The southwest leg of the Calgary ring road got the green light last week.
The ring road will cut off existing access roads to Highway 22X from the MD of Foothills, but MD Reeve Larry Spilak said the announcement is good news for the entire region south of the city.
After decades of discussions, the provincial government committed last week to build the southwest Calgary Ring Road from Highway 22X to Glenmore Trail within seven years. It is unknown when the final section of the ring road connecting Glenmore Trail and the Trans Canada Highway will be built.
Once construction is complete, several MD roads that connect with Highway 22X will be cut off.
Drivers will only be able to access the ring road along Highway 22X from two new overpasses, one at Sheriff King Road in Calgary and one at Spruce Meadows Way. Existing intersections further west at Tournament Lane, 80 Street and 96 Street will be closed. New access roads will be built from MD roads to the new interchanges and 112 Street West.
Early proposals required area residents to drive well out of their way to connect to the ring road.
However, Spilak said some of the MD’s concerns have been addressed.
“We had some changes made,” he said. “I’m not going to say that they’re the best, but I would say that they certainly improved our access for our residents.”
MD officials and area residents expressed concerns over an earlier proposal to build a new road between 96 Street and 112 Street West, directing traffic past the Red Deer Lake School, Third Academy and the Red Deer Lake Community hall and neighbouring sports fields.
A new proposal will turn the existing east-bound lanes of Highway 22X near the schools into a two-way service road running parallel to a new stretch of asphalt to carry eastbound traffic on Highway 22X.
Barry Klassen, president of the Red Deer Lake Community said earlier proposals would have negatively affected the area.
“That was a really, really bad proposal,” said Klassen.
He said another proposal to direct all traffic south of Highway 22X to Spruce Meadows Way would’ve put too much pressure on the road, especially during events at Spruce Meadows.
He said he is reasonably satisfied with the new plan.
Klassen is still concerned how traffic coming and going from the two schools from Highway 22X will be impacted, but it’s better than directing all the traffic past the schools, the community centre and its sports fields.
Alberta Transportation spokesperson Tina Stewart said it’s too early to say when the construction will begin on roads in the MD or when access to Highway 22X from existing roads will be cut off.
She said the P3 Project is being put out for request for qualifications from contractors and the Province will have a better idea of construction timelines once a contractor is selected.
“I don’t know if they would speak to when people would see construction, shovels in the ground, let alone specific to your region,” she said.
