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  #6581  
Old Posted Nov 23, 2019, 1:09 AM
CrossedTheTracks CrossedTheTracks is offline
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Originally Posted by milomilo View Post
I've always wondered how hard those slopes were to remove.
A similar slope was removed on Bow Trail westbound under Crowchild southbound for the West LRT project. The westbound lanes were shifted north in the vacated space to make room for the LRT in the middle.

I'm totally ignorant of the actual civil engineering involved, but it didn't appear to be a big deal at the time.
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  #6582  
Old Posted Nov 24, 2019, 12:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Corndogger View Post
It's very doable and can be done amazingly quickly. I also don't think the cost is that crazy. Have a look at this animation from what UDOT did back in 2007 that looks very similar to what we have at Glenmore/Deerfoot now.

Video Link
Very cool video.

If they re-do the Deerfoot/Glemore interchange and leave the the existing bridge and only allow for 2 through lanes on Glenmore each direction that will be the height of stupidity. It's unbelievable that two of the busiest roads in Calgary have been underserved with this current interchange for this long.
I've alwas assumed a new parallel span would be built over Glenmore and once complete the existing span would be demolished. Once demo was complete a new southbound bridge for Deerfoot would be built. Basically what they are doing at Stoney and MacLeod.
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  #6583  
Old Posted Nov 24, 2019, 3:02 AM
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Originally Posted by craner View Post
Very cool video.

If they re-do the Deerfoot/Glemore interchange and leave the the existing bridge and only allow for 2 through lanes on Glenmore each direction that will be the height of stupidity. It's unbelievable that two of the busiest roads in Calgary have been underserved with this current interchange for this long.
I've alwas assumed a new parallel span would be built over Glenmore and once complete the existing span would be demolished. Once demo was complete a new southbound bridge for Deerfoot would be built. Basically what they are doing at Stoney and MacLeod.
Since the province first started talking about fixing the Glenmore/Deerfoot interchange in 2009 (?) I believe the plan was to always have at least three lanes on Glenmore. I remember talking to Alberta Transportation people at some open houses and that's what they said and I believe the city has indicated they want Glenmore to be at least three lanes it's entire length. If we end spending $200 to $250 million (?) to fix/expand this interchange complex it would be the height of stupidity to leave Glenmore at just two lanes in the area.

One thing I love about the UDOT example is that it only resulted in a loss of I-215 use for a weekend. If we did something similar we could stage it so that after the new NB (?) span was built we could just roll the new SB span into place right after. There's no reason the replacement span couldn't be built right at the very end of construction of the new span. That way everything would be done at once and we'd have essentially an all new interchange.
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  #6584  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2019, 9:23 PM
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Regarding Crowchild short term upgades:
Now that work is nearing an end on the main portion - are they still planning to add the ramp from WB 16th to NB Crow ?
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  #6585  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2019, 9:47 PM
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Originally Posted by craner View Post
Regarding Crowchild short term upgades:
Now that work is nearing an end on the main portion - are they still planning to add the ramp from WB 16th to NB Crow ?
According to the project website that related work is supposed to be done by the end of the year. Have they started? I haven't been by there in ages.
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  #6586  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2019, 9:57 PM
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Literally nothing is happening there. I saw the same claim about it being finished this year, and it was somehow tied into the MAX BRT stuff. They need to fix that access road, it's an unsafe joke, and they've just added a highrise full of units right onto it, so hopefully they get moving on it soon.
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  #6587  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2019, 9:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by milomilo View Post
Literally nothing is happening there. I saw the same claim about it being finished this year, and it was somehow tied into the MAX BRT stuff. They need to fix that access road, it's an unsafe joke, and they've just added a highrise full of units right onto it, so hopefully they get moving on it soon.
According to the project timeline the ramp construction was to have began Q2 2018!
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  #6588  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2019, 10:02 PM
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Yikes!
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  #6589  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 1:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Corndogger View Post
According to the project timeline the ramp construction was to have began Q2 2018!
Drove by there today - looks like ramp construction is underway!

It really would be great if they could use this “Covid” time to finish the Crowchild upgrades and get it free flowing between 24th Ave and the river.

Last edited by craner; Apr 25, 2020 at 1:58 AM.
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  #6590  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 4:07 AM
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Originally Posted by craner View Post
Drove by there today - looks like ramp construction is underway!

It really would be great if they could use this “Covid” time to finish the Crowchild upgrades and get it free flowing between 24th Ave and the river.
That project is way behind schedule. Maybe it'll be done by this fall!
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  #6591  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 4:45 AM
milomilo milomilo is offline
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Originally Posted by craner View Post
Drove by there today - looks like ramp construction is underway!

It really would be great if they could use this “Covid” time to finish the Crowchild upgrades and get it free flowing between 24th Ave and the river.
Yeah the full Crowchild upgrade is not going to happen any time soon/ever. That sort of project relies on the assumption that Calgary would remain growing rapidly, and that became a poor assumption in the last few months.

