Why are the traffic lights in this city so poorly timed?

[Redlyne_mr2]

Anyone else get frustrated by the lights in this city and how they are timed? It seems as soon as the light I'm at turns green the next one ahead turns red. I find the stretch along 17th ave sw between Sarcee and 85th street especially bad. This seems to cause a lot of frustration with not only myself, but many other drivers which in turn causes sudden acceleration, speeding and people just racing to make the next light. It's also bad for the environment as it causes more idling and heavy acceleration. There are many parts downtown that are especially bad as well.

[eblend]

Worst I think is the light on 1st sw and 7th ave by the train, seriously have to wait like 3 minutes for the light to change. I bike by there every single day, and it just sits green for the trains 3-4 minutes at a time, stupid.

[vengie]

I hate lights in this city. Anderson eastbound, if you are stopped at 14th street you can expect to also be stopped at Elbow drive and the overpass over macleod :banghead: 3 consecutive lights.

[atgilchrist]

Downtown, the lights are all timed for the avenues, which mean the streets get the shaft. And a surface level transit system just adds to the clusterfuck.

[97'Scort]

You guys have fuck all on Victoria. Our lights here are so poorly timed that I get 20% worse gas mileage here than any other city I've ever lived in. It's so fucking stupid that a monkey could randomly program the lighting algorithm and probably do a better job.

[atgilchrist]

Originally posted by 97'Scort
You guys have fuck all on Victoria. Our lights here are so poorly timed that I get 20% worse gas mileage here than any other city I've ever lived in. It's so fucking stupid that a monkey could randomly program the lighting algorithm and probably do a better job.

Just go up Island to Nanaimo, and the lights are all on sensors. During the day it sucks, but at night (when there's less traffic) it seems to go way faster.

[whiskas]

Not all. Try travelling along 4th or 6th ave outside of rush hour traffic, and as long as you maintain a speed of 60kph you'll be able to go across downtown without having to stop once.

[psycoticclown]

Pft... you guys can't complain at all.

Me and my friends were at one light here in Lethbridge, off ramp of the highway onto Mayor Magrath by Ric's Grill for people who know Lethbridge and we actually waited at the lights for over 4 minutes. We timed it too after waiting a minute. And this was at 10:30 at night, no cars going on the road we were trying to turn on at all. Fucking terrible, almost tempted to run that light.

[black13]

Yea there seriously needs to be better coordination of the lights. And if they don't have sensors then they're even worse.

[nismo_fan]

the very worst light for waiting in the city of calgary would have to be on glenmore trail east at 84st. if your turning north onto 84th you have about a 6 minute wait at best. especially at night when there is no traffic around....

[5hift]

Originally posted by whiskas
Not all. Try travelling along 4th or 6th ave outside of rush hour traffic, and as long as you maintain a speed of 60kph you'll be able to go across downtown without having to stop once.

This. I dont know why you guys are whining, I drive all over Calgary and the wait times are realistic for the given traffic. At the same time, its quite common to get through downtown without stopping once as mentioned. Try driving through the downtown of any other major North American city without having to stop once for traffic.



Originally posted by psycoticclown
Pft... you guys can't complain at all.

Me and my friends were at one light here in Lethbridge, off ramp of the highway onto Mayor Magrath by Ric's Grill for people who know Lethbridge and we actually waited at the lights for over 4 minutes. We timed it too after waiting a minute. And this was at 10:30 at night, no cars going on the road we were trying to turn on at all. Fucking terrible, almost tempted to run that light.

Yeah Lethbridge is fucked with their traffic controls, I don't think they have traffic flow cameras like Calgary. But its made up for by the fact they don't have red light or speed cameras at their intersections, and their police force focuses their manpower on issues other than traffic enforcement (cash grab) here.

[Rat Fink]

.

[corsvette]

I find that 36st n.e is terrible,you are allmost guaranteed to hit every single light red.

[Kritafo]

It's considered traffic calming. I kept a clip from the Calgary Herald where a Calgarian contacted the city and was told it was "traffic calming"

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Timed+lights/1990688/story.html

[TorqueDog]

It's not profitable to have appropriately timed lights.

