Ring Road To Nowhere

[Acey]

23 minute audio announcement

3 year construction timeline starting in "late fall". Also includes a second new pedestrian-only bridge. The westbound bridge that was built in 2007 originally had 2 traffic lanes and a pedestrian lane on the north side, which was repurposed as a 3rd traffic lane in 2014ish. Widening it by only 1 lane to 4 seems a waste of time, so I'm hoping for pier extensions on both sides for a total of 5 lanes.

RIP traffic in the southeast, regardless.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Pardon my ignorance, is that a big massive pinch point causing traffic backups? Why this project over the anderson/glenmore deerfoot improvements that are constantly in the works it seems?

Only if it is really foggy...

[Acey]

I have to think the 1974 bridge is prematurely failing or for some reason has a shorter lifespan than Ivor Strong or Calf Robe or something, or would be unusually expensive to rehabilitate. Why they're widening westbound... not sure.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Acey

I have to think the 1974 bridge is prematurely failing or for some reason has a shorter lifespan than Ivor Strong or Calf Robe or something, or would be unusually expensive to rehabilitate. Why they're widening westbound... not sure.

Possibly, does Alberta publish bridge inspections like some states in the US?
I see parging being done on the Glenmore bridge almost every year because of corrosion but rarely on the 22x bridge. I think Glenmore and others were done 1980-1982? You'd think money spent on those would provide a bigger impact, but like you say... maybe there's more about the 22x bridge status than we know.

[Lil Pedro]

Originally Posted by Acey

I have to think the 1974 bridge is prematurely failing or for some reason has a shorter lifespan than Ivor Strong or Calf Robe or something, or would be unusually expensive to rehabilitate. Why they're widening westbound... not sure.

The WB bridge is an absolute nightmare in the afternoon rush, especially the far right lane as the bridge shrinks down from 3 lanes to 2 lanes before the Sundance overpass

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Only if it is really foggy...

Don't these bridges also get super icy in the winter under certain conditions as well? I have a vague recollection of some big pile ups. I wonder if there is anything that can be done with a new design to mitigate this problem?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Lil Pedro

The WB bridge is an absolute nightmare in the afternoon rush, especially the far right lane as the bridge shrinks down from 3 lanes to 2 lanes before the Sundance overpass

Yeah but the 2 lane crunch happens well after the river and there's room for 5 lanes under the Sundance bridge, so that would mostly fix it. Just from a cost-benefit perspective it's a very expensive pre-emptive fix.

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

maybe there's more about the 22x bridge status than we know.

This is the document that I cherrypicked the dates from. It has info on every highway bridge in Alberta, I'm looking for detailed info but haven't found anything yet. At the bottom of page 197 It has the EB bridge at a 27.8% structure rating in a 2019 inspection - the Deerfoot bridges (Calf Robe/Ivor Strong) built a few years later are at 55% and 66%. A quick scroll up and down the lists shows not much else with a structure rating that bad, so we can maybe assume that is the reason. Maybe between 1974 and 1978 we learned how to build bridges better.

[Acey]

Questions are answered in the audio.

Transportation Minister Ric McIver: I don't know the exact date of the bridge (we do, 1974) our engineering folks are here, they've given us advice that it's time to do that. The other reason that it needs to be done is for safety, for volume. We are of the belief that when the ring gets fully open the lanes that that we have will not be enough. Large pileups have occurred. It's to create pedestrian and cycle safety as well. It's wiser to take it down and put in another one rather than make an investment on infrastructure with a limited shelf life.

Engineer on construction sequence: Eastbound will be closed and moved to westbound, 2 lanes each direction [that'd require no shoulders]. Eastbound bridge demo'd. Then eastbound will be opened and shifted back. 4 lanes each direction.

That could possibly just be a narrowing of shoulders for the westbound lanes to pick up an extra lane, but McIver said the westbound bridge has a lot of life left (obviously, 2007 build) so it's worth putting the work into it... suggesting the work will be more than just repainting lines.

[Calgary14]

Will this in any way address the massive cluster of fog that tends to sit there on some winter days? I seem to recall a 25 car pileup on that bridge a couple years ago because of the poor visibility

Edit - noticed he did mention safety, still not sure how this would address that though if the main issue is fog

[Acey]

Well the same number of vehicles spread across 4 lanes instead of 2 would reduce the likelihood of a pileup by some measure that engineers could probably calculate, and just increase safety in general. More effective to address the fog would be variable speed limits both ways for the river section like Whoop-Up Drive in Lethbridge, which they added for their fog prone river valley after this kept happening:

Spoiler!

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Acey

[Eastbound will be closed and moved to westbound, 2 lanes each direction [that'd require no shoulders]. Eastbound bridge demo'd. Then eastbound will be opened and shifted back. 4 lanes each direction.

Damn, this will also kill cycling access across the river during 3 years(?) of construction.

[Acey]

I'd think they will put the pedal to the floor and try to get the pedestrian bridge done as soon as soon as possible as it is a separate structure and these days the city/province seem to actually care about pedestrian access in major projects. We'll probably get actual timeline estimates for everything in the coming weeks.

[CroFlames]

When'll google maps be updated with the new section?

[Acey]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

When'll google maps be updated with the new section?

I'd guess about 4-6 weeks after it opens, if I remember correctly from other Stoney/Henday sections. OpenStreetMap at least shows the sections that are unopened and is updated within days.

[Slava]

37th Street is closed Monday, and the signs are a little ambiguous. Is it closed just for Monday, or is this part of the new arrangement?

It says to use James Mckevitt or 53rd Street instead, in case you’re affected.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Slava

37th Street is closed Monday, and the signs are a little ambiguous. Is it closed just for Monday, or is this part of the new arrangement?

It says to use James Mckevitt or 53rd Street instead, in case you’re affected.

Permanent closure I believe.

[Acey]

Yeah permanent. Sucks, but they're rebuilding 22X a little bit past there and they need to level it all out. Advisory Notice

[MacDaddy77]

Why does 37th street closure suck? There's not much off that street, unless you live there. 22x and 53rd becomes the main access to the new Providence area along with the overpass on 162.

[Boblobla]

Man, the U-turns by Cardel Rec on Sunday were a bit crazy and the traffic to exit was nuts. I think it is going to make the traffic at the intersection of Shawville Blvd and 162nd even worse than it is now. Since you can't get from 6th street on the 22x as well there is no other way to go south on MacLeod out of that area.

[WinnipegFan]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Man the U-turns by Cardel Rec on Sunday were a bit crazy and the traffic to exit was nuts. I think it is going to make the traffic at the intersection of Shawville Blvd and 162nd even worse than it is now. Since you can't get from 6th street on the 22x as well there is no other way to go south on MacLeod out of that area.

I think that traffic was mostly due to the pedestrian incident at 162 with the C-train, but I could be wrong.