3745 replies to this topic

[tjv]

It used to be much better. Once upon a time Blanshard northbound was timed such that at any time of day you’d cost at 50km/h from downtown to the Saanich municipal hall. Now you stop three if not four if not five times.

Same for Pandora. You could coast at a reasonable speed all the way from the Oak Bay junction onto the Johnson Street Bridge without stopping. No word of a lie.

When was this?  1937?  Seriously, I don't ever remember Blanshard lights being timed

 

I do remember Pandora timed lights and going 50 from the junction all the way across the bridge.  Ahh, the good old days

 

Over in Vancouver I do remember heading down Granville at 80 just keeping pace with traffic and never hitting a red light from around 16th to 70th before turning left to head over to Oak.  Now that was efficiency

[exc911ence]

You know what would be really great? Timing the lights on the Pat Bay. Better yet, eliminate the lights on the Pat Bay.

[sebberry]

This AM:

 

Red light Begbie, Cook, Quadra (Not 1 bike in the bike lane), Balmoral, Hillside, Finlayson, Cook (Again...)

[jonny]

The red lights on Blanshard in particular are so bad they have to be intentional, right? It's literally stop and go traffic any time of day only because of the lights. 

[PraiseKek]

Are you guys all doing 40? I usually do 60 downtown and find the timing is pretty good at those speeds.

[Jason-L]

It's almost like the roads and lights were designed around a higher speed limit!

[Bingo]

Are you guys all doing 40? I usually do 60 downtown and find the timing is pretty good at those speeds.

 

If 60 works with light timing I wonder if 120 works.

[rjag]

Takes me 20+ mins to drive from Uvic to Douglas and Yates now. Used to take 12/15 mins, lane reductions and light timing are definite contributors. Same amount of traffic but it’s funneled into 1 lane where it used to be 2

[sebberry]

It takes me 13-16 minutes to get to work.  I'm hardly concerned about the time.  It's the sitting, idling, getting moving and coming to a stop again moments after shifting into 3rd gear that's getting really frustrating. 

 

My car is sucking down $21 worth of gas per 100km at the moment.  The added wear and tear of this ridiculous start-stop-start-stop system we have set up isn't helping either.

[Bingo]

It takes me 13-16 minutes to get to work.  I'm hardly concerned about the time.  It's the sitting, idling, getting moving and coming to a stop again moments after shifting into 3rd gear that's getting really frustrating. 

 

My car is sucking down $21 worth of gas per 100km at the moment.  The added wear and tear of this ridiculous start-stop-start-stop system we have set up isn't helping either.

 

Yikes!  I would be taking transit or start cycling...hold on I'm just giving you another gear for your transmission.

[Mike K.]

Yesterday evening coming into Victoria from the TCH. Red lights at:

- Saanich
- Cloverdale
- zipped through in a yellow at Burnside
- Gorge-Hillside
- Bay
- Pembroke
- Chatham, when I turned off Douglas

Brutal.

[PraiseKek]

If 60 works with light timing I wonder if 120 works.

A victoria police officer I know did 120 down blanshard once with lights going mind you. He said it was pretty fun.

[VicHockeyFan]

A victoria police officer I know did 120 down blanshard once with lights going mind you. He said it was pretty fun.

 

I did 160 on a motorbike down Douglas Street adjacent to Beacon Hill Park once.  Really stupid of me.

[exc911ence]

The red lights on Blanshard in particular are so bad they have to be intentional, right? It's literally stop and go traffic any time of day only because of the lights. 

 

 

Another area of gridlock any time of the day? That horrible five-way intersection where Interurban and Wilkinson cross and Hastings dumps in. This should be priority number one to city planners. 

[Bingo]

The roundabout at Scott Street and Myrtle is never ever gridlocked, so to save time I go around in the opposite direction.

[rjag]

Another area of gridlock any time of the day? That horrible five-way intersection where Interurban and Wilkinson cross and Hastings dumps in. This should be priority number one to city planners. 

 

You would think this would be an excellent place for a roundabout, yet I've been told that theres not enough space to build one.....

[RPPB]

This afternoon on Blanshard I had green lights from Fairfield to Cloverdale...never had anything close to that before, usually 2 blocks max downtown.

My vote for worst gridlock is westbound in the Tattersall / Saanich / Vernon area, the backup just keeps getting worse.

[Mike K.]

Right! Come rush hour the light ARE synced northbound out of downtown Victoria, and during low traffic of a holiday Monday you actually can sail through.

So this goes to show that there IS the ability to sync the lights.

[LJ]

Bell Road is a 34 mile long road that goes from one side of the valley to the other in the Phoenix area.

They are spending $2.7M on a project that will coordinate all the traffic lights along its length using cameras and computers to sync the flow of traffic with the idea that you would practically never have to stop for a red light.

 

If they can do that surely our little stretch of Douglas and Blanshard should be doable for maybe $600K?

[moretrain]

Bell Road is a 34 mile long road that goes from one side of the valley to the other in the Phoenix area.

They are spending $2.7M on a project that will coordinate all the traffic lights along its length using cameras and computers to sync the flow of traffic with the idea that you would practically never have to stop for a red light.

 

If they can do that surely our little stretch of Douglas and Blanshard should be doable for maybe $600K?

That, or the municipalities in the CRD could build roads that had the capacity for the number of motorists. Major issue off the top of my head is Old Island from Admirals to Sooke Rd. There is no point having two land arteries in the area, they just dont have the capacity for the population.