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 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+l...688/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.

[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.

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.