C ommuters who use westbound Bow Trail are bracing for a slower drive, with one lane of the major route closing for the next 18 months to accommodate construction of the west LRT.
“We know there are going to be headaches,” said Ron Goodfellow of the Shaganappi community association. “There’s no way around it. There are going to be delays.”
Starting this morning, one lane of Bow Trail between 24th Street and 33rd Street S.W. will be closed until the fall of 2011 so city crews can construct a road on the north side of Bow Trail.
Those new westbound lanes will eventually be used as the permanent street because the LRT tracks will run up the middle of Bow Trail. They will be used as a detour while construction continues.
Jon Halford, manager of the west LRT project, said work on the tunnel for the C-Train between Bow Trail and 17th Avenue along 33rd Street S.W. will begin this year.
“It’s part of the reason we have to restrict west Bow Trail to two lanes,” he added.
Goodfellow said that since Bow Trail is the major west-side route for many commuters, there is no avoiding the hassles that will go along with the LRT construction.
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“There’s no question it will slow everything down,” he said. “It’s just one of those things. There are only so many ways to go west.”
Construction began last month on the 8.4-kilometre west leg of the LRT, running between the west end of downtown to 69th Street S.W. along Bow Trail and 17th Avenue.
It won’t be finished until late 2012.
“We’re ramping up,” said Halford. “We’re reminding people that there’s some short-term inconvenience and impacts for a much longer-term benefit.”
While the Bow Trail lane closure begins at 9 a.m. today, a temporary lane closure on eastbound 9th Avenue starts this morning at 9:30 a.m.
The stretch between 14th Street and 11th Street S.W. will be reduced to two lanes between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Then it will be reduced to only one lane until 6 a.m. Monday. The ramp from 14th Street to eastbound 9th Avenue S.W. remains open.
Halford said utility work needs to be done in the area to accommodate building the elevated guideway that will bring the train in and out of downtown.
“We’re trying to take advantage of coming into the long weekend, a lot of people are off Friday, and weekends are not as busy coming into the downtown core,” he said.
Over the past two years, council has approved $1.2 billion in program funding for the west LRT project, which includes land, C-Train cars, construction of the line, a new Ernest Manning high school, a parkade, the interchange at Sarcee Trail and 17th Avenue S.W., relocating a transit operations centre, running tracks up the median of Bow Trail, and upgrading stations and pedestrian connections.
kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com
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Traffic Changes
– – Today from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., eastbound 9th Avenue S.W. will be reduced to two lanes between 14th Street and 11th Street S.W.
– – At 6 p.m. today, eastbound 9th Avenue will be further reduced to one lane in the same area. It will be in effect until 6 a.m. Monday. The on-ramp from 14th Street to eastbound 9th Avenue S.W. will stay open.
– – Beginning 9 a.m. on Friday, westbound Bow Trail will be reduced to two lanes from 24th Street to 33rd Street S.W. until fall 2011.
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