12-07-2015, 11:36 AM
I really like the idea of preventing right-turning vehicles from stopping traffic. I can always see vehicles turning right from Bridgeport to Regina, King, and Albert causing great (unnecessary) delays to all traffic. As this reconstruction makes Bridgeport only two lanes west of King, on page 72 (or 27 of 30) you can see that the rightmost lane of Bridgeport becomes right-only at King.
I would ask whether it would also make sense to ease pedestrian crossing and further disincentivize wrong-way driving by making the curb at Albert/Bridgeport, on the southeast corner, a right angle one, instead of a sweeping one, as no vehicle movements are allowed which would require any sweeping curve.
The biggest reason I see time and time again for the delays, even in normal construction-free driving, are at the Erb/Caroline intersection. It is pedestrian-heavy enough that both the northbound and southbound Caroline traffic looking to head west on Erb is delayed and confused by pedestrians. The island on the northwest corner, and the LRT-related west-side Erb crossing being farther west, both of these ameliorate this slightly.
Accepting that it would have to be done in a way which did not endanger pedestrians and cyclists, I wonder if there isn't a way to channelize the pavement so that cars turning westbound from Caroline to Erb can only:
A) wind up in the inside lane when going northbound-to-westbound
B) wind up in the outside lane when going southbound-to-westbound
That is the single biggest reason for backups. Enough people illegally (though never ticketed) turn wide when heading onto westbound Erb, both right and left turning vehicles. If it could be channelized such that you could only ever turn into the proper lane, much of the hesitation would stop, and I'd estimate possibly more than doubling the throughput of the turn.
I would ask whether it would also make sense to ease pedestrian crossing and further disincentivize wrong-way driving by making the curb at Albert/Bridgeport, on the southeast corner, a right angle one, instead of a sweeping one, as no vehicle movements are allowed which would require any sweeping curve.
The biggest reason I see time and time again for the delays, even in normal construction-free driving, are at the Erb/Caroline intersection. It is pedestrian-heavy enough that both the northbound and southbound Caroline traffic looking to head west on Erb is delayed and confused by pedestrians. The island on the northwest corner, and the LRT-related west-side Erb crossing being farther west, both of these ameliorate this slightly.
Accepting that it would have to be done in a way which did not endanger pedestrians and cyclists, I wonder if there isn't a way to channelize the pavement so that cars turning westbound from Caroline to Erb can only:
A) wind up in the inside lane when going northbound-to-westbound
B) wind up in the outside lane when going southbound-to-westbound
That is the single biggest reason for backups. Enough people illegally (though never ticketed) turn wide when heading onto westbound Erb, both right and left turning vehicles. If it could be channelized such that you could only ever turn into the proper lane, much of the hesitation would stop, and I'd estimate possibly more than doubling the throughput of the turn.