Ring Road To Nowhere

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Acey

The Glenmore part doesn't really matter but no the 69 St/Discovery Ridge interchange will not be done, it's part of Part 2 which will be Fish Creek Blvd down to 22X and the rebuilding of 22X over to Macleod, and the new 22X/Macleod complex.

Thats complicated.

When can I go from eastbound highway 8 to southbound highway 2 via the ring road??

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Thats complicated.

When can I go from eastbound highway 8 to southbound highway 2 via the ring road??

October 2021. Wikipedia map is correct and far easier to understand:

[timun]

I noticed they have some of the signage up at Glenmore/Sarcee/Hwy 8; maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but I could have sworn the signage from westbound Glenmore to southbound ring road said Stoney Trail, not Tsuut'ina Trail. I thought the ring road was supposed to be Tsuut'ina Trail from Glenmore/Sarcee to at least Fish Creek?

[vegasbound]

The signage from northbound macleod to westbound Stoney is... non-existent except for one little exit sign. It's a good thing I knew where I was going a little bit.

[bob-loblaw]

I'm assuming they're going to partially open the interchanges at Sheriff King and Spruce Meadows. It looks like they're almost ready to pave the ramps to the bridges. However, I'm not sure how the funding is working this time around. I think that with the SE section they had to open it all at the same time because of the contract.

[Weitz]

Man construction is such a racket. How can none of this be done yet.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Man construction is such a racket. How can none of this be done yet.

Speaking of racket... I know that these things are supposed to be built with future demands in mind, but man, some of these interchanges seem way larger and more complex than need be.

But then, I also understand that the design/build firms basically make a percentage of the project cost, so why propose a $3b section of road when you can add more bridges and lanes and underpasses and on and on and make it a $6b road... I'm sure if they could engineer a loop-de-loop and raise the project cost by another few hundred mil, they'd be using those too!

[Acey]

Originally Posted by bob-loblaw

I'm assuming they're going to partially open the interchanges at Sheriff King and Spruce Meadows.

They might. They're not due till Oct 1, 2021 so I wouldn't be able to say when.

Originally Posted by bob-loblaw

I think that with the SE section they had to open it all at the same time because of the contract.

This ring road leg was split into two projects, which was not done with any Stoney/Henday leg prior to this one which makes it confusing. Only the portion within the Tsuut'ina Nation was extremely time sensitive, so all of that is the first deadline (this Oct 1) and then all the deep south stuff (+ 69 St/Discovery Ridge interchange) is the second deadline (Oct 1, 2021).

Since it worked so swimmingly this time around, the west leg from COP down to Highway 8 is also split in 2 with the south part of it now delayed to 2024 due to Enmax being dumb.

Originally Posted by timun

I noticed they have some of the signage up at Glenmore/Sarcee/Hwy 8; maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but I could have sworn the signage from westbound Glenmore to southbound ring road said Stoney Trail, not Tsuut'ina Trail. I thought the ring road was supposed to be Tsuut'ina Trail from Glenmore/Sarcee to at least Fish Creek?

It's pretty dumb how they did it, wanting to name only the section of the ring road with in Tsuut'ina as Tsuut'ina. So there's a little bit of it behind Grey Eagle where the name goes back to Stoney Trail before it hits Glenmore, and Glenmore west of Sarcee is now Stoney.

Extremely dumb and confusing on the part of Alberta Transportation; the whole section from Glenmore down to 22X should have been named Tsuut'ina. Interestingly, I bet a whole heap of people have no idea how to pronounce Tsuut'ina, or that it cost Alberta over a quarter billion dollars for the rights to build through their land and we were getting pretty close to bulldozing houses if a deal had not been reached.

Originally Posted by you&me

Speaking of racket... I know that these things are supposed to be built with future demands in mind, but man, some of these interchanges seem way larger and more complex than need be.

You are 100% correct. It's not that the interchanges are unnecessarily complex, it's that the median is unnecessarily wide because the original plan was to build this thing out like the 401 in Toronto with a full second freeway running down the median. That plan has since been scrapped, but they did not redo the plans from scratch... so now we have an absurdly wide median creating absurdly long bridges and adding several hundred million extra dollars to the project.

If you look at Stoney in the NW, (and Henday SW) we already have had to rebuild and build out interchanges that were not done the first time, barely 10 years later, and widen the road to 6 lanes not even 10 years after finishing.

Because we can't ever build out past the southwest ring road into Tsuut'ina, it will likely not ever need a rebuild or widening from 8 lanes. It just looks like too much because Stoney NW/NE and Henday SW were not built properly the first time.

The interchange designs here look almost like their swan song, the things that don't work perfectly at other spots (Stoney NE/Deerfoot) they just cloned and fixed by adding extra bridges. In my opinion only one interchange is overbuilt, and that's Macleod/22X which I feel has a sprawling flyover that relatively little traffic will use - northbound Macleod to westbound 22X.

[GGG]

And that is 100% on the provinces specifications for future proofing and design speeds for lanes and loops. No one will complain about SW ring road like they do about Deerfoot. It is an absurd waste though.

[Acey]

Yeah but to clarify, the province has admitted they overbuilt in terms of the provisions for 2 extra carriageways down the median. That wouldn't really change the way any of the interchanges look however, just reduce the median from 90 m to 30 m. If they think something will be too tight now and create weaving and a hell zone, they just cut out access completely and say "too bad".

