Calgary Roads

[SubwayRev]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Odd. I drive over 40,000 km a year, much of that in the city, and I never ever get stuck in traffic (other than exceptional weather events or massive accidents).

You drive 40,000km each year without driving to work? I barely drive half that, and I drive to work on the other side of the city everyday!

[UofC.engineer]

I find it hard to believe Calgary has worse traffic than Vancouver. Go to Hastings, Broadway, Cambie or Grandville streets during rush hour...It ain't pretty.

I don't know about Macleans sometimes...some of their surveys and facts seem a little off to me. Not to mention they rate UofC so low every year, but I guess it's just me being bias

Oh yea; and the Golden Ears bridge from Maple Ridge to Langley already takes a pic of your license plate and sends you the bill at the end of the month.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

I find it hard to believe Calgary has worse traffic than Vancouver. Go to Hastings, Broadway, Cambie or Grandville streets during rush hour...It ain't pretty.

I don't know about Macleans sometimes...some of their surveys and facts seem a little off to me. Not to mention they rate UofC so low every year, but I guess it's just me being bias

Oh yea; and the Golden Ears bridge from Maple Ridge to Langley already takes a pic of your license plate and sends you the bill at the end of the month.

Correction: *biased. Maybe the ratings aren't so off after all.

In all seriousness though, Macleans is fluff most of the time, and I agree that the university rankings are pretty sketchy.

[Mazrim]

I've spent a fair amount of time driving in Vancouver and Calgary, and I'd say they're pretty even. While Vancouver may have heavy volume on their major routes, the Trans Canada Highway for example still moves at a good pace WB until you reach the Port Mann Bridge, then picks up again after, very similar to how Deerfoot Trail slows down SB near Anderson and picks up again after.

I've been in some terrible traffic jams in Vancouver, but then again, the same has happened in Calgary.

You'd be surprised at how travel time doesn't vary a whole lot in Vancouver, at least in my experience.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by SubwayRev

You drive 40,000km each year without driving to work? I barely drive half that, and I drive to work on the other side of the city everyday!

To be fair a lot of that is major road trips, plus driving into the mountains every other weekend. But yeah, I drive a sick amount in the city compared to most people. I just enjoy exploring places I'd never get to otherwise (I hate being one of those people that knows of few neighbourhoods beyond their own). I probably put 1-200km a day on the car during garage sale season alone. Plus all the casinos are a hell of a drive from us.

Driving to work across the city works out to less than 10,000km/yr (one of us does it), and people average something like 20,000 on any given vehicle. Work commuting really isn't as much as people think.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I've spent a fair amount of time driving in Vancouver and Calgary, and I'd say they're pretty even. While Vancouver may have heavy volume on their major routes, the Trans Canada Highway for example still moves at a good pace WB until you reach the Port Mann Bridge, then picks up again after, very similar to how Deerfoot Trail slows down SB near Anderson and picks up again after.

I've been in some terrible traffic jams in Vancouver, but then again, the same has happened in Calgary.

You'd be surprised at how travel time doesn't vary a whole lot in Vancouver, at least in my experience.

I think then you might be surprised at how much travel time DOES vary in Calgary then. The cities are almost incomparable. In Calgary, if it's rush hour - yeah, you get slowdowns on Deerfoot. And traffic jams. But during the other 20 hours of the day, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Average speeds are literally double or even triple.

For a city that supposedly sprawls out to nowhere, I can drive from just about the furthest point to the opposite point in about 45 minutes (Royal Oak to Copperfield to visit a buddy). I guarantee you that that is impossible in Toronto, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible in Vancouver's metro as well - although I've never tried exactly that run so maybe I'm wrong. Hell, I can barely cross Winnipeg in 45 minutes, and the city is 3/4 the size.

[Mazrim]

Every time I go from Surrey to Metrotown, it's 30 minutes...although I have never tried it in the morning rush (who goes to the mall in the morning?).

