Ring Road To Nowhere

[vegasbound]

I don't care what statements are made, as long as they open the damn road! I was sitting on Deerfoot today during rush hour (coming from the dead SE and going to Olds) and it taking way longer than it normally does in rush hour, thinking "if only the stupid ring road was open!"

[btimbit]

Thank you for your email. Chinook Roads Partnership and its joint venture contractors are extremely close to reaching the necessary requirements for the Alberta Government to open the southeast section of the ring road to traffic. Once the Safety Audit has been conducted and the Alberta Government has determined that the highway is ready for traffic availability, we will be able to open it. We anticipate that this should be very soon, however, until we have an exact date we are unable to speculate and update the public with proposed dates as it would be misleading. I assure you though, that we are extremely close and looking very forward to opening Stoney Trail.



Thank you again for your email and if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.



Kind regards,



Lindsey



Lindsey Bethke

Communications Advisor

Chinook Roads Partnership

Southeast Stoney Trail Project

Calgary, AB



t. 1.877.898.ROAD

e. info@sestproject.ca

www.sestproject.ca

From Beyond.ca

[Acey]

Yeah that's pretty much the same email she sent me a month ago and I posted it in this very thread.

[burn_this_city]

Being two months behind schedule isn't terrible considering it's construction in Alberta.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Being two months behind schedule isn't terrible considering it's construction in Alberta.

My issue with it is their lack of press releases and telling us up till the last week of September that they'd be ready on time. Also, the shortcuts they took in late September trying to make the deadline, horrible traffic management, and their consistent position that this is the fault of the province, and not them.

[You Need a Thneed]

Apparently, we (our company) still have a concrete pour (Wall caps) to do tomorrow. Too cold yesterday and today to do it.

Again, it's not us that is causing the delay. We can only start forming when it's ready to start.

[Acey]

High -2°C tomorrow, -6°C Friday, and highs of 6 to 9°C between Saturday and Tuesday.

[cavalera403]

I am told that there is still one bridge left to do welding inspection on bearing plates is left to do.

[Acey]

It sorta conflicts with what McIver said on Global yesterday:

"[Opening] does require them to get signed off from all their partners and lending authorities, and they are working through that right now. As for Alberta Transportation, we're ready to go right now."

Somewhat interesting. So either that's not exactly true, or the new contract has provisions for the completion and inspection of the wall caps (and the bridge, et al.) after traffic availability. Monday's Herald article seemed to imply the only change was for geometric testing of pavement.

[cavalera403]

I know the guy who is doing the inspections. The somewhat amusing part is the bridge left to be inspected for welding is EB ST to NB Deerfoot which has had traffic for weeks

[Acey]

Ugh, that flyover is a pair of two-span steel bridges that have been open since October 1st. They've had a ton of traffic over them already.

[You Need a Thneed]

Around the Peigan Trail interchange, they have plowed and removed snow everywhere - overnight. They must have physically moved all the remaining barricades, barrels, etc, so that they could completely clean up all the snow.

It's not just in the lanes either, the shoudlers on both sides, etc, everything has been cleared off.

This is not something they would do if more snow was expected between now and when they plan on opening.

There were also a lot of yellow flashing lights driving on the road this morning, significantly more than normal.

[Acey]

No precipitation forecast in EC's 7 day forecast, nor any 14 day forecasts so at first glance it's not narrowed much, but such an extensive effort would indeed suggest they're sure. 48-72 hours, tops. Maybe.

[Jayems]

I just want this stupid road open.. hahah. I had been counting down to Oct. 1 for months as I'm sure most of us southies were. This road will significantly reduce my commute, assuming it won't get jammed up like Deerfoot most afternoons.

[Acey]

It won't jam like Deerfoot that's for sure, but NB at 17 Ave will slow a bit in the afternoons where it does a Deerfoot-style lane drop from 3 to 2 lanes, then on the NB bridge on top of 16 Ave it will slow as traffic from the EB-NB merges on. It'll be irritating through till Metis but again never jammed; I'm never on it in the morning so I'm curious to see where SB slows.

Depending on whether or not they screw up the light timing, the turn from EB Glenmore to NB Stoney could slow in the PM rush. But mainline will never slow anywhere south of Peigan as it'll be less than 30,000 cars per day on ~8 lanes of mainline.

[Acey]

Big news, an engineer working on the project just posted this on SSP:

good news folks...stay tuned for a big announcement tomorrow!

I know we've had a couple false alarms in this thread so I don't wanna jump the gun. I haven't exactly confirmed who he works for, maybe a city company subcontracted by the main partnership, but based on his previous posts and private messages he's sent to me with intimate knowledge of the project, I'm going to go ahead and call this 100% reliable.

Might want to check in on the SSP thread tomorrow, link is here. Any official announcement will quickly be picked up by 660 News' official Twitter... they've been the quickest ring road news source: here and here; Global will be on it as well.

[Acey]

This Calgary blogger claims to have just received an invitation to the opening event tomrrow:

@calgaryrants Yahoo! The SE Stoney Trail opens tomorrow! I just got the invite. Finally!!! #yyc

I replied to him for more info.

[Acey]

And there it is! Confirmation.

@660News: BREAKING: The long awaited SE leg of the Ring Road will be opening tomorrow.

[Lil Pedro]

NOV 21st is now the new October 1st according to Chinook Roads right?

[Resolute 14]