McKnight Boulevard & John Laurie Boulevard

[Chadillaccc]

I really hope that they smooth out that corner. It would be nice to have a more seemless transition/expressway feel to that area.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

I really hope that they smooth out that corner. It would be nice to have a more seemless transition/expressway feel to that area.

That has been a wish and complaint about that intersection since it was built in the 1970's

I would bet there are at least 100 other items on the City's wish-list ahead of fixing this intersection.

it may be fixed by the time our grand-children's grand-children get their learners licenses ...

[dmuzika]

Looks like the city is conducting a study on McKnight Blvd between Deerfoot Trail and Stoney Trail, http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...rect=/mcknight.

Widening McKnight to 6 lanes between Deerfoot Trail and 19 St NE is long overdue, at the very least it should have been done before Barlow Trail was closed by the airport. An interchange at 12 St NE (another major choke point) is also discussed but who knows when it will actually happen. It would have been nice if the study would have been extended further west to John Laurie Blvd so that area would have been addressed.

[H.E.Pennypacker]

^ Agreed .. It would be nice to have the whole stretch fixed for good...

Creating a thoroughfare in that corridor could help divert traffic off of 16th Ave and help urbanize that road...

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by H.E.Pennypacker

^ Agreed .. It would be nice to have the whole stretch fixed for good...

Creating a thoroughfare in that corridor could help divert traffic off of 16th Ave and help urbanize that road...

Yeah. The Ring Road has kinda deflected attention from the area. Sure, it's great that the load on McKnight/JLB is much reduced, but no one's looking any further. 16th should be designated as, I dunno, not a freaking highway or something. It's not needed as such, but people still use it way more than is necessary.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Yeah. The Ring Road has kinda deflected attention from the area. Sure, it's great that the load on McKnight/JLB is much reduced, but no one's looking any further. 16th should be designated as, I dunno, not a freaking highway or something. It's not needed as such, but people still use it way more than is necessary.

You have to have a truck route across the city in the northern half somewhere. Name an alternative. Essentially, banning trucks on 16th would mean all those truck would go onto McKnight/JLB.

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Yeah. The Ring Road has kinda deflected attention from the area. Sure, it's great that the load on McKnight/JLB is much reduced, but no one's looking any further. 16th should be designated as, I dunno, not a freaking highway or something. It's not needed as such, but people still use it way more than is necessary.

A large portion of 16th Ave is designated as an Urban Boulevard. See map 4 of this link:
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/LUPP/Docum...s/mdp-maps.pdf

Granted, the designation doesn't change the geometric design, but as more properties redevelop into higher intensity mixed uses, the "freeway" feel should dissipate.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

You have to have a truck route across the city in the northern half somewhere. Name an alternative. Essentially, banning trucks on 16th would mean all those truck would go onto McKnight/JLB.

That's kinda what I was implying, if not well.

I'm not even saying banning trucks or anything. Some will always have to use it. But give them a better alternative, so that they willingly avoid 16th when at all possible. It's essentially what's happened with Stoney right now with a lot of traffic.

[milomilo]

16th Ave is awful. I saw someone else on this board posted a name for roads like these - stroads, which I think describes it accurately. If 16th isn't to become a high quality road way for cars/trucks then we need to downgrade it and make it a high quality corridor for business. Starting by reducing the number of lanes, and stripping it's undeserved Highway 1 status. Same with Macloed Trail, my other most disliked road.

[jsbertram]

in theory highway traffic that is just passing through the city is supposed to be using the ring road now that it exists.

However since 16th is officially part of the Trans Canada Highway system, people will continue to use it. even if they're just passing through town.

Maybe we need to relocate Motel Village to an intersection of Stoney / 16th?

And discourage touristy & travellers businesses from locating on 16th?

Except Peters Drive-In. Gotta have a burger & shake (or two) on the way home after a weekend skiing.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

in theory highway traffic that is just passing through the city is supposed to be using the ring road now that it exists.

However since 16th is officially part of the Trans Canada Highway system, people will continue to use it. even if they're just passing through town.

Maybe we need to relocate Motel Village to an intersection of Stoney / 16th?

And discourage touristy & travellers businesses from locating on 16th?

Except Peters Drive-In. Gotta have a burger & shake (or two) on the way home after a weekend skiing.

I wonder how much of the traffic on 16th ave originates in or is destined for Calgary? Probably at least 90%. I don't think the solution is outsourcing hotels to the edge of the city. Instead, a crosstown transit right of way connecting ValleyRidge-COP-Bowness-Montgomery-Foothills-McMahon-NorthHill-SAIT-CentreStreet-Renfrew-VistaHeights-PLC-52nd-68th could move 100x more people than a lane of traffic and free up room for emergency vehicles destined for the 3 major hospital enroute (ACH, Foothills, PLC). Such a right of way would also be useful for firetrucks at stations 15, 10, 7, 4, and 22. Transit times would be cut in half, and less car traffic could help businesses between Northhill and Deerfoot.

We are in agreement about Peter's Drive-In.

[H.E.Pennypacker]

Improvement of the 16th Ave and Deerfoot intersection combined with turning Mcknight/JL into more of a freeway would help.. With signage

But that's such a farfetched idea i'll just keep drinking my beer and hush up

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

I wonder how much of the traffic on 16th ave originates in or is destined for Calgary? Probably at least 90%. I don't think the solution is outsourcing hotels to the edge of the city. Instead, a crosstown transit right of way connecting ValleyRidge-COP-Bowness-Montgomery-Foothills-McMahon-NorthHill-SAIT-CentreStreet-Renfrew-VistaHeights-PLC-52nd-68th could move 100x more people than a lane of traffic and free up room for emergency vehicles destined for the 3 major hospital enroute (ACH, Foothills, PLC). Such a right of way would also be useful for firetrucks at stations 15, 10, 7, 4, and 22. Transit times would be cut in half, and less car traffic could help businesses between Northhill and Deerfoot.

