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Thread: WTF is up with construction zones lately....

  1. #1
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    Default WTF is up with construction zones lately....

    I've noticed alot of new changes to how construction zones are setup in Calgary, maybe its because I just moved back to the city last year, maybe they are real changes that happened recently, but everyday I drive through them and notice all of these annoyances:

    1. Construction zone speed limits set before construction even starts. The best example I noticed was the recent construction zone on Marquis of Lorne Trail SE. They changed the speed limit from 80 to 60 and dropped construction signs 2-3 weeks before there was even any equipment nearby. Seems like a bureaucratic law/policy is forcing construction companies to drop these signs in advance, it's a huge waste of time for everyone driving that road.

    2. Construction zones in effect for a much longer distance than the actual distance in construction. The Deerfoot near Douglasdale is a perfect example, the zone starts much earlier and lasts much longer than where the actual construction is taking place. The biggest peeve for me is that NO Calgarians take these seriously, I've been habitualized to always do the construction speed limit, so I always get passed by many motorists in this construction zone. I think doing 70 where others are doing 100+ is dangerous, I avoid the left and center lanes cuz people will fly up behind me here. Traffic cops could rake it in here, but I don't think they take it seriously either. I also feel that the reason behind this extended speed limit zone is a bureaucratic one, because it appears that instead of just moving the construction zone when they work somewhere else, that they just put the whole section that they plan to work on under construction.

    3. There are never "end of construction zone" or resume speed signs at the end of the construction zones. A good example is the now-complete construction zone at the intersection of 24th St SW and Anderson from last year: the construction zone speed limit was 50, once you leave the construction zone, there were no signs saying to resume speed or that the construction zone ended, so if you followed the signs, you would continue to do 50 (in a 80 zone) until you finally hit a 80 sign....which is WAY down the road.

    4. Signs are placed in a bad order. Again, on Marquis of Lorne, you enter the construction zone, then way down the road there is a sign saying "Construction Ahead"....but we're already in a construction zone.....

    I've also seen on a couple occasions two consecutive "End of Construction" zone signs. The second one isn't logical because a second construction zone was never started. When I see the second "End of Construction" sign, I always fear that I drove through an entire construction zone without even noticing it or changing my speed.

    The bottom line is that they are wasting people's time by not making people drive slower than they actually could be AND without risking any construction worker's safety. And construction companies don't really seem to give a shit about signage, they make mistakes and neglect their signs.

    End Rant, feels good to get that out. And a last note to everyone: Do the damn construction zone speed limit and don't tailgate me when I'm doing the limit. I speed like alot of people, just not in construction zones.

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    I noticed number 1, i thought that was BS, not only did they drop the limit way before they started working, but they dropped the limit at mckenzie, when the construction is AFTER sundance

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    This is Calgary's most busiest construction season in many years, be prepared to wait a little extra, or brushup on your short cuts.

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    Originally posted by Mad$ella
    This is Calgary's most busiest construction season in many years, be prepared to wait a little extra, or brushup on your short cuts.
    Both the sun and hearld said this will be the worst year for traffic... and you plan on going west on #1... same thing... i think its time for a personal helicopter..
    Originally posted by rage2

    Just because you're older... doesn't mean you need older women. Nothing wrong with an 18 year old here and there!

  5. #5
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    Agree with you 100% mx73someday. Construction zones are poorly marked, excessively long, and often not even being worked on. It's just going to get worse this summer too.

    On another note, I took the 24St. exit off Deerfoot today and it was so fucking bumpy I literally hit my head on the headliner in my car. WTF? How can they leave a heavy traffic area like that in such poor condition and call it acceptable

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    did anyone happen to run into that bullshit mound of dirt off of 22x going in and out of sundance last week.

    holy fuck!!! 3' high mound of dirt that you have to drive over

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    Originally posted by ninspeed
    i think its time for a personal helicopter..

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    Originally posted by 88CRX
    did anyone happen to run into that bullshit mound of dirt off of 22x going in and out of sundance last week.

    holy fuck!!! 3' high mound of dirt that you have to drive over
    hahah yep, had to angle that one a bit. its gone now tho, or it was sat at least. who knows if they are gonna put it back up monday tho

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    I agree with number 1 100%. I've seen this atleast 5 or 6 times every summer. They post them so far away in the hopes that people will stop well ahead but people don't stop anyways.

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    I think #1 is so that drivers start getting used to lower speed limits on that road so that by the time construction sets up they will have no problem driving that speed and no excuses for speeding through those zones (in theory).

