Examiner Column: 111th Street Intersections
What follows ran in today’s Edmonton Examiner as my monthly column. It follows up from this previous post.
I heard loud and clear that last week was challenging for many motorists encountering LRT on the south side, especially those who use 51 Avenue.
The transportation department remains focused on optimizing the performance of all intersections along 111 Street.
However, we all need to accept that these intersections will not operate like they did before the LRT opened.
The wait for left turns and east/west-bound traffic will be longer all up and down 111 Street. This was not a traffic engineering error.
The disruptions we saw at 51 Avenue last week were clearly the result of an error. Fortunately, last week’s traffic was moving better after a significant change to the signal timing.
I personally visited 51 Avenue several times during the first part of the week to see the problems for myself and understand the transportation department’s approach to the problem.
On the bright side, travelling north/south will be faster since that is the dominant flow of traffic and trains. In fact, a number of constituents have told me their commute by car up 111 Street is faster than before the train opened.
One way to think about this is that opening LRT is like building a six-lane freeway in terms of its capacity to move people, so when you’re crossing 111 Street in a sense it’s like crossing the equivalent of a 10-12 lane road.
Many have contacted me to ask why the major intersections were not tunneled under or bridged over, and the decision was made during the planning phase based on computer modeling of each intersection. Each grade separation costs millions to implement, and cause more serious disruption so they are used very sparingly.
Other citizens have asked whether the experience at these intersections will change the city’s intentions to run the new southeast-to-west line on the surface, including through downtown.
This is a fair question that we will have to explore. The initial plans involve limiting many of the left turns, which wasn’t done on the South LRT.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions at 780-496- 8132 or at don.iveson@edmonton.ca.
I think the next thing that should receive some attention in that area is the traffic lights that allow buses to leave the Southgate terminal. Even before the LRT extension opened, it was not uncommon to see 5-7 buses lined up, waiting to exit to go south on 111 St. With the added delays that the LRT brings, the number of buses lined up at Southgate is sometimes doubled.
The timing of the bus-specific traffic light is the issue. Often, while the buses are waiting at the red light (which can last for upwards of 90 seconds), next to no traffic is moving north or south on 111 St thanks to card being halted by other traffic lights on either side of the transit centre. When the light finally does turn green, it’s green only long enough to get 3-5 buses out, after which they’re reliant on keen eyed and friendly motorists going south on 111 St to wave them into traffic.
Entering Southgate Transit Centre from the north is equally as trying for buses, and it’s quite common to see 6-8 buses lined up at the red light, waiting to turn left into the transit centre. The time spent waiting to get in/out of the terminal can be devastating, as many riders on those buses are likely expecting to make connections further down the line.
Yes, it was definitely expected to have delays anytime a project like this occurs. People for the most part need to change their attitudes from a car-centric approach to a mass -transit approach and ‘get onboard’ to support mass-transit to the rest of the city. I’m sure Calgary had a lot of issues with their traffic woes with all their lines running smack down the centre of their major roadways. I hated traveling to Calgary and waiting for turns, but most Calgarians I know take C-train over driving to the high priced parking stalls.
That said, I think a wise plan for WB buses (the 6 in particular) on 51st turning SB to SGTE should be diverted during peak hours to turn south at 106 St or 108a St to go around the mall and head into the transit ctr from the south rather than the North, to avoid the intersection all together. In fact, that intersection has always been a problem for connecting buses, but the good thing was that the 6 continued as a University-bound bus.
As for buses entering from the North, perhaps doing what Calgary does, and having terminating buses stop on the West-side will let people off to catch their LRT connections. In studying LRT, I’ve found that very little of the public studies have really relied on examples from Calgary, even though they have the closest likeness to Edmonton on many levels of comparison.
To prevent problems in the current Ward 6, Bonnie Doon traffic circle must be avoided at all costs as it is the lifeline to SE travel downtown, since it is on the diagonal route to the destination.
That said, I truly believe that ETS has done a phenomenal job making bus transit in Mill Woods the best in the city. I’ve traveled to all directions of the city by bus, and no other quadrant of the city can beat transit travel in SE Edmonton. Perhaps that’s why there is such a high ridership from that region, as it’s very dependable and efficient.
I definitely agree that eliminating left-turns as much as possible is best along a multi-use lane. They usually only allow the 3/4 cars to turn (if they run the red light), and when there is a turning light, it delays traffic flow in all directions. I’ve said it before, but the diverging diamond interchange is among the top inventions in Popular Science magazine. By switching traffic to flow on the opposite side, it doubled left turns per hour.
For a large intersection like Bonnie Doon, traffic circles are ultimately the best after an overpass interchange. Although not really related with 111 and 51st, this will help in the SE line planning as it is proposed to go through the circle! I found quite a few interesting studies on traffic circles on the web. Basically, the conclusion of studies of roundabouts states that they are among the most effective forms of intersections in the world, as the traffic never stops flowing around it.
Whatever is built for the future, let’s keep Edmonton moving!
Another area of concern is the intersection with Harry Ainlay High – as students cross 111 with the light cars travelling east and turning south often have to trail out into the intersection as students are still in process of crossing 111. I’m afraid someone will get hit here – definitely should have put an underground walkway similar to the one at McKernan junior.
One LRT intersection I can’t believe hasn’t received any attention is the “older” one at 114th street and University ave. In peak traffic around 5pm when university is in full swing, traffic can back up along the eastern side all the way along Corbett field to Whyte ave, and on the western side even as way far down University ave / Saskatchewan drive as to the traffic circle at the top of Groat road.
With a train from either direction running through almost every couple minutes at that time of day, the lights seemed to be designed to “reset” each time the track gates raise up, giving priority to the north/south traffic running down 114th.
I have been caught a couple times sitting in traffic by Corbett field for nearly half an hour because the lights never give a chance for the east / west traffic to move.
I am a huge supporter of the LRT system in Edmonton, and for options and city development that moves people away from cars, but in this case I really think some tweaking should be done. I recognize it is probably a balancing act, but having hundreds of cars siting idling on both sides of the intersection for 20-30 min cannot be a positive thing.
In addition to the 114/University Ave intersection, I think the 114 St/76 Ave crossing must also be mentioned. Turning WB onto 76 from NB on 114 everyday, I see major congestion 2-3 times per week because of the train crossing. The congestion sees cars lined up throughout the Belgravia residential neighbourhood 20-40 cars long easily causing 20 min waits, much of the traffic from people trying to avoid the 114/University intersection. I am a big proponent of LRT in the city and for the most part think the city has done a great job, but perhaps its time to think about having the trains subject to traffic lighting during peak hours at these troublesome intersections?