Calgary’s north ring road opens

CALGARY -The provincial and federal governments officially opened the 44-kilometre northern section of Calgary’s ring road on Monday.

The entire northern route will be open to vehicle traffic as of 3 p.m. today, with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles initially expected to use the Stoney Trail ring road each day.

The newly completed northern section runs from Highway 1 (16th Avenue NW) on the city’s west side to Highway 1A (17th Avenue SE) on the east side.

The road includes 12 interchanges, one flyover and three signalized intersections that will be replaced by interchanges by 2013. The total price tag for both the northwest section (built via conventional delivery) and northeast section (built via a public-private partnership) of the ring road is about $1 billion, with the province covering most of the tab.

Calgary’s ring road is "the largest single transportation project in Alberta’s history," Alberta Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette said Monday morning at a press conference held on one of the project’s new on-ramps. "This new ring road is world class."

With the northern section open, 45 per cent of the total ring road is now complete. The southeast section of Stoney Trail (running from 17th Avenue SE to the Macleod Trail interchange) will also be built using a P3 and is expected to open by fall 2013.

The long-awaited southwest section remains up in the air after the Tsuu T’ina Nation earlier this year rejected the province’s offer of cash and land to build through the reserve.

jfekete@theherald.canwest.com