Calgary Stoney Trail [Ring Road]

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by mersar

EB to SB has been at least paved a single layer if I'm correct. Whether it would be ready to open with the other 2 ramps is unknown as it connects onto the mainline of Stoney and I'm not sure how much paving has happened on it yet south of the bridges (it had been at least oiled a few weeks back). They were also hauling in gravel for the SB to EB ramp where it merges onto Crowchild yesterday, so that half of the ramp should be getting paved soon (the north half of it has been fully paved it looks like)

They've got at least a base layer of pavement layed down almost to the bridges at Crowchild.

[You Need A Thneed]

The CrossIron Drive interchagne has also been prgressing quite well, as well as the extra lanes on Deerfoot between Stoney and CrossIron Drive. When those lanes open, the Stoney/Deerfoot interchange will finally be complete, and the 80km/h restriction will be able to be removed.

[lubicon]

I noticed a sign last night indicating that Crowchild would be down to single lane two way traffic this weekend in the vicinity of the Stoney interchange. It makes me think they may be shifting everyone to the current EB lanes which are the original Crowchild alignment lanes. They could then dig up the detour lanes which currently cover the original WB lanes. That would prepare Crowchild to return to it's original alignment east of Stoney. We might see the shift to the next stage of traffic patterns by the end of this weekend.

[mersar]

Are the two bridges over the NB-WB off ramp ready though? It didn't look like they were when I was through there on the weekend. It would be nice to see though.

[kap384]

Nope, but with some paving of the approaches this weekend, they'd be good to go.

[shevallo]

Originally Posted by lubicon

I noticed a sign last night indicating that Crowchild would be down to single lane two way traffic this weekend in the vicinity of the Stoney interchange. It makes me think they may be shifting everyone to the current EB lanes which are the original Crowchild alignment lanes. They could then dig up the detour lanes which currently cover the original WB lanes. That would prepare Crowchild to return to it's original alignment east of Stoney. We might see the shift to the next stage of traffic patterns by the end of this weekend.

I was skeptical of this being the case until I saw that they have put up temporary traffic lights where the original Stoney Trail / Crowchild Intersection was and covered them with black tape. That may mean that this weekend is the biggest change we've seen yet as mentioned above. I hope so, but somehow can't see how everything could be ready for that. They'll also need to remove the existing east and westbound detour lanes of Crowchild to realign Crowchild to the new alignment since the detour lanes are at a higher elevation.

[kap384]

Crews were still there working 15 min ago. Lots of progress happening every day. With good weather, there should be no issue getting the realignment done this weekend. Paving now down for the new EB alignment connecting the new bridge to Stoney. Crews working feverishly on finishing the dirt work prior to paving on the other side of Stoney, approaching the big bridge. Crews also installing a guardrail on the SB<WB ramp. Like shevallo mentioned, signals are up for the N/S traffic on Stoney for the new alignment, just waiting on the E/W ones. Also, just finishing up the last layer of asphalt heading south from the big bridge. The rest of the EB<SB ramp looks finished except for line painting.

[freeweed]

Back to my earlier confusion on line painting - it looks like those lines I saw earlier are actually guides for the paving equipment. I can't believe that in my 30+ years of watching roadwork that I've never seen this before. I had a chance to watch some of the paving in action yesterday and lo and behold, they had the same dashed lines, only to be covered by another layer of asphalt. So I was just ignorant.

I saw that "single lane traffic" sign too, and I really wonder if they're going to meet this. There seems to be a whole lot of work to go still, but yeah, they're working at a furious pace all over the entire site. Based on past experience, don't be surprised if this weekend's re-routing does not happen but instead it gets pushed off to the next weekend. And the next, and the next... all depends on weather at this point from the looks of things. Rain is forecast for the next several days so we'll see.

Exciting progress nonetheless.

Oh, and they're putting up guardrail on the SB->WB and EB ramp (it drops off to a retention pond on the west side). Sure does seem like it will open soon.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Back to my earlier confusion on line painting - it looks like those lines I saw earlier are actually guides for the paving equipment. I can't believe that in my 30+ years of watching roadwork that I've never seen this before. I had a chance to watch some of the paving in action yesterday and lo and behold, they had the same dashed lines, only to be covered by another layer of asphalt. So I was just ignorant.

I wouldn't call that ignorance. It's not normal. I've worked on paving jobs before, and at most I've seen the surveyor use their spray can to mark points along curves and whatnot, but not getting all the temporary markings out for them to pave over...very weird. Most pavers are good enough to do it without guides like that. That being said, paint is cheaper than asphalt so no harm done if they're more accurate because of it.

[kap384]

Feverish pace is continuing. I'll correct my earlier post. Still one layer of asphalt left to go on the west side approaches of the small bridge. Dirt work looks about ready for pavement on the east end of the big bridge. Only 1 lane of top pavement left to put on the WB<NB ramp. Work continuing on guardrail previously mentioned, and crews removing the old concrete meridian that used to cut across where the new EB Crowchild lanes will cross Stoney.

[You Need A Thneed]

Crowchild Trail in both directions: at Stoney Trail NW
roadway reduced to one lane — starting 6:00 PM, Aug 13/10 until Sunday, at about 6:00 PM MDT
Comment: The closure is to allow for rerouting of traffic. The rerouting is to accomodate the movement of east and westbound Crowchild to the new permanent alignment.

From the city's website.

