WATCH ABOVE: Trying to get from Calgary to Banff has been a slow go recently thanks to two major construction projects along the way. Doug Vaessen has an update and advice on how to avoid the worst of it.
CALGARY – Road work west of Calgary is causing traffic delays for drivers trying to leave the city. The province is doing paving work near Scott Lake Hill, adding hours to many people’s commutes.
“Every time I come up to the hill there, I have to sit there about an hour and a half so it’s really getting bad,” said truck driver Muhammed Hassan, who said he takes the route every day.
Alberta Transportation posted signs advising drivers to use an alternate route on Tuesday. It suggests going north on Highway 22 to Highway 1A through Cochrane.
The contractor is now expected to stop work and clear traffic if delays exceed 30 minutes. Road work is set to be finished by the end of August.
Meanwhile, four major interchanges in Calgary are being reworked in an attempt to reduce traffic lineups.
Work at Bowfort Road and the Trans-Canada Highway is expected to be done in 2016, with a detour set up in about three weeks.
“What we are doing right now is building a detour which will allow us to move traffic out of the way to build the future interchange,” said City of Calgary director of transportation infrastructure Michael Thompson.
He said it’s one of the busiest summers for construction on record, with a new interchange at Flanders Avenue and Crowchild Trail, another at MacLeod Trail at 162 Avenue, and finally Ogden Road S.E. and Glenmore Trail. The total cost for all four projects is about $281.7 million.
Though there are lots of traffic headaches, the city says it’s trying to ease the pain.
“Westbound, Friday afternoons we are out of the way so people can get to the mountains, same thing Sunday afternoons we are out of the way eastbound so that it’s clear there,” said Thompson. “In the morning and afternoons—peak periods—we have construction off the roads.”
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