Southwest Calgary seeks cure for congestion

CALGARY – The future interchange at 37th Street and Glenmore Trail S.W. has residents north of the intersection concerned about the long-term impact of the road work.

While those living in Glamorgan, Lincoln Park and Rutland Park want the interchange to alleviate the traffic chaos that has built up there, wider traffic issues in the community are also pushing to the fore.

For example, students and others travelling from Mount Royal University find it easier to cut through the community, passing through playground zones to drive north on 50th Street–a mostly residential street — to head west rather than turning onto Glenmore Trail east of the 37th Street intersection, Ald. Joe Connelly said.

"It shows how congested the roads actually are," he said.

Beryl Ostrom, a longtime resident of Glamorgan who sits on the community association board, said the intersection just south of the 37th Street and Glenmore is also a problem.

"It’s the main feed for Mount Royal," she said. "That little intersection. We have to see what can be done about the lights, the timing."

The community association is meeting with the city this month to discuss its traffic concerns.

Ostrom said while the interchange, with construction slated to start next spring, is necessary, the proposed widening of Glenmore Trail as part of "Plan B" ring road plans will cause some problems.

Notably, she said, the community is concerned that access from Glenmore Trail onto 45th Street will be eliminated.

Helen Dexter-Green, who has lived in the area for 11 years and can see the Glenmore-37th intersection and its traffic snarls from her window, said access on 45th Street is vital.

"They need to figure something out," she said, adding that it seems late in the game to be starting on a backup ring road plan.

"They should have had a Plan B in place. Now they’re starting again after 40 years."

Connelly said it’s always been in the plans that eventually 45th access would close, "but whenever a road is closed after 20 years. . . ."

Anne Cataford, the city’s manager of network planning, said as part of the interchange project, access to 45th Street from Glenmore won’t be permanently affected.

"We try to minimize the impact as much as possible," Cataford added.

For years, the province and the Tsuu T’ina have been negotiating an agreement that would have seen the southwest leg of the ring road run partially through nation land on the city’s western edges.

While widely considered the best option because there isn’t a lot of available city-owned land in that area on which to build a major road, without removing homes, the Tsuu T’ina band members rejected the money and land-swap deal this summer.

Having waited because the 37th and Glenmore interchange would have been part of the ring road design, city council this fall voted unanimously to move ahead with the construction to try to reduce the traffic jams that have been occurring at the intersection.

At the same time, city staff are talking to the province about how to further ease traffic congestion in the southwest, including widening Glenmore Trail to six lanes between Sarcee and Crowchild Trails, extending 37th Street from Highway 22X to 146th Avenue S.W. and widening 14th Street from 90th Avenue to Anderson Road.

As well, eventually an interchange would be required at Sarcee and Highway 8.

Cataford said says the tender process for the design of the 37th and Glenmore interchange closed Thursday, and that affected communities — from Glamorgan to Lakeview to the Tsuu T’ina–will be consulted.

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