Section of West Calgary Ring Road project opening in October

The West Calgary Ring Road project is set to open from Bow Trail to 16 Avenue sometime in early October, according to its website.

“In early October, eastbound and westbound Bow Trail will open to public traffic from 85 Street S.W. to 101 Street S.W,” a notice on the West Calgary Ring Road project website from Sept. 22 reads.

“At the same time, Stoney Trail will open to traffic between Bow Trail and the Trans-Canada Highway.”

Officials say all movements to the Old Banff Coach Road and the Trans Canada Highway Interchange will open to drivers, but northbound Stoney Trial will be reduced to one lane approaching Bow River bridge until “bridge rehabilitation is complete and the northbound bridge over the river re-opens.”

Officials say all movement at the Old Banff Coach Road and Trans-Canada Highway interchanges will open to traffic in Calgary, but northbound Stoney Trail will be reduced to one lane approaching the Bow River bridge until bridge rehabilitation is complete, along with the northbound bridge over the river re-opens. (Courtesy West Calgary Ring Road project website)

Ward 6 Coun. Richard Pootmans says that — with that section opening — he wants to have a closer look at an interchange just east of the new ring road.

“Would the ring road, when … the southwest ring road is completed, and the ring road around the whole entire city actually is completed, what would the impact be at the intersection such as the one at Bow Trail and Sarcee Trail? It’s a very expensive $100 million plus interchange,” he said.

“Could a ring road actually not take enough pressure off that intersection we don’t necessarily have to build it out? Likely not. But it’s an opportunity to start to get an early understanding of exactly what the impact will be of a north-south ring road, not far away from north-south Sarcee.”

The final section of Stoney Trail, from Bow Trail South to Highway 8, is set to be completed sometime in 2024.

However, Pootmans thinks the city should start studying what impact that might have right now.

“Sarcee right now is backing up pretty badly, sometimes up to 17 Avenue. Will a ring road help? The current wisdom is maybe not, the best case that can be made right now is that the ring road will in fact take away the pressure added … from the development.”

He notes upgrades at Sarcee and Bow Trail would be very expensive, so the city needs to make sure they are making the right decision.

The project was slated to be completed in 2022, but a utility line being moved by ENMAX forced a two-year delay, though the government also said that the COVID-19 pandemic is partially to blame.

When finished, the entire Calgary Ring Road will provide travellers with 101 kilometres of free-flow travel.