[rage2]

Originally posted by whiskas
Not all. Try travelling along 4th or 6th ave outside of rush hour traffic, and as long as you maintain a speed of 60kph you'll be able to go across downtown without having to stop once.
Same on 5th ave, with the exception of 4th street. If I'm not starting on the green from 8th street, I have to fucking floor it hard to make the 4th street light haha.

9th ave is timed too.

[ercchry]

22x going into cranston is pretty annoying.... they time it so you get a green at the intersection right off 22x then by the time you drive up the 50ft the intersection crossing 22x turns red.... and to top it off during rush hour there is so many cars waiting that the short stretch between the 2 lights is always backed up into the intersection

[Type_B]

just whenever i get up to speed the lights suddenly turns yellow. I find this very rude. I think the cops might have adjusted these settings so they can score more on the traffic camera's + tickets.:dunno:

[TorqueDog]

Originally posted by TorqueDog
It's not profitable to have appropriately timed lights.
Originally posted by Type_B
I think the cops might have adjusted these settings so they can score more on the traffic camera's + tickets.:dunno: And the master plan is revealed.

[Canmorite]

Southbound on Blackfoot from 58th ave to heritage is fucked. Every morning this summer I drove it, can't catch a wave the whole way. JUST as you get to the lights they turn red, but if you punch it you can make it through. So annoying.

[samo147]

Originally posted by corsvette
I find that 36st n.e is terrible,you are allmost guaranteed to hit every single light red.

yea thats the worst... even when the ctrains going by the light is still red..

[nonlinear]

A: BECAUSE THIS CITY IS RUN BY GOD DAMNED IDIOTS!!!!!!


please vote in the next municipal elections :thumbsup:

[Aleks]

McLeod from DT to Southland is awsome. I usually only have to stop once at Chinook/Glenmore on the way home from work.

[traviswithaG]

they do it so we have more oppertunitys to race .. Duh.

what are tow truck drivers going to do if they cant pull inetgra's off of trees on a daily basis ?:burnout: :burnout:

[benyl]

Two words.

Countryhills BLVD.

Thanks goodness for Stoney trail!

[masoncgy]

Sarcee Trail, between Glenmore & 16 Ave... UGH!!!

That clusterfuck set up at Richmond Road... then the loooooooooong ass waits at 17 Ave SW & Bow Trail....

It is quicker for me to get to Signal Hill from Sandstone by taking Deerfoot & Glenmore than it is to take the ring road & Sarcee... I've timed it... those lights on Sarcee add like 10 minutes to the trip.

[nos_efx]

All of 52nd street, especially down around the glenmore area, they've got signal lights on during late hours in the night. The lights turn red for no apparent reason at all.

By far the worse street.

[TYMSMNY]

Originally posted by masoncgy
Sarcee Trail, between Glenmore & 16 Ave... UGH!!!

That clusterfuck set up at Richmond Road... then the loooooooooong ass waits at 17 Ave SW & Bow Trail....

It is quicker for me to get to Signal Hill from Sandstone by taking Deerfoot & Glenmore than it is to take the ring road & Sarcee... I've timed it... those lights on Sarcee add like 10 minutes to the trip.

LOL... there's like 2 lights from Sarcee/16th to Signal Hill.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by benyl
Two words.

Countryhills BLVD. Technically it would be three, because it's country hills boulevard ;) :D

But agreed, this is the worst road to drive on right now, especially between Shaganappi & Beddington, such a fucking mess right now :banghead:

[TKRIS]

Originally posted by Kritafo
It's considered traffic calming. I kept a clip from the Calgary Herald where a Calgarian contacted the city and was told it was "traffic calming"

Two words that drive my blood pressure through the fucking roof.
Traffic control and design manuals have huge sections devoted to this topic. Near as I can tell, the purpose seems to be solely to break up any momentum or smoothness, and generally make driving down a road as inefficient as possible.



We could solve A LOT of this countries ills by getting the fuck out of people's way.

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Originally posted by Eleanor
Technically it would be three, because it's country hills boulevard ;) :D

But agreed, this is the worst road to drive on right now, especially between Shaganappi & Beddington, such a fucking mess right now :banghead:

Agreed - CHB and Barlow in the NE piss me off the most - between Shag and Beddington there's only one light at least...if you go further east you'll get frustrated in a hurry wondering how you get so many red lights on your way to Deerfoot

[mr2mike]

Just outside the city on the 1A. You'd think that they would have the lights flashing yellow at night during very low traffic times. But no, the lights change even at 3am. I don't know how many people I've seen drive right through the red lights.