You're right in your observation on 16 Ave/Crowchild, last I saw it sure looked like a ramp.
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  #6592  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 6:31 AM
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^I respectfully disagree - Crowchild should have been upgraded 40 years ago.
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  #6593  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 6:54 AM
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Originally Posted by milomilo View Post
Yeah the full Crowchild upgrade is not going to happen any time soon/ever. That sort of project relies on the assumption that Calgary would remain growing rapidly, and that became a poor assumption in the last few months.

You're right in your observation on 16 Ave/Crowchild, last I saw it sure looked like a ramp.
Crowchild has been grossly overcapacity for decades. The main reason it hasn't been upgraded already is NIMBYism and Druh.
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  #6594  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 11:51 AM
milomilo milomilo is offline
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Originally Posted by Corndogger View Post
Crowchild has been grossly overcapacity for decades. The main reason it hasn't been upgraded already is NIMBYism and Druh.
And, more importantly, the fact it could cost hundreds of millions to a billion to fix. It's a big job.

The bridge was the more important bottleneck, and they are improving that.
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  #6595  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 11:55 AM
milomilo milomilo is offline
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Originally Posted by craner View Post
^I respectfully disagree - Crowchild should have been upgraded 40 years ago.
Whatever should have happened has little relevance to what is going to happen yet. Money is limited and it has to go to the most worthy causes. I'm really not sure what Calgary is going to look like in 5 years, so I wouldn't support wasting huge amounts of money on a road project that wasn't needed.

This is despite me thinking that Crowchild was probably the most broken part of the road network, a few months ago.
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  #6596  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 3:56 PM
MalcolmTucker MalcolmTucker is offline
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Would we rather spend $400 million fixing two lanes on Crowchild, or spend $200-400 million not breaking Centre Street?

Crowchild even at the current state (well, before covid!) is a lot better. I wonder whether future phases are really needed.
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  #6597  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 8:38 PM
milomilo milomilo is offline
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Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker View Post
Would we rather spend $400 million fixing two lanes on Crowchild, or spend $200-400 million not breaking Centre Street?

Crowchild even at the current state (well, before covid!) is a lot better. I wonder whether future phases are really needed.
Yep. I'm not sure what you mean by 2 lanes, but the city's numbers for the medium term fix to Crowchild is actually even larger than what I said, $800M - $2.2B. I'll be the first to say I hate Crowchild and think it's a total joke of a road designed by morons, but at the end of the day we have to spend a limited set of money where it will go furthest. If we are to spend billions, it should go on something that makes traffic better (transit), not something that makes traffic worse (roads).

I say this as someone that uses Crowchild regularly, drives a ton and rarely uses transit. Definitely not buses.
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  #6598  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 10:07 PM
Corndogger Corndogger is offline
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Originally Posted by milomilo View Post
And, more importantly, the fact it could cost hundreds of millions to a billion to fix. It's a big job.

The bridge was the more important bottleneck, and they are improving that.
The entire stretch is a bottleneck. About 15 years ago they were very close to proceeding with a major upgrade but Druh stopped them.
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  #6599  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2020, 10:11 PM
Corndogger Corndogger is offline
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Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker View Post
Would we rather spend $400 million fixing two lanes on Crowchild, or spend $200-400 million not breaking Centre Street?

Crowchild even at the current state (well, before covid!) is a lot better. I wonder whether future phases are really needed.
Is transit use going to recover from COVID-19? I can see a lot of people going back to driving to work regardless of what the City wants. Also, unless something major changes with the office market more and more jobs will be outside of the core which more than likely will mean more driving regardless of how people feel about transit.
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  #6600  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2020, 2:36 AM
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Originally Posted by Corndogger View Post
Since the province first started talking about fixing the Glenmore/Deerfoot interchange in 2009 (?) I believe the plan was to always have at least three lanes on Glenmore. I remember talking to Alberta Transportation people at some open houses and that's what they said and I believe the city has indicated they want Glenmore to be at least three lanes it's entire length. If we end spending $200 to $250 million (?) to fix/expand this interchange complex it would be the height of stupidity to leave Glenmore at just two lanes in the area.

One thing I love about the UDOT example is that it only resulted in a loss of I-215 use for a weekend. If we did something similar we could stage it so that after the new NB (?) span was built we could just roll the new SB span into place right after. There's no reason the replacement span couldn't be built right at the very end of construction of the new span. That way everything would be done at once and we'd have essentially an all new interchange.
I went to an open house at the Glenmore Inn about the Deerfoot - Glenmore rebuild when I still lived full-time in Calgary. I left in December, 2001.

The I-15 rebuild through the Wasatch Front was truly amazing in terms of keeping traffic moving during construction, the extra capacity added and relatively affordable budget. Utah seems to get things done with relative ease compared to other states.
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