Calgary Stoney Trail [Ring Road]

[craner]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

How is traffic on Calgary roads these days? If significantly reduced, now would be a great time to ramp up construction, safely, of course.

I was thinking the same thing. With traffic on roads so dead it would be a great time to do construction work. It would also help provide employment for people.

[Mazrim]

For long-term projects (ones that will take multiple years) I imagine the thought process doesn't change much unless there was some event in the City they were originally working around. The questions they would have to consider before accelerating a project to take advantage of the quiet roads are:
- What construction projects are ready to go? Most were probably prepping for a May/June start at the earliest.
- What can be done in the next month or two construction-wise before traffic starts to ramp back up that materially makes accelerating a project worth it?
- What is the cost (overtime, procurement, mobilization) versus maintaining the current course?
- Is the weather going to cooperate for the type of project?

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

For long-term projects (ones that will take multiple years) I imagine the thought process doesn't change much unless there was some event in the City they were originally working around. The questions they would have to consider before accelerating a project to take advantage of the quiet roads are:
- What construction projects are ready to go? Most were probably prepping for a May/June start at the earliest.
- What can be done in the next month or two construction-wise before traffic starts to ramp back up that materially makes accelerating a project worth it?
- What is the cost (overtime, procurement, mobilization) versus maintaining the current course?
- Is the weather going to cooperate for the type of project?

It would be nice if they would/could speed up the completion of the Crowchild Trail project. That was supposed to have been done last fall and they're still working on it.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

How is traffic on Calgary roads these days? If significantly reduced, now would be a great time to ramp up construction, safely, of course.

For the first two weeks or so it seemed really dead to me. But the last few times I've ventured out there was much more traffic. Still way below normal but at least there was signs of life.

[bittabola]

Crews are putting up direction signs. I thought the whole SW segment was going to be named Tsuut'ina Trail. But looking at signs it seems the only part that occupies the former first nation lands is called that. Other parts are still Stoney.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by bittabola

Crews are putting up direction signs. I thought the whole SW segment was going to be named Tsuut'ina Trail. But looking at signs it seems the only part that occupies the former first nation lands is called that. Other parts are still Stoney.

What they're doing was always the plan. People are going to be very confused by the name changes. This would be a good time for us in Calgary to stop referring to the same stretch of road by multiple different names and just stick with the numbers. The province should have done this from the start and had all signage only refer to 201.

[craner]

Yeah - it’s so stupid having different names. I guess they had to get the deal done with the nation.

[milomilo]

It is stupid having different names. I like the names though, we should have just renamed another important road to Tsuut'ina Trail.

[Corndogger]

Here's some more updates for the West leg of 201.

Bow River Bridge



Trans-Canada Highway/Valley Ridge Blvd NW Interchange – Girders Installed

Last week, girders were installed on the second of 20 bridges on the North project. The precast concrete girders are manufactured in Edmonton and arrive by special heavy transport trucks. There are eight girders, each measuring two meters high (approximately six and a half feet), 35 meters long (115 feet) and weighing 55 tonnes or 123,000 pounds!

First Girder Installed



Fifth Girder Installed



Sixth Girder Installed





Girder Installation Complete



Trans-Canada Highway/Stoney Trail Interchange

[People_talking]

Geez they've been speeding away with this one, even through the pandemic. I can't wait until the road in its entirety is done, it'll be such a help commuting.

[Corndogger]

Some more updates on the west leg of 201.

Bow River Bridge

Looking south at the bridge abutment and piers on the north side of the river



Looking north at one of the two bridge piers and abutment on the north side of the river



The start of in-river berm construction, April 8, 2020



In-river berm construction, April 10, 2020



North Project

Girder Installations on Basketweave Bridge North of Trans-Canada Highway

There are three "basketweave" bridges on the North project. Basketweave bridges are used to separate weaving traffic. Weaving is caused by vehicles merging and exiting in the same area which creates congestion. In this case, the traffic merging onto westbound Trans-Canada Highway is separated from the traffic exiting the Trans-Canada Highway to go north on Valley Ridge Blvd NW.



Preparing the first girder for installation





The first girder installed

[craner]

Thanks for the updates CD - appreciate it.

[Corndogger]

More updates on the West leg of 201!

Bow River Bridge

In-River Bridge Pier Construction – South Side

In-river berm construction: April 10, 2020



In-river berm construction: April 17, 2020





Bridge Pier Construction – North Side

Looking south at the bridge piers on the north side of the river



North Project



The Nuts and Bolts of Steel Girders

The steel girders being installed on the basketweave bridge between Stoney Trail and Valley Ridge Blvd NW are 65 meters long. For comparison, an NFL football field is just short of 50 meters wide.

