 16 Ave. N.W. for 18 years, said the campaign has done nothing.

"It's an absolute waste of money and I've complained on so many levels, but there's nothing I can do," he said.

"I've had so many customers say, 'I don't come because I don't know how to get there.'

"We will not make up what we've lost."

The $89-million project will wrap up this year. Land acquisition problems made it impossible for the city to meet its original 2008 deadline, said De Vries.

[Stang]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Or a playground. Or a senior's home. Or somewhere else where some grieving family has been on TV, crying "if it will only save one life...".

In other words, 95% of Calgary.

It's really a shame, too - traffic circles rock in low volume areas. Too bad no one knows how to drive them here. Yes, I'm looking at you, McKenzie "town".

Even the sign leading up to it has the "break" on the wrong side... it should break after the last exit, not before the first!

I have always been a fan of roundabouts. They're not useful for all intersections, and sometimes the English go a bit overboard, but there are lots of places where they are a better alternative than stop signs or signals.

In the UK (where I rented a car a few weeks back) they have roundabouts spanning the motorway with two bridges, forming a massive roundabout. Probably overkill.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...13819&t=h&z=16

They also have miniature ones that are simply a circle painted on the road with some arrows. You don't actually have to go around them fully - the markings are just there to explain that the roundabout right-of-way rules apply (yield to the car on your right). Think of it as a 3 or 4-way yield as opposed to a full-stop.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...01727&t=k&z=19

So why are roundabouts so difficult for the average Calgarian? They're basically a yield. If they're two lanes, you just need to pick the correct lane.

[DizzyEdge]

Yeah particularly single lane ones are pretty easy, as you said they're essentially one way streets with a yield sign.

[MasterG]

so whats the deal with stoney trail? Are they planning on extending it from 16th ave NW up the hill any time soon?

Getting off the hill is a pain with only 17th ave and bow trail to take all the traffic, that stoney trail project would be really helpful.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by MasterG

so whats the deal with stoney trail? Are they planning on extending it from 16th ave NW up the hill any time soon?

Getting off the hill is a pain with only 17th ave and bow trail to take all the traffic, that stoney trail project would be really helpful.

They've drawn up the plans, but the extension from 16th Ave to Highway 8 is most likely only going to be built once the part through the T'suu Tina land is started on. The plan involves pretty much making a huge cut into the side of the hill (taking off a couple hundred feet at the deepest part but getting back to the level of the top by the time it hits Old Banff Coach Road) to make the grade suitable, then building a couple interchanges of varying sizes along the way to where 201/8 meet just east of the Elbow river crossing on 8.

[korzym]

Originally Posted by srperrycgy

Now that the ground is starting to thaw, potholes are beginning to apppear in a few places. This beauty at 23rd Ave @ 31st ST SW was created by the City when they did some work in the winter. Now that it's warmer, it has sunk about a foot.

There's a nice on at the base of the stampede lrt west stairwell, very similar. It's probably 3 times deeper than the one in your pic, this is no exaggeration. It has 4 road markers around it, a bunch of pylons. If you were to put the same warning post in the middle, it probably would just barely stick out.

[lubicon]

Memorial Drive project to test vehicle-free Sundays


Last Updated: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 9:20 AM MT CBC News

Ald. Druh Farrell wants to test closing several blocks of Memorial Drive to vehicles to create a promenade for pedestrians and cyclists. Pedestrians and cyclists will have free reign over Memorial Drive on Sundays if a Calgary alderman's test project to turn part of the street into a promenade works out, CBC News has learned.

Ald. Druh Farrell, whose ward includes Hillhurst-Sunnyside, is proposing to close the two lanes of Memorial Drive from 10th Street N.W. to the curling club on 3rd Street on Sundays in August.

The other two lanes of Memorial Drive would be turned into two-way traffic for vehicles

"It's getting people active. We have a very successful pathway system. It's giving people a little bit more room in an urban area," Farrell told CBC News. "It's taking back the street for one day a week in the summer."

Details still need to be ironed out, but the pilot project will likely happen over a few Sundays in August, she said.

"We're choosing low traffic days, and certainly Sundays — it's a day where people like to get out and recreate — and this an area that needs a little bit more space for that."

Businesses, community welcome idea
Citing successful pedestrian projects on busy streets in Ottawa, New York City and Europe, Farrell said she envisions people enjoying the waterfront on foot, bicycle, and in-line skates.

Annie MacInnis, executive director of the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone, which represents businesses in the district, hopes people taking advantage of the promenade will stop by stores and restaurants in the area.

"We're thrilled that the city is thinking of ways to help these small shopping districts thrive in these hard times," she said.

The Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association welcomed the idea that would open access to the river.

"Making that a central hub if the right of way were to be … across Hillhurst-Sunnyside would be a great opportunity to draw people in," said David White, chair of group's planning committee.

If successful, the promenade could be expanded into Bridgeland and Chinatown, said Farrell.

"Because of the improvements we're doing on Memorial Drive and it's looking very nice, it just made a perfect fit," she said. "It will be a lot of fun."

[Bigtime]

It should be a very interesting experiment, and the pathways in that area get congested to the point of being dangerous anyways.

[lubicon]

I drove Memorial on Sunday night and was really impressed with the new streetscaping they have done. The new light standards look pretty nice by themselves, but the blue LED lighting along the top makes them look even better in the dark. The banners hanging from each one are a nice touch, with poppies as the main feature on them. It should look even better in the summer when the trees have leafed out and they have planted flowers or whatever in the median.

I'm a little undecided on the closing of half the road, but I rarely travel that road on Sunday afternoons so maybe it won't be too bad.

[reflexzero]

So, is there still going to be a speed limit of 20 kph on this Memorial promenade wonder-project?

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Or a playground. Or a senior's home. Or somewhere else where some grieving family has been on TV, crying "if it will only save one life...".

In other words, 95% of Calgary.

It's really a shame, too - traffic circles rock in low volume areas. Too bad no one knows how to drive them here. Yes, I'm looking at you, McKenzie "town".

Also some city workers don't seem to know how they work, a while back in my 'hood the city needed to block access to one road off a roundabout, and they choose the 2nd method instead of the 1st one:

[Stang]

Originally Posted by lubicon

[B]Memorial Drive project to test vehicle-free Sundays

I'd be willing to give it a look, however I think that there would need to be more of a draw than just a big stretch of pavement to wander on. Street musicians, market stands, etc. would be kind of neat.

When I was in Frankfurt a few weeks ago they had a street right in the core that was shut down on Friday night and market (mostly food) merchants were opening up - presumably for the weekend. Probably hundreds of merchants, all in trailers, etc. It was definitely a city-sanctioned thing as the electrical and water lines were neatly covered and everything was well organized. Lots of people snouting around too.

Not saying we should try and over-do it, but a few things to keep people's interest would make be good.