Definitely no concern for wasted fuel. It's used as a speed control device. Let's be honest. I'm sure someone did a study and reported it to the city. I mean why have they gotten rid of the big clover leaf's? ie: Sarcee Tr and 16th Ave NW. When I was young, this was a clover leaf. Now they sport lights. I'm sure there were others down south and in the NE but I don't remember those.

While you're on it, the rough roads in areas are also a speed control device.

[Tik-Tok]

The lights that bug me, are the dual left turn lanes.

Every single one in the city is either a green arrow, or a red. There's no normal green light in between, so that you can turn when there is no traffic.

[ekguy]

Or turning left from Macloud onto Canyone Meadows going west you always get the turning left light then as soon as you turn you get the red at the next intersection about 200 feet further. Seems stupid to me.

[TKRIS]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
The lights that bug me, are the dual left turn lanes.

Every single one in the city is either a green arrow, or a red. There's no normal green light in between, so that you can turn when there is no traffic.

I run red left turn arrows.
Wj6mF_S9sgA

[masoncgy]

Barlow Trail from Memorial Drive all the way up to McKnight Blvd sucks too... so many lights... none of them are timed properly...

[prae]

Originally posted by TKRIS


I run red left turn arrows.
Wj6mF_S9sgA

the lanes at crowchild & 5th ave and blackfoot & heritage are THE WORST for this.

I run those reds every chance i get. feels good man.

[sexualbanana]

This stretch of road doesn't effect too many people, but there is a stretch of lights on 18th Street SE stretching from Glenmore Trail to 76th Ave that includes 3 traffic lights. Let me explain my issue with these lights. For the sake of argument, we will be traveling north of 18th.

Light #1 is the light that allows the drivers coming from west-bound Glenmore to turn left onto south-bound 18th street (it's an off-ramp, half-clover leaf set up). Now this light is on a timer regardless of actual traffic patterns. So far, based on what I've recorded, the green light to turn south lasts 45 seconds. Which bothers me because there really isn't that much traffic turning north to warrant such a long cycle, nor does it change late at night when there is virtually no traffic. Meanwhile, the green light to go straight north-south on 18th, where there is significantly more traffic, lasts approx. 20 seconds. It's a reasonable approximation that having to drive through that light 20 times, I would hit full cycle 15 out of the 20 times.

200 metres north of that light is another traffic light for drivers exiting the strip mall to go south on 18th. Overall, the cycles on this light are short for both directions. So again, it's not uncommon to have to stop for this light.

The kicker to this whole strip, is the traffic light 75 metres north of that light at the corner of 18th street and 76th avenue. This light, from what I've gathered from years of crossing at that light as a child, is on a sensor AND a timer. But as of late, I've noticed the light seems to favor the east-west traffic of 76th avenue over the far busier north-south of 18th street. Why do I seem to think so? #1) The light for 76th avenue seems to turn green despite having absolutely no traffic in the proximity of the light.
#2)Sitting at the previous traffic light at the strip mall, I have on multiple occasions seen that the north-south light turn red then green as my light turns green, then turn red again as I approach the intersection.

Again, it's not uncommon to also sit at the first light at Glenmore Trail and watch the next 2 sets of lights cycle red and green at least twice before your light turns green. Only to run into red lights at the next two lights. No joke.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
The lights that bug me, are the dual left turn lanes.

Every single one in the city is either a green arrow, or a red. There's no normal green light in between, so that you can turn when there is no traffic.

I could imagine the chaos that would insue if you allowed two cars to turn at the same time on a solid green. People can hardly handle driving in a straight line around here.

[masoncgy]

Originally posted by Aleks


I could imagine the chaos that would insue if you allowed two cars to turn at the same time on a solid green. People can hardly handle driving in a straight line around here.

Fair enough... but there are many single left turn lanes that don't give the driver the option of making a turn on a green after the oncoming has cleared... 52 St @ Mcknight Blvd is a good example... that stupid light turning left on WB McKnight only lets about 3-4 cars go and then goes red!

