No left turns Crowchild --> 24 Ave during rush hour

[rage2]

Started today. First time where there's no slowdown at that intersection in a while during morning rush hour. Dropped my commute from 16 mins to 13 mins today. Let's see how well it works as winter approaches.

http://newsroom.calgary.ca/pr/calgary/traffic-pilot-at-24-avenue-and-247672.aspx


The City of Calgary will be conducting a traffic pilot at the intersection of 24 Avenue and Crowchild Trail N.W. starting August 19. The three month pilot will consist of restricting the left hand, northbound turn from Crowchild Trail to 24 Avenue N.W. on weekdays, during the morning rush hours (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.).

Recent City of Calgary traffic studies have shown by restricting the northbound left turn at this intersection approximately 3200 vehicles per hour moving southbound along Crowchild Trail will now have a longer green signal time, which means traffic congestion will be reduced. By comparison, traffic counts have shown only 50 vehicles per hour currently utilize the northbound left hand turn from Crowchild Trail on to 24 Avenue N.W. during the morning commute.

In addition to the signal changes at this intersection, The City will also add a dual turning lane from eastbound 24 Avenue N.W. to northbound Crowchild Trail N.W. Construction is expected to be completed by early fall 2013.

This traffic pilot and turning lane addition is part of The City’s Traffic Congestion Reduction program, a program developed to examine intersections across Calgary and find innovative solutions to decrease traffic delays. The 24 Avenue and Crowchild Trail N.W. is one of several projects under the Traffic Congestion Reduction program, including the Lake Fraser Gate traffic pilot which was launched last fall.

[Xtrema]

Noticed that too but I assume it's just being last days of summer vacations as there was no slow down south of 24Ave either.

We will see after Labour day long weekend when everyone is back to school/work.

[speedog]

It'll be good - they've been doing this for a while on Macleod SB at Avenida and it's all good to go in the winter.

[Xtrema]

Well they need to do the same with 5th Ave and Kensington Road to completely remove the jam.

Just doing 24Ave may not yield enough improvements. If you look at North bound traffic, nobody needs to turn left on those 2 intersections. Either get on Memorial or University Dr.

[clem24]

I say fuck it and go all the way and keep Crowchild green during both AM and PM rush!!

[mr2mike]

Since I'm leaving my house and not returning for the day, I'm ok with this in my area. Will probably lessen traffic on 14th St too.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by speedog
It'll be good - they've been doing this for a while on Macleod SB at Avenida and it's all good to go in the winter. Yup. I wish there were a more efficient way to do it than send a crew of guys to lay out barriers and pylons twice a day, but the effect it has on morning traffic is amazing.

[benyl]

Originally posted by Mibz
Yup. I wish there were a more efficient way to do it than send a crew of guys to lay out barriers and pylons twice a day, but the effect it has on morning traffic is amazing.

They did the manual thing for a year or more with the traffic reversal of 4th ave / Bow trail. Once they decided to make it permanent, they put in automated barriers.

[killramos]

Will be interesting to see the effect in university traffic once fall semester starts up. Tbh going that way rather than taking university drive or the overpass at 32'd seems odd. Maybe it will be a long term pilot.

[bspot]

^same with the Memorial lane reversal. There is no way to know if it's going to work until you pilot it, so no point wasting $ on construction yet.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by benyl
They did the manual thing for a year or more with the traffic reversal of 4th ave / Bow trail. Once they decided to make it permanent, they put in automated barriers. I had no idea those existed. That's awesome.

[rage2]

Commute time today, same as my usual average of 16 minutes. Had to stop at the red light on Crowchild and 24th. How does McLeod and Avenida work? Is it a full green on McLeod and you can't go straight/turn left on Avenida? That's what they need to do for 24th Ave.

I guess that it didn't help that some idiot dumped gravel and rocks down a massive stretch of Crowchild too.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2
How does McLeod and Avenida work? Is it a full green on McLeod and you can't go straight/turn left on Avenida? Correct. MacLeod gets a permanent green going NB and SB. The turn lanes from SB -> EB and WB -> SB are blocked off by cones.

