New Electronic Signs

[Tungsten]

New signs estimating travel time on the deerfoot.

 

Is it just me or is this as about as handy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest?

 

What they should say is,

 

Hey you ya you get the hell out of the right lane if your not exiting the next off ramp.Then a smile face followed by, thank you come again.

[Jayhad]

my wife and I have been testing these signs this week and typically double the # and add half, that's when you'll get there

[duanec]

how about estimating the amount of time it will take the city to get the roads back in shape?

...so when is spring...?

[Guest Sundancefisher]

my wife and I have been testing these signs this week and typically double the # and add half, that's when you'll get there

 

Reminds me of the lines in Disneyworld. Some polite young lady give a necklace with a timer on it to our daughter. She is thrilled for the responsibility. Gives it to the guy at the start of the ride and they know how long we took. Problem is in the hour it took us to get there...the line doubled. Not sure the value. How do they do it on the Deerfoot? Licence plate recognition?

[skearns]

Apparantly this system is based our own cellphone signals that are picked up as we pass a transmitter and again as we pass the next transmitter and the interval is then measured....not sure how they can estimate how long it will take when everyone drives at differing speeds..it is the old vendor/client saying...when you have bad news, tell them early and exaggerate...after having lived in Toronto and Montreal 20 yrs ago I never complain about the Alberta traffic....

 

From CTV news reports:

 

The pilot project involves 12 message boards and 11 bluefax devices.

 

 

"Bluefax measures a vehicle as it passes past locations and estimates travel time between locations," explains Troy McLeod, the city's traffic manager. "What we are doing is displaying travel times along Deerfoot Trail to give drivers an idea of what it will take to get to a certain point along the road."

 

 

McLeod says the same system is being used in many American cities and he's hoping Calgary sees a similar success.

 

 

"Providing estimated travel times will allow motorists to know their destination travel time and make use of that information for route choices," says McLeod. "In the future, this type of system could be accessed by in-vehicle navigation systems to automatically course correct travel routes."

 

 

Some travelling the Deerfoot on Wednesday say the travel time estimates are a welcome addition. "It will definitely be helpful," says Pat Lang. "It lets you know how long you'll be stuck in traffic."

 

 

The experiment started on Wednesday and will end on November 23. The real time travel information will be available from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekend.

 

 

[firefrog]

Hey

Please tell me they are not wasting more taxpayers' money doing this. I suppose this is a 'nice' thing for some. Ya think better planning and looking up instead of texting would work just as well? Maybe listen to the traffic reports on the radio.

 

I saw another electronic speed sign in my neighbourhood. Imagine peoples' surprise when they actually check their speedometer and (how can that be?)... it's the same as the sign. Yes, you really ARE speeding.

 

Why must some people complicate such simple things? I'm not sure I want to hear answers to that one.

 

[LastBoyScout]

I think anything that takes drivers concentration off the road/traffic is a very bad idea. Is there a benifit to knowing your late when you already know your late?

[Hawgstoppah]

Large US cities that have these systems also have an ALTERNATE route!!!!

 

Salt Lake City, for example, has the I-15 or the I-215. they both go thru the city.

Phoenix has several freeways going through it too.

 

Calgary has ONE!!!!!!!!!! what a bloody waste of your money up there folks. Even if you tell people there going to be stuck for an hour.... what are they going to do about it other than be MORE ticked off?

 

This must have been brought in by the same high powered brain that thought up the Deerfoot-Glenmore interchange. brilliant.

[Giovanne]

Large US cities that have these systems also have an ALTERNATE route!!!!

 

Salt Lake City, for example, has the I-15 or the I-215. they both go thru the city.

Phoenix has several freeways going through it too.

 

Calgary has ONE!!!!!!!!!! what a bloody waste of your money up there folks. Even if you tell people there going to be stuck for an hour.... what are they going to do about it other than be MORE ticked off?

 

This must have been brought in by the same high powered brain that thought up the Deerfoot-Glenmore interchange. brilliant.

 

It's obvious that City Planners have pretty much given up on easing peak time traffic congestion when they install a sign that updates to tell you someting that you already know. If your stuck on Deerfoot for an extra hour it is grade school math that you will be a minimum hour later than usual to your destination...

[duanec]

calgary city planning = oxymoron.

even the 'chuck has us way beat with an fab ring-road system that keeps the outta towners passing thru from adding to congestion on local arteries.

[Gaffer]

calgary city planning = oxymoron.

even the 'chuck has us way beat with an fab ring-road system that keeps the outta towners passing thru from adding to congestion on local arteries.

 

I am pretty sure the ring road in Edmonton, and the one this is under construction in Calgary are provincial roads, so not too much that the CoC can do about that.

 

Regarding the signs, it is really a matter of so what. Tell me how long the traffic is going to be, great. It is not like I have too many other options once I am sitting in traffic. Once there is an accident people are already spilling off Deerfoot so every other route in the the City of f'd up anyway.

 

I almost prefer not to know.

 

Andrew