Each girder is shipped in three pieces and assembled onsite before being lifted into place. The steel pieces are connected with bolts – approximately 1,460 for each girder, for a total of 7,300 bolts when all five girders for this bridge have been assembled.

The process for tightening the bolts is meticulous. Each bolt is tightened to "snug tight" which is as tight as possible with a spud wrench (the wrench most commonly used for tightening by hand). Then each bolt is marked and turned with a hydraulic wrench to a specific rotation (either one half turn or one third turn) depending on the length of the bolt. Each and every bolt is visually checked, and another sample of bolts are checked with a torque wrench to ensure they have achieved the required torque.

Crews assembling a steel girder and inspecting each bolt



Each bolt is marked to ensure they are tightened to a specified torque

[Corndogger]

Another update on the West leg of 201.

Bow River Bridge

In-River Bridge Pier Construction – South Side

Looking down on the in-river berm construction from the existing Bow River Bridge



Bridge Pier Construction – North Side

Looking south at the bridge piers on the north side of the river



North Project

Basketweave Bridge Between Stoney Trail & Valley Ridge Blvd NW

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls

Mechanically stabilized earth or MSE walls are artificially reinforced walls of soil used to stabilize slopes such as bridge abutments. They usually consist of layers of backfill and soil reinforcements, as well as a concrete facing.



The start of MSE wall construction on the basketweave bridge between Stoney Trail and Valley Ridge Blvd





Side view looking north at the basketweave bridge between Stoney Trail and Valley Ridge Blvd



Another steel girder arrives on site in three pieces



Southbound Stoney Trail Mainline Bridge



April 23, 2020 – Center piers for southbound Stoney Trail mainline bridge – formwork on right pier



April 29, 2020 – Center piers for southbound Stoney Trail mainline bridge – formwork removed from right pier and rebar constructed on middle pier



Crews repel down the center pier from a mobile crane to remove formwork



Close up of concrete centre pier for southbound Stoney Trail mainline bridge

[Pegasus]

Thanks for all the great pictorial updates, Corndogger. Are there any updates on the SW leg? I assume they are progressing on schedule??

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Pegasus

Thanks for all the great pictorial updates, Corndogger. Are there any updates on the SW leg? I assume they are progressing on schedule??

Whoever is in charge of updating the website for the S.W. leg must have left ages ago. The only updates I see for it are now coming from West leg guys and they seldom talk about it which I guess makes sense. The other day I went for a drive and covered the part from where the West leg starts up to the huge interchange complex for Glenmore/Sarcee/Highway 8/etc. Lots of work being done. The area under the bridges in that area is super wide. To me it looks like they could fit in 50 lanes easily. The bridges are still being built as is the road bed but I could see most of it being done by the end of the year if they get good weather.

Last week I drove the section in the deep south from Macleod to wherever it is that the road curves to head north. Again, lots of work going on with bridges under construction and new road bed (not sure what the technical term is) being created. The section that goes from this area north to Sarcee is something I've yet to see so I have no idea how far along they are. From what I've seen this section will be the most impressive by far. They need to upgrade the N.E. leg soon so it doesn't become more of a weak link than it already is.

[Pegasus]

Took a drive along Anderson Road, 37 Street SW and Fish Creek Blvd this afternoon and was amazed to see the amount of construction underway and the progress made. Traffic is now routed under the Ring Road at Anderson, over the new Fish Creek bridge, and over the Ring Road at Fish Creek Blvd. It's a shame there are no photo updates for the SW leg.

I was even more surprised to see a new Costco Warehouse on the west side of 37 Street just north of Fish Creek. (Store is on Tsuut'ina Nation land and is due to open in Summer 2020).

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Pegasus

Took a drive along Anderson Road, 37 Street SW and Fish Creek Blvd this afternoon and was amazed to see the amount of construction underway and the progress made. Traffic is now routed under the Ring Road at Anderson, over the new Fish Creek bridge, and over the Ring Road at Fish Creek Blvd. It's a shame there are no photo updates for the SW leg.

I was even more surprised to see a new Costco Warehouse on the west side of 37 Street just north of Fish Creek. (Store is on Tsuut'ina Nation land and is due to open in Summer 2020).

It really does 🞵🞵🞵🞵 that the consortium building the S.W. leg has been allowed to stop posting updates on the website.

I remember the Costco being discussed here last year but had totally forgotten about it. Is is it part of that huge shopping/entertainment complex they are building? I can see that Costco being super busy as the entire west side of the city is very underserved when it comes to Costco's and shopping in general.

[Socguy]

As someone who lives in Cedarbrae, I'm super excited that a Costco is being built within biking distance!

[Porfiry]

Originally Posted by Socguy

As someone who lives in Cedarbrae, I'm super excited that a Costco is being built within biking distance!

How's the construction coming along, does it look like it'll open soon? I'll be quite happy to never go to Costco Heritage again.