Quote:
Originally Posted by wacko
I'm from Regina, and I don't often drive elsewhere in the province. However, the last three days I was driving in and through Saskatoon for work, so I thought I'd pass on my observations.
Getting to the downtown office was easy via the College Drive bridge (which I've since learned is actually called University Bridge). However, turning right onto Idylwyld from 25th Street was awkward, since I had to watch for potential trains as well as oncoming traffic, while taking care not to stay on the tracks. Railway tracks simply shouldn't ever be located that close to a road, especially at an intersection.
Coming back from Lloydminster yesterday, I thought I'd try out Circle Drive West. Firstly though, I have to state that the intersection with Idylwyld North remains the clusterfuck it's always been. Maybe it was the time of day (about 12:30 pm) but there was quite a number of vehicles waiting to turn left or right onto Circle Drive. By far the best solution would be for the city to expropriate all surrounding land, raze everything, and construct a proper interchange from scratch, but of course that will never happen.
Once past the lights, Circle Drive West was actually pretty nice to drive on, breezing along at 90 kph. Though I must ask, what's up with the at-grade intersection at Laurier Drive? The bends in the vicinity of 11th Street were also rather interesting.
After Valley Road, a third lane appears, which might be somewhat confusing for out-of-towners. They might decide to move right to allow faster traffic to go by, only to later find they have to move back left, and then left again to stay on Circle Drive to Hwy 11. From a traffic flow perspective, it would've been better to have two lanes continuing east with a seamless connection with Circle Drive East, while building another full interchange with Idylwyld. But of course that's a pipe dream also.
|
Nice to see another well thought out perspective, I'll take the opportunity to comment on your points:
As for at grade rail crossing, well that certainly is undesirable, especially at an intersection. Grade separation was not in the budget so the transportation planning group spent some time determining the best alignment for this intersection - either way the rail line posed a major dilemna. I think the final location is a bit of an experiment and I think it will need tweaking in the years to come, but the rail line will be there for a long time.
Interchange improvements at Idylwyld Dr N is a priority for the city, last I heard they are planning on turning that into a single point intersection in the not so distant future - appropriating the adjacent parcels is likely not in the cards (budget).
I agree that the at grade intersections along Circle Dr W are problematic. They are also largely unnecessary, but removal of left turns would divert that traffic to 11th St and Confederation Dr. The interchange at Confed is a bit of a mess so that will be a bit of a nightmare. There is a planned overpass at Airport Dr - once all these traffic lights are removed Circle Dr W will flow very well.
As to the curves near 11th st, that is what happens when you have to route around existing infrastructure, but atleast they were able to separate the grade of the rail lines there.
As for the interchange of Circle Dr S and Idylwyld, it is a bit of a mess and it is not long enough of a stretch for proper weaving, but at some point 4 lanes of traffic must reduce to two, I agree that if a WB lane off Circle Dr flew over and connected to NB Idylwyld Dr it would make for a contiguous flow, however if drivers have a difficulty with that location already, it would mean that a lot of people would be unwittingly getting headed towards downtown (like downtown needs more bad drivers!).