[craner]

Been away for awhile so just catching up - thanks for all the info guys.
This must truly be the most active time for major road construction in the city's history. Very exciting - I'm going for a drive this weekend to check everything out.

[Smevo]

Harvest Hills interchange is progressing nicely. They've paved some of the ramps as well as the Harvest Hills Blvd alignment on at least the south side. I haven't gotten a good look at the north side of the site, but at least the WB-NB ramp was oiled last time I went by.

[freeweed]

YNAT - that sure implies that Crowchild is going to be routed to the new bridges, no? I didn't think they were anywhere near ready for that, although it's hard to tell without getting out of the car.

They certainly don't have the approaches paved yet, although I've seen some pretty amazing work done on short notice in this city in the past.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by freeweed

YNAT - that sure implies that Crowchild is going to be routed to the new bridges, no? I didn't think they were anywhere near ready for that, although it's hard to tell without getting out of the car.

They certainly don't have the approaches paved yet, although I've seen some pretty amazing work done on short notice in this city in the past.

That's exactly what it implies. I haven't been around there recently to see what's done. But finishing up a short stretch in a final push isn't really all that hard. Often there's a bit of a transition when switching around lanes too, that takes a few days, Closing one lane at a time and regrading it to fit the new lane path. When starting or ending a detour road, things like that are common.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by freeweed

They certainly don't have the approaches paved yet, although I've seen some pretty amazing work done on short notice in this city in the past.

Considering the incredible amount of work done in one weekend for the Deerfoot/Stoney interchange to move everything off the detour alignment to the final alignment, I'm certain they can pull this one off too.

[freeweed]

Yeah, that sure does seem to be the plan. I'm getting giddy as a schoolgirl thinking about it.

Fortunately, I'm in the backcountry for the weekend so I'll miss out on the massive traffic snarl. I'm hoping for a nice pleasant surprise when I return.

[Oliver Klozov]

Originally Posted by freeweed

..... I'll miss out on the massive traffic snarl......

I'm heading to St Albert on Sunday afternoon. I won't be detouring the snarl; I want a look-see. I'll get an even worse snarl on westside Henday at Lessard, Callingwood, SPR and Yellowhead.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Oliver Klozov

I'll get an even worse snarl on westside Henday at Lessard, Callingwood, SPR and Yellowhead.

I didn't find that too bad actually. Traffic moves, if slowly. I guess I've just gotten used to their ring road being such a clusterhump on the west side. Gonna be nice when it's done, that's for sure.

[Jack Doe]

I thought I would continue the discussion of the SWRR over in the Construction thread here as it seemed more appropriate.

"Here's a question I"m not sure has been answered before: Anyone know what the final 37th St. and Glenmore overpass will look like. It's confusing that they are building an overpass way before the current intersection. I'm guessing it will only be one of several?"

The CFB Master Plan shows the 37 St/Glenmore I/C as a simple diamond with Glenmore depressed and 37 St essentially at grade. Subsequently the city determined that this configuration would eventually fail and a WB to SB flyover would have to added. This flyover would be partially built on and to service Tsuu Tina land.

I think if the 37 St corridor is chosen for Stoney Trail SW then the WB to SB flyover would not be built. There would be a NB to WB flyover. Think of Crowchild/Glenmore I/C rotated 180 degrees and you get an idea of what I'm getting at. The current bridge being constructed could be the first part of this flyover and may be why it's in its current location. Design by stealth.

"Lakeview residents and their napkin-estimated 700 houses being demolished"

The Lakeview estimate is explained in their newsletter and is based on a 8-lane, 90 metre ROW. It also includes 200-250 homes in Glamorgan. Based on measurements I made in Google Earth the ROW on 37 St is 26m and that of Glenmore Trail is 34m. South of the reservoir the ROW on the 37 St corridor is 65m. By taking out the housing fronting onto 37 St and Glenmore you could increase the ROWs to 68m and 86m respectively. It would involve approximately 221 units in Lakeview (37 houses, 32 duplexes, 3 apartment blocks) and 115 in Glamorgan (15 houses, 12 fourplexes, 13 seniors units (fourplexes?) and 1 nursing home). That ROW would probably be enough to accomodate a Crowchild type freeway (80km/h).

"I'm sure the residents of Bragg Creek would just love to see their town bulldozed."

Not necessary. A truck route bypass could be built on existing ROW 2 miles west of the Tsuu Tina reserve directly south from the TCH. It would avoid the reserve, Bragg Creek, Bragg Creek PP and acreages. IIRC only 10% of the traffic on the proposed SWRR is through traffic so a two-lane configuration would suffice.

"8 lane corridor - ultimately the province wants to run 16 lanes however but that is a long ways off."

The MOU between the province and city is for a 8-lane, 110-km/h corridor with the acknowledgement that the design speed may be lower due to the constrained nature of the route location. The 16-lane configuration was based on a second ring road being built about 3-4 miles outside of Stoney Trail with the SWRR having to double as the SouthWest leg of this ring road as well. This seems to have fallen out of favour with province's highway planners.

-----

Without land from the Tsuu Tina the best that can be probably be achieved is an 80km/h freeflow road with a low speed (30km/h) turning movement from 37 St to Glenmore and vice-versa. The province may be proposing this as a method of getting the reserve to reconsider. There is a precedent in this. The province had a similar expierence when they wished to twin Hwy 43 through the Sturgeon Lake IR. The band turned down the province's initial proposal and only came back to the bargaining table when the province developed plans to bypass the reserve. OTOH the province may be just trying to make the best of a bad situation.