Ring Road To Nowhere

[CedarMeter]

Ahh that's great!. Hope that takes some heat off of Deerfoot. Good to hear.

[cavalera403]

I am still finding it hard to believe that it will all be open. 114th has curbs poured and they are just starting on working of laying down the road beds and it looks like they are twining 114th to meet up with 52nd. The deerfoot/ 22x interchange is nowhere close to being done. They will not come out publicly until Oct.1 saying that they are not done because as soon as they do that the penalties start adding up.

Sure they could open stony down to 22x with construction zones and lots of work going on but that will slow down construction and be a major headache for trying to use that section of road. Which is exactly why they will do it because it is just a bad idea.

[You Need a Thneed]

the N/S section shouldn't have too much for construction zones on it, it looks done enough. Perhaps landscaping will require the speed limit to be 80 for a bit.

Originally Posted by cavalera403

114th has curbs poured and they are just starting on working of laying down the road beds and it looks like they are twining 114th to meet up with 52nd.

That work is being done by the city of Calgary, not part of the SE Ring road.

[GreenLantern]

I took Stony on my way to the mountains Monday.. they have construction on a large portion of the NW that has many signs stating speed limit reduced, fines double. I was doing about 8 over the speed limit in the slow lane with lots of people just riding my ass. Probably thinking DUMB SASKATCHEWAN HICK!!

This one feller was particularly ragey, he then proceeded to gun his truck around me and right by a cop doing a good 30-40 over the posted speed limit. Enjoy that ticket buddy.

[Tyler]

I'm no construction expert, but I have no idea how they expect to open the SE leg is going to be ready in 2 weeks. Place is still a disaster

[Acey]

Originally Posted by cavalera403

Sure they could open stony down to 22x with construction zones and lots of work going on but that will slow down construction and be a major headache for trying to use that section of road. Which is exactly why they will do it because it is just a bad idea.

Not really. Have you seen the insane backups on 52 St, 84 St, 100 St, Peigan? There's simply nowhere to go. They need to open whatever they have, ASAP... Stoney as a construction zone can handle all the cars (and tons of truck traffic) better than the crazy situation out on 100 St at the moment.

It's not ideal, but it's the FAR lesser of two evils. In other words, exactly what I said yesterday:

Originally Posted by Acey

On Oct 1, the most ruthless congestion will shift from the 52 St/Peigan/100 St area down to the Auburn Bay/Cranston/Deerfoot/22X area... a trade-off I'm more than willing to accept as there's more capacity down there even with the interchanges half done.

Yeah they're probably paying penalties, and for anyone saying such and such won't be ready... you're right; but 22X/Deerfoot and McKenzie/Cranston don't need to be fully ready for the main route to open.

[jar_e]

Did the actual press release say completed or opened? I always thought they were just opening it with the understanding they are still doing work.

[Acey]

They're vague, but I've driven it enough times to have a pretty good idea of the timeline and what could possibly be ready.

CBC

after three years of construction, the provincial government says the southeast ring road will open to traffic on oct. 1."

CTV

ring road traffic currently extends from the trans-canada highway in the northwest to peigan trail in the city’s southeast. As of october 1, stoney trail will extend its southeast reach to include a section of highway 22x.
The only construction hurdle remaining for the project is the deerfoot-highway22x intersection where seven interchanges are being built. A dry month of august has helped the construction effort.
“that's the last big piece of the project that has to be completed,” says alberta transportation’s gary lamb. “there's still a fair bit of work to be done. There's 26 days left until the opening of the project, and we've seen their schedule, and if things work well and they get done what they say they're going to get done in those days, the project will open as we expect.”

[SebC]

nm

[Madman]

I thought the "SE Ring Road" was the section from 17th to 22x - and did not include the major interchanges over Deerfoot.

As many people have stated, the Deerfoot section is still a major construction zone, although they have started to rip up and resurface southbound DF under 22x.

[Acey]

The project is everything; from 17 Ave all the way around to just short of Macleod Trail. Also includes maintenance of Deerfoot from 22X down to where it merges with Macleod north of Okotoks.

Hundreds of press releases since it started, and they boast about it at the bottom of every single one:

Southeast Stoney Trail is a $769 million P3 project for the construction and the 30-year maintenance of 25 kilometres of six-lane roadway including:
• nine interchanges;
• 27 bridge structures; and
• three flyovers.

The P3 contract also involves the maintenance of 12 kilometres of Deerfoot Trail between Stoney Trail SE (currently Highway 22X) and the Highway 2A junction. The Southeast Stoney Trail opens to motorists this fall.

The Government of Alberta has invested $1.9 billion in Calgary’s ring road...

[You Need a Thneed]

If the contract calls for substantial completion by Oct 1, they won't make it. Normally, Substantial completion means that a project can be used for what it was built for. However, not all components will meet that standard. Much of the road will meet that standard.

[psicodude]

I think it will be open to traffic on Oct 1st and all interchanges will be somewhat operational. There will still be a bunch of detours and temporary access roads for a few months though. I am no construction expert either, but I believe they are in the home stretch for sure, with just the finishing touches left to go. They aren't setting up forms or pouring concrete anymore...now it's just paving, painting lines, setting up traffic lights, etc. I suppose like any project, the last 2% is the hardest.

The Cranston overpass was still closed at 6:15 this morning, by the way. There are signs all over the place stating it closes today though.

[burn_this_city]

I think we're still probably 8 months to a year away from completion of everything over Deerfoot and along 22X. I can't see how they'll get the paving done before it gets too cold.

[psicodude]

What's left to pave though? The flyover from WB Stoney to Deerfoot which is maybe half a KM? Mostly just on/off ramps which they can do in a few hours, no?

[burn_this_city]

All the ramps that aren't constructed yet, plus the sections of existing roadway that have construction damage, random lines everywhere, or are pretty beat up. I should have mentioned that I think it's the ramp construction that will cause the delays, there is still a lot of material to move to get those built.

[Tron_fdc]

I drive 22X every day, and from what I can tell SB Stony will be open down to the intersection on Stony/22X pretty soon here (Oct 1).

No way is the interchange on Stony/Deerfoot going to be open anytime soon, it's about half done from what I can tell.

[Mazrim]

They can pave in cold weather if they really wanted to. They'd just need to redo it in the spring. I remember watching the McKnight/36th intersection detour being paved at -15 just when construction was starting at the interchange there.

Also, it's Stoney, not Stony...unless you live in Edmonton. Thanks, Stony Plain Road.

[You Need a Thneed]

Paving in cold weather isn't the problem, since asphalt is hot when it's placed. The problem is that you can't compact frozen soil properly.

If you are forced to pave when the soil isn't packed properly, you will have to redo the pavement.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by psicodude

What's left to pave though? The flyover from WB Stoney to Deerfoot which is maybe half a KM? Mostly just on/off ramps which they can do in a few hours, no?

The bridges aren't done, grading isn't done. They're weeks from being ready to pave.