There are other examples too... those intersections suck.

[snoop101]

Its funny how the private sector has technology that is so up to date. They have computers that can run robots its factories, computers that can extract fuels from deep down in the earth, and we fly all over space, but we have train that looks and feels like it was built in the early 1900's, our roads are so poorly maintained and built, and out traffic lights were designed by monkeys.

[JoniBoy]

16th Ave westbound after deerfoot is bad too. I'll be driving it at 10:30 pm on a weeknight, and the lights are turning red on me at "intersections" like 2nd Ave when there's not a car in sight...

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Aleks


I could imagine the chaos that would insue if you allowed two cars to turn at the same time on a solid green. People can hardly handle driving in a straight line around here.

I don't see how it would be any different from a single turn lane.

This brings up another point we were discussing at work the other day, why the hell doesn't the city paint dotted lines for dual left turning lanes :dunno: , it would clear up a lot of confusion for the complete driving morons out there, who don't know what lane their supposed to be in.

You see these lines everywhere in the U.S. for dual turns, but not here of course.

[benyl]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
This brings up another point we were discussing at work the other day, why the hell doesn't the city paint dotted lines for dual left turning lanes :dunno: , it would clear up a lot of confusion for the complete driving morons out there, who don't know what lane their supposed to be in.

You see these lines everywhere in the U.S. for dual turns, but not here of course.

Why would they spend money on painting the roads and making the city safer when they can spend money on a pedestrian bridge that is required to increase capacity of foot traffic?

[TorqueDog]

Originally posted by benyl
Why would they spend money on painting the roads and making the city safer when they can spend money on a pedestrian bridge that is required to increase capacity of foot traffic? Man, you have no idea how often I'm gridlocked, standing on the sidewalk for half an hour because some asshole up front is holding everybody up, and no one has the good sense to walk around him.

We need dual carriageway sidewalks.

[nonlinear]

Originally posted by TorqueDog
Man, you have no idea how often I'm gridlocked, standing on the sidewalk for half an hour because some asshole up front is holding everybody up, and no one has the good sense to walk around him.

We need dual carriageway sidewalks.

this is actually the norm in the University hallways haha

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok

This brings up another point we were discussing at work the other day, why the hell doesn't the city paint dotted lines for dual left turning lanes :dunno: , it would clear up a lot of confusion for the complete driving morons out there, who don't know what lane their supposed to be in.

You see these lines everywhere in the U.S. for dual turns, but not here of course.

They do this up in Edmonton. It's actually quite handy when you are turning from a dual left turn onto a multi-lane road. I'm not sure if it would stop any confusion as people still choose to turn into any lane they feel like, but I would hope it would deter people from continuing their bad habits.

[oilerfan4lyfe]

To the person that talked about cloverleafs...I remember reading on the City of Calgary website a while ago that they now construct "diamonds" - apparently cloverleafs are unsafe and take up too much space...which makes no sense to me considering not having a traffic light is probably safer than having two or three on a diamond.

I don't quite understand the point in spending so many millions of bucks to eliminate the traffic light on CHB and Beddington only to put like three traffic lights on Beddington and screwing over everyone who takes that road...unless those lights are temporary it just makes no sense to me. Same thing with Beddington/Stoney - just build it properly to begin with so people aren't forced to stop every 10 seconds because of a stupid traffic light.

[HuMz]

Worst set of lights has to be turning left on Bannister road from shawnee by Fish Creek Station during off peak hours.

Its the only light i've ever ran in the city and refuse to wait for it, last time I timed 6 minutes before I ran it.

[RY213]

25th Avenue from Highfield Ave to Macleod Tr really pisses me off. The lights are all times to go red, so u get caught at every intersection. They also give the city maintenance yard priority. The city should have a sensor in thier yard, its rediculous to wait for that light to turn green at 2am when there is noone around.

Another one is the light on top of the intersection of Southland Dr coming off northbound Deerfoot. It is always red, and so is the one for southbound deerfoot. I always get caught on both lights...

[szw]

I always thought Calgary had great light timing. I always seem to get the "wave" but that might just be lucky that I take certain routes all the time. There is no such thing as a "green wave" in Toronto at all.