It's a T so there is no WB traffic.

[lilmira]

Originally posted by rage2
I guess that it didn't help that some idiot dumped gravel and rocks down a massive stretch of Crowchild too.

Yeah, WTF was that? All the sudden, it went from the usual lalalala to rawr!

[rage2]

I had to back the fuck off from ppl changing lanes at speed limit in that mess. People were oversteering and correcting and kicking up a ridiculous amount of rocks. Pure gong show.

[rage2]

Definately had to do with lower traffic during the end of summer. It's packed again. Problem is that there's still a red light there, it's only removing the turn, giving an extra 10 seconds of green, if even.

[benyl]

I don't miss my NW commute.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by rage2
Definately had to do with lower traffic during the end of summer. It's packed again. Problem is that there's still a red light there, it's only removing the turn, giving an extra 10 seconds of green, if even.

I avoided back to the school week but I don't see much improvement for the last 2 weeks either.

They need to completely remove west bound traffic crossing Crowchild from 24 ave down the bow trail if they want real improvement.

[clem24]

Originally posted by Xtrema


I avoided back to the school week but I don't see much improvement for the last 2 weeks either.

They need to completely remove west bound traffic crossing Crowchild from 24 ave down the bow trail if they want real improvement.

It's been better. Last week, traffic started backing up close to Shag and one time by Sarcee.

And TBH, 24th Ave isn't the bottleneck... It's Kensington Road. I mean they can let cars through the 24th Ave intersection till the cows come home and they'll still get stuck making their way down the hill.

However, the problem I see is that once free flow traffic, DOWNTOWN becomes the bottleneck. So the way I see it, backups would start in the right lane for the Memorial turnoff, then again at the 11st Ave and 9th Ave turnoffs. So it's a no win IF you work downtown. But if you work in the south (like my wife) or go to MRU, then the improvements will probably be huge. Oh nevermind.. Then you'll just get stuck behind all the asshats who like to go all the way to the front of the line in the next lane over then stop their car to squeeze in right at the exit.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by clem24
However, the problem I see is that once free flow traffic, DOWNTOWN becomes the bottleneck. So the way I see it, backups would start in the right lane for the Memorial turnoff, then again at the 11st Ave and 9th Ave turnoffs. So it's a no win IF you work downtown. But if you work in the south (like my wife) or go to MRU, then the improvements will probably be huge. Oh nevermind.. Then you'll just get stuck behind all the asshats who like to go all the way to the front of the line in the next lane over then stop their car to squeeze in right at the exit.

There is def no win if you work downtown. But if the close off west bound traffic during rush hour, Crowchild will flow a lot better.

[speedog]

So then, why doesn't the city just shut down 24th Avenue cross/turning traffic during rush hour? Assuming half of 24th avenue traffic loads are rush hour (just assuming of course), we're talking maybe 30 vehicles a minute east and west - certainly 16th Ave/University Drive and 32nd Ave/Charleswood could handle that extra traffic. But then you'd have the lights at the McMahon, 5th Ave and Kensington and by the sounds of things the back-ups are from down in the valley at 5th Ave.

And so it comes back to a major redesign of Crowchild from the river to just past 24th Avenue - anything else probably isn't going to fix things although eliminating left turns and crossing traffic at 24th, McMahon and 5th would probably help in the short term although I can't even begin to surmise how much through/turning traffic that there might be affected at these locations.

[clem24]

Originally posted by Xtrema


There is def no win if you work downtown. But if the close off west bound traffic during rush hour, Crowchild will flow a lot better.

Exactly.. Free flow Crowchild in the morning rush will benefit people working in the south. If you're downtown like me, the bottleneck will just shift elsewhere (like 9th Ave and Memorial - which already backs by the CBC building or worse) as now you'll have too many cars going into downtown at once.

But free flow Crowchild in the PM and it'll be smooth sailing for EVERYONE; that is what they should be concentrating on.