    What I hate is that they don't revert these areas to normal speeds when there is no construction going on. Like times at 3am or so. I mean should I really be doing 70 on deerfoot when there is not a single worker in that construction zone? And then thing is you have to be cafeful because there is going to be some cop out there that is going to take advantage of the construction zone at odd hours.

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    I bet that there'll be cops lurking to give every speeder tickets in construciton zone as well. They did that almost every day/every hour during the Memorial dr repair/construction last year. So watch out.

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    Originally posted by Mad$ella
    This is Calgary's most busiest construction season in many years, be prepared to wait a little extra, or brushup on your short cuts.
    Is it just me or does the city make this statement every year??


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    Originally posted by 69cougar


    Is it just me or does the city make this statement every year??

    I think its just you. However last summer was pretty bad for construction and if they are saying its going to be worst this year....I'm totally not looking forward to driving this summer.

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    Originally posted by 88CRX
    did anyone happen to run into that bullshit mound of dirt off of 22x going in and out of sundance last week.

    holy fuck!!! 3' high mound of dirt that you have to drive over
    haha that was sweet, luckily i was in my old car......

    proll getting the new one isured today , but this is ridiculous they still havent cleaned the streets in communities!!

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    I hate all the zones in mackenzie/douglasdale/22X

    and fuck, glenmore is freakin packed at 830-845am! last year during morning rush hour it was NEVER as packed as it is now! fuckin semis and shit!

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    I had a thought while I was being passed by every other driver in the Douglasdale construction zone, if speeding is a crime and the crime is being committed by every single driver at the same time and same place, shouldn't the police be called in to stop this mass civil disobediance? It just proves to me that speeding isn't really a crime if the police only want to enforce it when they feel like it....There aren't any other crimes that so many people could commit at the same time and place that wouldn't get the police's attention. If they took speeding seriously, they would have the whole police force down there handing out tickets 24/7, I don't think they'd have an idle moment with the amount of people that speed there. They'd have to call in the army to stop the civil unrest.

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    Originally posted by mx73someday
    I had a thought while I was being passed by every other driver in the Douglasdale construction zone, if speeding is a crime and the crime is being committed by every single driver at the same time and same place, shouldn't the police be called in to stop this mass civil disobediance? It just proves to me that speeding isn't really a crime if the police only want to enforce it when they feel like it....There aren't any other crimes that so many people could commit at the same time and place that wouldn't get the police's attention. If they took speeding seriously, they would have the whole police force down there handing out tickets 24/7, I don't think they'd have an idle moment with the amount of people that speed there. They'd have to call in the army to stop the civil unrest.
    I drive that stretch every single day, and for the longest time they had a cop parked behind a construction sign on deerfoot north right at the bottom of the hill right before the douglas glen turnoff. I ALWAYS go 70 through there, because 4 out of 5 days the ghost car was there with the trusty lazer tripod.

    I havent seen them there however for at least 2 months now, funny why that is, they could meet their monthly quota in 1 hour. *knocks on wood, have to drive that stretch in 30 min*

    The construction zone is however, rediculously long, that and whenever you drive by, at any time of day and the workers are there, they've all got both fists up their ass in huge groups talking and eating, that or they're in huge groups crowded around someone with a shovel.

    I'm not being funny to just play on the stereotype, I have honestly never seen them working, which would explain the extreme timeline for building these bloody overpasses.

    Christ, last year I was in the states, drove through Seattle on the way to Cali, on the way back a week later, they had finished a whole new onramp finished that was still being ploughed on our way through the first time. And I thought it was americans who were supposed to be lazy.
    Travel

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    Originally posted by 88CRX
    did anyone happen to run into that bullshit mound of dirt off of 22x going in and out of sundance last week.

    holy fuck!!! 3' high mound of dirt that you have to drive over
    yeah that hill was insane! had to drive so slow over it.

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    Originally posted by Ben

    I'm not being funny to just play on the stereotype, I have honestly never seen them working, which would explain the extreme timeline for building these bloody overpasses.
    I think about this all the time when I drive through a construction zone. The odd time you will see a big caterpillar moving around pushing some dirt but most of the time there are no workers present and if they are then they are just standing around in groups talking to one another. What makes me really wonder is how they even manage to finish when it never seems like they work. They just seem to magically be finish at some point in time...

    Last edited by eb0i; 05-09-2005 at 08:37 PM.

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    I enjoy your rant. Good points

    Braden

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