We are in agreement about Peter's Drive-In.

It's probably closer to 95% local traffic, if not more. It's sort of amazing how obsessed people can get with the incredibly small amount of through traffic here. Billions of dollars for the ring road being the start; you could have paid every truck that bypassed the city a thousand dollars to find another route somewhere and still come out ahead over the lifetime of the road.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

Billions of dollars for the ring road being the start; you could have paid every truck that bypassed the city a thousand dollars to find another route somewhere and still come out ahead over the lifetime of the road.

Better crunch those numbers again. Assuming it's 1000 trucks per day going through (which I am guessing is incredibly low)- by your math would be $1M per day or $365M per year. What's the price on the ring road now; 3 or 4 billion? That would pay it off in 10 years.

Now increase the number of trucks, as I'm sure I'm not even close at 1000 per day. Also add in the other uses for the road.

I will agree that banning trucks on 16th is the answer. However signage indicating that the Trans Canada goes north of the city could help a bit.

[WaitWhat?]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Better crunch those numbers again. Assuming it's 1000 trucks per day going through (which I am guessing is incredibly low)- by your math would be $1M per day or $365M per year. What's the price on the ring road now; 3 or 4 billion? That would pay it off in 10 years.

Now increase the number of trucks, as I'm sure I'm not even close at 1000 per day. Also add in the other uses for the road.

I will agree that banning trucks on 16th is the answer. However signage indicating that the Trans Canada goes north of the city could help a bit.

One of the problems with the ring road is that it's not necessarily a faster way to get from east to west or north to south through the city. Use Google Maps and type in Strathmore to Canmore. It will suggest using 16th ave to get through the city, showing it's ~1 to 2 minutes faster than the ring road. Same thing with Okotoks to Airdrie - Deerfoot is ~1 to 2 minutes faster than the ring road. The ring road is better only when traffic is sufficiently bad on 16th ave or Deerfoot. And even then, Google doesn't seem to take this into account.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by WaitWhat?

One of the problems with the ring road is that it's not necessarily a faster way to get from east to west or north to south through the city. Use Google Maps and type in Strathmore to Canmore. It will suggest using 16th ave to get through the city, showing it's ~1 to 2 minutes faster than the ring road. Same thing with Okotoks to Airdrie - Deerfoot is ~1 to 2 minutes faster than the ring road. The ring road is better only when traffic is sufficiently bad on 16th ave or Deerfoot. And even then, Google doesn't seem to take this into account.

It may take a minute or 2 longer, but I'm sure most people would rather cruise at highway speeds than stop and go for 20 minutes.

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It may take a minute or 2 longer, but I'm sure most people would rather cruise at highway speeds than stop and go for 20 minutes.

Agreed - and that's a best case scenario for 16th, and just for cars. Trucks should have a much easier time on Stoney rather than the million stop lights and pedestrian crossings on 16th, with the only problem being most are probably headed to/from Calgary. The TCH should definitely be re-routed though.

Just had a thought - speed limits on Stoney are currently retarded and not 110 for parts of it for reasons which are beyond me. Google Maps probably knows this and takes it into account.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by milomilo

Agreed - and that's a best case scenario for 16th, and just for cars. Trucks should have a much easier time on Stoney rather than the million stop lights and pedestrian crossings on 16th, with the only problem being most are probably headed to/from Calgary. The TCH should definitely be re-routed though.

Just had a thought - speed limits on Stoney are currently retarded and not 110 for parts of it for reasons which are beyond me. Google Maps probably knows this and takes it into account.

There is little truck traffic on 16th today that isn't local, much of what I see is SOV local traffic.

A dedicated transit only lane would improve the pedestrian experience immensely while also increasing the efficiency of the road. I for one would use a high frequency route on 16th regularly to go to grab small items from the North Hill shopping area (Home Depot, Safeway, etc.).

By the same token I would walk to center street (2 blocks further) rather than 10th if there was a dedicated lane for transit there as well.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

It's probably closer to 95% local traffic, if not more. It's sort of amazing how obsessed people can get with the incredibly small amount of through traffic here. Billions of dollars for the ring road being the start; you could have paid every truck that bypassed the city a thousand dollars to find another route somewhere and still come out ahead over the lifetime of the road.

Agreed with this. But particularly true for the SW portion announced in the fall. 2 billion dollars to build + 400 million just for the right to build it.

I am not saying it isn't valuable, but for 2.5 billion? I don't think you could make that argument. You could provide transit passes and truck vouchers for every truck that would use this stretch and be better off. the AB government has a hard-on for rings and nothing else was satisfactory;

"the ring must be complete, damn the expense! We would have to rename it if it wasn't a complete "ring" road! Think of the pandemonium!"

[H.E.Pennypacker]

Originally Posted by Full Mountain

There is little truck traffic on 16th today that isn't local, much of what I see is SOV local traffic.

A dedicated transit only lane would improve the pedestrian experience immensely while also increasing the efficiency of the road. I for one would use a high frequency route on 16th regularly to go to grab small items from the North Hill shopping area (Home Depot, Safeway, etc.).

By the same token I would walk to center street (2 blocks further) rather than 10th if there was a dedicated lane for transit there as well.

Dedicate transit-only lanes in both directions, combined with the requirement for very wide setbacks on new developments going forward would vastly improve the pedestrian realm going forward