Timing of Calgary's Traffic Lights

[Magnet]

Hi,
I am wondering why it seems like a 20 minute trip anywhere in Calgary takes much longer? Seemingly there is a red light at almost every intersection. I understand speed safety, but a little efficiency in my opinion would be reasonable...or is traffic control center trying to send a message to Calgarians that new aldermen and new city councillors are needed at the next elect?

[4lti]

I must completely agree.
At night the dam lights ALWAYS change when NO ONE IS THERE!!!

Drives me crazy.
The lights here are soooo terrible. Yellow lights flipping so fast to red just to catch a ticket.

I herd that they were installing those digital timers for all the lights in Calgary... What happened to that?

[swak]

Ever waited on 20th ave waiting to cross center street post 12-midnight???

At least 5-10 min wait. Its ridiculous.

[TomcoPDR]

They probably do it on purpose to catch you running a red light or something.

It's been years since I've seen the Macleod Tr. lights timed perfectly so you're going straight through. (i.e. leaving downtown core)

[voodoo]

The worst one is sitting on Malibu drive/road waiting to cross elbow. It's like a 10 minute wait in the middle of the night, or like 30mins during rush hour.

[Spinzz 4]

i kno on barlow if you do 20 over the whole way you can make it without red lights, took some time but i figured this out.

[eb0i]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR

It's been years since I've seen the Macleod Tr. lights timed perfectly so you're going straight through. (i.e. leaving downtown core)

I hit the correcting timing here and there on Macleod that takes me from Erlton Stampede all the way down to Glenmore.

My guess is that timing hasn't changed to take in account for higher volume (more people living here) and therefore there is more congestion that leads to "hitting more reds"

[yoda124]

mistimed traffic lights + shitty calgary drivers....no wonder there's so much road rage!

[dirtsniffer]

going south on sarcee from bow trail to east on glenmore causes me massive trauma. Seriously, at 17 ave redlight then again at richmond road red light, even if your the first car at that light you still cant make it to the lights at highway 8 while they are still green. And then again at 37 street, fml

[toastgremlin]

I'm sure it must be some kind of traffic calming measure. The light timing in this city is atrocious.

I used to hit every single red light, reliably, on my commute regardless of whether or not I meticulously obeyed the speed limit. My coworker has a theory that the lights are actually timed for 10kph over, but that seems suspect.

If the city is so concerned about environmentalism, maybe they should figure out why it is that more than half my commute time is spent sitting at idle.

[masoncgy]

Try Shaganappi Trail from Market Mall (32 Ave) to John Laurie... you will NEVER hit more than one green light, if you get one at all.

[RY213]

The worst stretch of road is 25th ave behind the stampede grounds. Red at the manchester city yard, red at spiller road (both sets of lights), red at the stampede, then red at Macleod Tr. The lights at Manchester are the worst, like seriously they should be on a timer after 4pm...

[black13]

yea the timing for traffic lights are horrendous in this city. I think a monkey could make them better.

The downtown avenues in non-rush hour traffic are the only ones that work well and that's it. Barlow trail is really really bad as well.

[vps]

yeah, on 4th street east and 64th ave, there is always an advance green for left turns on 4th going west on 64th, even when there's no cars turning, always blocks traffic trying to go west on 64th. Drives me crazy during commutes to work.

[masoncgy]

^ Add to that list the light at Centre & 64 Ave... if you're on Centre St trying to cross 64 Ave you will wait forever for that light to change.

Not sure why 64 Ave gets priority either, considering Centre St is a major transit corridor with heavier volume.

[you&me]

Originally posted by RY213
The worst stretch of road is 25th ave behind the stampede grounds. Red at the manchester city yard, red at spiller road (both sets of lights), red at the stampede, then red at Macleod Tr. The lights at Manchester are the worst, like seriously they should be on a timer after 4pm...

+1 This is the exact stretch of road I thought of when I read the thread title.

I'm not sure how it works or what system they use, but traffic lights in Palm Springs are absolute magic! Lights on main roads are very well timed and the lights allowing cross-traffic from side streets are timed depending on the volume needing to cross (one car = very short light, many cars = light that's just long enough for everyone to cross). This minimizes wait times coming off side streets and disruption to the main road.

Please, someone for the city traffic dept call Palm Springs and copy their system!