Mission to Tsawwassen is always 1 hour, even in rush hour. A few years ago that wouldn't have been the case, but thanks to the Golden Ears and the Langley bypass, it's possible.

As a side note, I was happy to note I only did 30,000km on my car in 2010. I'm at 206,000km on my 2005 Civic.

[SubwayRev]

Originally Posted by freeweed

To be fair a lot of that is major road trips, plus driving into the mountains every other weekend. But yeah, I drive a sick amount in the city compared to most people. I just enjoy exploring places I'd never get to otherwise (I hate being one of those people that knows of few neighbourhoods beyond their own). I probably put 1-200km a day on the car during garage sale season alone. Plus all the casinos are a hell of a drive from us.

Driving to work across the city works out to less than 10,000km/yr (one of us does it), and people average something like 20,000 on any given vehicle. Work commuting really isn't as much as people think.

I figured you must be doing a lot of out of town driving to get that much. I rarely drive out of town, and use my car mostly only to go to work and back.

I'm only at 85,000km on a six-year old car.

[frinkprof]

Yeah I always thought the general rule of thumb is that most urban North Americans rack up most of their mileage on commuting and errands as opposed to weekend out-of-town jaunts and longer trips.

[bigcanuck]

Kinda road related...

If you were to spend a weekend in downtown Calgary with a car, where would you park? We have friends staying at the Palliser and they're looking to cut down on the $37/day valet charge.

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by bigcanuck

Kinda road related...

If you were to spend a weekend in downtown Calgary with a car, where would you park? We have friends staying at the Palliser and they're looking to cut down on the $37/day valet charge.

All they have to do is park it themselves in Palliser Square west parkade. The entrance is the alley directly east of the Palliser's front door. I have no idea what the daily rate is, but it must be less than $37 a day on weekends! Once parked, there is an entrance to the hotel from the parkade.

[freeweed]

They likely won't have in/out privileges in a parkade. May or may not be a concern for them depending on what they're doing.

One in a long line of reasons I do a hell of lot more research when travelling compared to the average person. $37/day isn't even the worst I've seen.

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by freeweed

They likely won't have in/out privileges in a parkade. May or may not be a concern for them depending on what they're doing.

One in a long line of reasons I do a hell of lot more research when travelling compared to the average person. $37/day isn't even the worst I've seen.

I hadn't thought about the in/out thing, but they should be able to park it for the weekend and walk to the myriad of attractions available to them!
No one wants a confused tourist driving in front of them...

[mwalker_mw]

Alternately, Convention Centre Parkade - quite cheap on weekends, heated, indoor, etc. Only a couple blocks away. Sunday, might as well just leave it on the street.

[bigcanuck]

I was going to recommend street parking for Sunday as long as they move it off the main roads by Monday morning before the restrictions set in.

[DizzyEdge]

They can park it in my backyard for free

[Jack Doe]

The agenda for the council meeting on Monday the 7th is available:

http://agendaminutes.calgary.ca/sire...doctype=AGENDA

Scroll down to item 9.1.1.

Some relevant excerpts:

ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDATIONS:
That Council:
1. Direct Administration to award RFP 10-1940 for detail design to the highest rated proponent, waive the circulation period to Council and proceed with design of the Airport Trail underpass, four lane road from Barlow Trail to Métis Trail, and two lane road from Métis Trail to 60 Street NE (Option 3C); as per the recommended cross-section configuration (Attachment 1);

3. Approve a budget appropriation for Program 855 Airport Underpass not to exceed $294.8 million (including $36.0 million in bridge financing costs).

Appropriation to include:
• $78.5 million in 2011,
• $106.6 million in 2012,
• $69.6 million in 2013,
• $18.7 million in 2014,
• $6.1 million per year in 2015-2017 inclusive; and
• $3.1 million in 2018.

