Highway One Improvements: North Vancouver / Ironworkers Memorial Approach | Completed

[djmk]

wildeye would be closer to the bridge

I took the dollarton ramp at noon. there was a one light wait to get on the bridge but it was a significantly less stressful merge

[hollywoodnorth]

traffic looks as bad as ever today on Google Maps. hopefully it will smoothen out after a few days.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

traffic looks as bad as ever today on Google Maps. hopefully it will smoothen out after a few days.

Intuitively, this change cannot help Lower Level/3rd into Main traffic, but I'm sure a lot of regular HWY1 commuters are still in the mindset of "I better slow down/merge left before that stupid Dollarton onramp" which will still clog up the Cut. Once people get used to the change I bet traffic will improve at least a little and I'm definitely sure the Dollarton onramp deathtrap is 1000x safer now, too.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

traffic looks as bad as ever today on Google Maps. hopefully it will smoothen out after a few days.

But it's not that solid red that it usually is around this time and traffic also seems pretty backed up through Burnaby.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

But it's not that solid red that it usually is around this time and traffic also seems pretty backed up through Burnaby.

Looking at the traffic cams, it seems like congestion on HWY1 is bad just before the old Dollarton onramp, and good after it. Looks psychological to me now.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Looking at the traffic cams, it seems like congestion on HWY1 is bad just before the old Dollarton onramp, and good after it. Looks psychological to me now.

But it's always been clear on the bridge and really slow before it.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

But it's always been clear on the bridge and really slow before it.

Point being, it's clear at the old Dollarton onramp merge point. People likely still expect a merge there and slow down as a result. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some people slow down more out of surprise that there's a change.

[Tvisforme]

Looking at the cameras from Mountain Highway through to the bridge (around 4:30 PM), the spacing between vehicles seems larger than it would be if traffic was crawling or stopped.

[Jimbo604]

patience, patience... They still have some physical work left to do (line markings, etc) and then everyone will have to get used to the new setup over the next few weeks. Then we'll see if it speeds things up or not. Even if it doesn't, as previous have mentioned, at least it eliminated that dangerous on-ramp. But let's hope it speeds things up as well!

[jollyburger]

Well to be fair there was zero traffic around 5pm yesterday with the onramp. But I'm pretty sure it's because of Burnaby. I wonder if there's more flow going into Burnaby if it's going to cause more problems further east?

[Jimbo604]

Trying to think of any other locations in metro-Van area with alternating flow traffic lights (or whatever they are called)... anyone?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Trying to think of any other locations in metro-Van area with alternating flow traffic lights (or whatever they are called)... anyone?

There used to be some west of the Port Mann but they removed them?

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

There used to be some west of the Port Mann but they removed them?

Yes, those were removed long ago now with the rebuild of the bridge and interchanges.

[jollyburger]

Just curious if someone runs a ramp metering light is it the same as an intersection traffic light?

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Trying to think of any other locations in metro-Van area with alternating flow traffic lights (or whatever they are called)... anyone?

They're called "Metered On-Ramps".

Once upon a time I seem to remember these being active during rush hour on the onramp from Lougheed Highway to westbound Highway 1 at the old Cape Horn interchange.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

They're called "Metered On-Ramps".

Once upon a time I seem to remember these being active during rush hour on the onramp from Lougheed Highway to westbound Highway 1 at the old Cape Horn interchange.

I just posted above that they were removed when the highway was upgraded.

There were also a set on the westbound on-ramp from the Marry Hill Bypass.

[esup21]

Ramp meters are meant to keep a freeway flowing by restricting (sometime significantly) on-ramp capacity. Vehicle gaps can range between 3 and 9 seconds, so at the best-case scenario, a ramp meter can accommodate 1200 vehicles per hour. In the case of Main and Dollarton on-ramps, they have almost double the traffic demand, so a ramp meter at that location would have been disastrous for traffic. Luckily, this location is unique as the Main eastbound on-ramp does not actually "merge" onto the freeway but rather adds a lane, so a ramp signal was the better way to go. It still reduces the capacity of what the original ramps used to carry, but not nearly as much as a ramp meter, and with all the traffic and safety benefits of eliminating the old Dollarton merge.

[Tvisforme]

With respect to the ramp signals, in theory they could also be adjusted to prioritize Main Street traffic in the absence of vehicles coming from Phibbs Exchange and Dollarton Highway. I'm thinking of something similar to the signals further back on the Dollarton ramp, which are (as best I can tell) normally green for vehicles coming west from Dollarton with a quick change when traffic is waiting on the short access road.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.3055854,-...nF7T9cNHbON8uLlGMbHMQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[logicbomb]

What causes the slowdown are idiots that try and get from the furthest right lane (lane 1) to the most inside lane (lane 3), and either cutting other vehicles off in the process or braking once they enter each lane. I have driven in other cities across the continent, Toronto and Vancouver are the absolute worst for this.

[Tvisforme]

What is rush hour normally like southbound on the Cut through to the IWM? I'm looking at the cameras and - while it is limited to still frames at approximately 15-minutes intervals - there did not appear to be any significant backups for freeway traffic this morning.