The City of Calgary completed the fifth phase of its Crowchild Trail transportation study and revealed some recommended changes to the roadway that could begin as early as spring.
The aim of the six-phase study, which began in 2015, is to identify short-, medium- and long-term plans for Crowchild Trail to accommodate the continued growth and development of Calgary.
Feisal Lakha, project manager for the Crowchild Trail study, says the city needs to rehabilitate the bridges across the Bow River.
“What we’d like to do is widen the bridges by two lanes, so that’s a lane in each direction and make some changes to how we come on and off those bridges particularly from downtown.”
The ramps from downtown currently enter Northbound Crowchild Trail on the inside or medium lane. Now, the city can flip the merging ramps to the outside.
“So, what that means is a lot of the ramp and lane changes and drops and all that, from as far south as Crowchild Trail all the way to the University, essentially go away,” Lakha said. “So now we’ve got continuous lanes from Crowchild Trail all the way north through University Drive.
In July, the city revealed initial design concepts for the proposed redesign of the roadway and recommended to council to look at advancing some short-term improvements to Crowchild Trail, which included widening the bridges across the river. Council approved the administration to move forward with planning and design. Funding and sources were also made available.
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READ MORE: How would you change Crowchild Trail? City of Calgary wants to know
Another future recommendation in the phase-five study is to restrict left turns during peak hours in busy areas near Crowchild Trail, such as Kensington.
They’re also working to minimize property impact as much as possible.
“We’ve heard that from Day 1 to minimize the property impacts. But what we now know is to implement the long-term plan from 17 Avenue through to 24 Avenue, we are going to be impacting up to 30 properties along Crowchild Trail. That is a difference from the options that we presented in Phase 4. The interchange option initially presented was about 25 properties and the tunnel option was upwards of 56 properties that would be impacted.”
The city is asking Calgarians to review the recommendations and provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses. The following public open houses are being held:
Open house #1: Saturday, Oct. 1
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Sunalta School, Main Gym – 536 Sonora Ave. S.W.
Open house #2: Monday, Oct. 3
Time: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Location: Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium – 1833 Crowchild Tr. N.W.
“There’s no doubt that construction of that piece of roadway is complex. Not unlike the city has seen on other projects, there is some complexities about how that plan will be implemented.”
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