The city is working on a plan to widen Country Hills Boulevard to six lanes between Barlow Trail and Harvest Hills Gate N.E. — a stretch along which there are currently only four lanes.
Country Hills Boulevard, which is already six lanes in most places, except along this two-and-a-half kilometre stretch. The boulevard widening functional planning study supports the widening of three remaining four-lane sections.
An update on the project was presented to the Infrastructure and Planning Committee Jan. 11.
“The traffic is a problem. It gets really bottlenecked through there because that’s one of our only arteries,” said Andrew Yule, founder of Save Nose Creek.
Yule, a resident of Coventry Hills and member of the Northern Hills Community Association, sees the widening project as an opportunity to fix some of the issues surrounding Nose Creek and to promote commuting by bike.
He said previous road projects over Deerfoot Trail and Nose Creek created barriers to pedestrians and wildlife.
“Let’s not just tack on more lanes. Let’s re-envision the project so that it will encourage both active mode transportation and also the health of Nose Creek. My fear is that they’re just going to do the minimum standards. Minimum standard over the rail. Minimum standard over the creek and that’s not going to build a better Calgary,” Yule said.
A city briefing says modelling surrounding the impacts of widening Country Hills Boulevard shows a small city-wide decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of under one per cent.
In the study area, the data predicts a six per cent increase in traffic volumes and a five per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions “though per vehicle greenhouse gas emissions will be slightly reduced.”
“We know from the research that building more roads just begets more traffic,” said Noel Keough, author Sustainability Matters — the story of Calgary’s path toward sustainability — and a former associate professor of sustainable design at the University of Calgary.
He said the city used a very narrow scope in determining the reduction greenhouse gas emissions.
“Specifically, in this case, they are not including how much greenhouse gas emissions were increased as a result of building these roads in the first place to service urban sprawl,” said Keough, who is also a senior researcher with Sustainable Calgary Society.
Keough said the report doesn’t include the overall cost of urban sprawl that requires large roadways to be built and said the claims that more traffic lanes could lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases are unlikely in the long run.
“A well known phenomenon is that if you build more traffic lanes you will cause more people to drive because for a period of time your trip gets a little quicker, but ultimately in very short order those roads are congested again and before you know it transportation planners are at City Hall asking for more lanes.
“If you’re stuck in traffic and we build these lanes for two or three years, you might be better off but then you’re going to be back in that same traffic and even worse with more cars using those routes because of the sprawl that’s attracting people to live in those districts of the city,” Keough said.
According to Yule, the project will provide an opportunity to change the rail overpass at Nose Creek.
He says there’s no way to get from Coventry Hills to Harvest Hills because of the railway.
“I see this widening project as an opportunity to change that and have more of an underpass for Coventry residents to actually get to Harvest Hills without having to cross the road,” Yule said.
“These seem like necessary roads that need additional growth because of the growth we’ve already put in place but there is a vital climate change tool in that valley — and that is Nose Creek so let’s not skimp on the protections of Nose Creek. If these are vital roads for the growth that is predicted for these areas, then this wetland is of vital importance to climate change discussion.
“Don’t choke it. It is our ecological spine. Don’t do the minimum standard,” Yule said. “Nose Creek is a carbon sink. It is a vital tool in combatting climate change.”
Calgary’s mayor said on Saturday that the project needs to include walking and wheeling facilities.
“The way I feel about most of our roadways is that they need to be proper mobility corridors to accommodate pedestrians, people on wheels and automobiles. We have not done a great job of that on Country Hills Boulevard and we should be doing that,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
Funding for the project has not yet been secured.
The city report says walking and wheeling improvements are needed to close gaps in the study area.
“These connections can be built as part of the road widening or a separate projects,” according to the report.
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