Funding to come from:
a. Reserve for Future Capital ($25 million in 2011),
b. Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) Innovation Fund ($123 million in 2018),
c. MSI Contingency Fund ($50 million in 2018); and
d. Reallocation of $97 million from Transportation unallocated MSI, Transportation Infrastructure Program 543 Provincial Ring Road Connectors, and other Transportation Capital Programs to Program 855 Airport Underpass.

Opening Day
• two lanes in each cell, per direction
• [one more lane in each direction, or an] option to add primary transit or HOV lane, per direction
• standard shoulder and lane widths
Interim
• could accommodate a dedicated transit lane in addition to two lanes in each cell, (per direction with reduced lane widths)
Ultimate
• three lanes per direction plus a dedicated transit way, (lane width is obtained by reducing the shoulder widths)

Attachment 1 shows the cross sections, road network, the ultimate road connection to the terminal, and more details on the costs and financing.


Personally, I hope this happens. We should know one way or another on Monday.

[You Need A Thneed]

List of communities for which, going through the tunnel is the quickest way to the airport (remember that the SE ring road will be open as well, and the Airport Trail connects to Stoney):

Skyview Ranch, Saddleridge, Martindale, Taradale, Castleridge, Falconridge, Coral Springs, Whitehorn, Temple, Horizon Industrial, Sunridge Industrial, Rundle, Pineridge, Monterey Park, Marlbourough, Marlbourough Park, Abbeydale, Penbrooke, Applewood Park, Large chunks of Foothills Industrial, Copperfield, MacKenzie Towne, MacKenzie Lake, Cranston, Auburn Bay, Mahogany,Chaparral, Silverado, Sundance, Somerset, Bridlewood, Priddis, Okotoks, High River, Nanton, Chestermere, Strathmore, Langdon, Brooks, De Winton, Alderside, Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Irricana, Beiseker, Medicine Hat.

At slower traffic times on Deerfoot, you could probably add to the list: Evergreen, Shawnessy, Midnapore, Millrise, Douglasdale, Deer Ridge, Deer Run, Parkland, Queensland, and perhaps more.

Remember too, that the closure of Barlow will add some traffic onto an already busy portion of Deerfoot, making backups worse, and thus, more likely that some of the communities in the second list join the first list.

[SubwayRev]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

List of communities for which, going through the tunnel is the quickest way to the airport (remember that the SE ring road will be open as well, and the Airport Trail connects to Stoney):

Skyview Ranch, Saddleridge, Martindale, Taradale, Castleridge, Falconridge, Coral Springs, Whitehorn, Temple, Horizon Industrial, Sunridge Industrial, Rundle, Pineridge, Monterey Park, Marlbourough, Marlbourough Park, Abbeydale, Penbrooke, Applewood Park, Large chunks of Foothills Industrial, Copperfield, MacKenzie Towne, MacKenzie Lake, Cranston, Auburn Bay, Mahogany,Chaparral, Silverado, Sundance, Somerset, Bridlewood, Priddis, Okotoks, High River, Nanton, Chestermere, Strathmore, Langdon, Brooks, De Winton, Alderside, Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Irricana, Beiseker, Medicine Hat.

At slower traffic times on Deerfoot, you could probably add to the list: Evergreen, Shawnessy, Midnapore, Millrise, Douglasdale, Deer Ridge, Deer Run, Parkland, Queensland, and perhaps more.

Remember too, that the closure of Barlow will add some traffic onto an already busy portion of Deerfoot, making backups worse, and thus, more likely that some of the communities in the second list join the first list.

That is all one large assumption on the absolute worst-case scenario traffic. From most of the communities you listed, it would be much faster to take Deerfoot, 90% of the time.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by SubwayRev

That is all one large assumption on the absolute worst-case scenario traffic. From most of the communities you listed, it would be much faster to take Deerfoot, 90% of the time.

I would agree with YNAT. Much faster to take the ring road and then 96th avenue then take Deerfoot.