Once you come off the new flyover from southbound Sarcee to eastbound Glenmore, there will be no access to 37 St. Until the flyover opens in the next few weeks people probably don't realize that, and I guarantee someone will complain about it... like the woman on Global who was almost in tears in 2013 when she realized she can no longer access EB 22X from Cranston Blvd.

Safe to say we have some of the highest design standards for new freeways on the planet, given the predicted traffic levels.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Acey

In my opinion only one interchange is overbuilt, and that's Macleod/22X which I feel has a sprawling flyover that relatively little traffic will use - northbound Macleod to westbound 22X.

Will westbound 22x be different than westbound Stoney at that intersection?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Will westbound 22x be different than westbound Stoney at that intersection?

Not sure what you mean? It'll be re-signed as 201 once everything is done but will still technically be 22X also; I just call it that out of habit.

[Old Yeller]

We drove over the SWRR at 130ave the other day and passed the new Costco (I'm almost looking forward to that as much as this bloody road).. the median size is insane, it looks a little ridiculous but whatever, the road/interchanges really look like they're getting close to my uneducated eye.

I'm in Oakridge but work at MRU, the day I don't have to take a gridlocked 14th street anymore will be a very good day.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Acey

Not sure what you mean? It'll be re-signed as 201 once everything is done but will still technically be 22X also; I just call it that out of habit.

I wasn't sure if there was a separate road at that point, similar to the 22x and stoney intersecton where stoney goes north on the SE corner.

There is quite a bit of traffic that comes from the south and goes to the west on the 22x currently so I would think that ramp would be utilized.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

There is quite a bit of traffic that comes from the south and goes to the west on the 22x currently so I would think that ramp would be utilized.

It's hardly anything, but will go up in 2024 when the full is ring done. Just from a cost vs volume perspective - it will be utilized, just nowhere near as much as movements at other ring road interchanges that have justified such an expensive flyover. They're playing the long game and intend to make Macleod a freeway from 22X down to De Winton, but this is probably where they could have saved money if they wanted to.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Acey

It's pretty dumb how they did it, wanting to name only the section of the ring road with in Tsuut'ina as Tsuut'ina. So there's a little bit of it behind Grey Eagle where the name goes back to Stoney Trail before it hits Glenmore, and Glenmore west of Sarcee is now Stoney.

Extremely dumb and confusing on the part of Alberta Transportation; the whole section from Glenmore down to 22X should have been named Tsuut'ina.

Agreed, I thought that's what was going to happen, and what they meant when they announced the agreement with the Nation. And it not only seems so much simpler to me to have it change at the interchange at Sarcee/Glenmore/Hwy 8, isn't about three quarters of the land used to build that interchange on Nation land anyway?

Where is the cut-off where the name changes? Tsuut'ina Parkway?

Interestingly, I bet a whole heap of people have no idea how to pronounce Tsuut'ina, or that it cost Alberta over a quarter billion dollars for the rights to build through their land and we were getting pretty close to bulldozing houses if a deal had not been reached.

Oh I think a lot of people were aware of the cost of the deal.

As for pronunciation, it's a lot less... problematic... than Na'a Drive, near COP.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by timun

Where is the cut-off where the name changes? Tsuut'ina Parkway?

Looks like that's the spot.

As you're southbound on Sarcee to go southbound on 201, the signs say Stoney Trail but before you've even merged onto 201 the signs have switch to Tsuut'ina Trail. Brilliant. Same with approaching either way from Glenmore.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Acey

Looks like that's the spot.

As you're southbound on Sarcee to go southbound on 201, the signs say Stoney Trail but before you've even merged onto 201 the signs have switch to Tsuut'ina Trail. Brilliant. Same with approaching either way from Glenmore.

It seems so unnecessarily confusing that way. :\

Originally Posted by Acey

Once you come off the new flyover from southbound Sarcee to eastbound Glenmore, there will be no access to 37 St. Until the flyover opens in the next few weeks people probably don't realize that, and I guarantee someone will complain about it... like the woman on Global who was almost in tears in 2013 when she realized she can no longer access EB 22X from Cranston Blvd.

LOL, I only noticed that particular little quirk in the last few weeks: the traffic from SB Sarcee to EB Glenmore will merge under the bridge at 37 St! If you're a Lakeview resident trying to get from SB Sarcee to the neighbourhood you'll have to:

• get off at EB Richmond Road, and cut over to SB 37th St,
• get off at EB Glenmore, and keep going east on Glenmore to SB Crowchild, or,
• continue SB on the ring road and get off at EB Tsuut'ina Parkway, driving through three roundabouts and a four-way intersection to get to 37th

That'll take some getting used to. I don't doubt you're correct that people will complain about this; I'll wager it'll be some sexagenarian Lakeview resident who makes a local news forecast first. EDIT: But probably not before some blue-hair from Woodbine complains that traffic on 14th still sucks, even after the ring road is completely open.

[Acey]

I'm thinking the fast way would be to go west, exit Westhills Way, through the 2 roundabouts onto EB Glenmore.

in blue

[Calgary14]

I actually don't mind the parts that look overbuilt because I know in 5-10 years they wont look overbuilt. In some areas I am frustrated the city seems to have planned the roads for the present with no regards for the future growth of the next 10-20 years.

The new SW Costco opens Aug 28 at 7am for anyone curious