Lower speed limit could hasten S.W. ring road
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 6:46 PM MT
CBC News
The province is considering a lower speed limit on the proposed southwest portion of the Calgary ring road.
Transportation Minister Luc Ouellette said over the weekend that his department is looking at a speed limit of 80 km/h as a way to build the ring road along 37th Street S.W., as opposed to the standard highway speed in Alberta of 110 km/h.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said reducing the speed means the province would have to demolish fewer houses in the Lakeview and Glamorgan neighbourhoods to make way for the road. The higher the speed limit on a roadway, the more open land is required.
"Part of the key driver there of course is land acquisition and design speed," Bronconnier said Monday.
"The province has indicated, certainly very publicly on the weekend, they're prepared to look at alternatives, and we are prepared to explore every and all alternatives to ease the commute in southwest Calgary."
Plans for the southwest leg were thrown back to the drawing board after members of the Tsuu T'ina First Nation rejected a deal in June to sell their land to the province for the road. The rebuff ended decades of negotiations.
Ouellette said he hopes the province and the city can sign a memorandum of understanding on the southwest leg of the ring road by the end of this month.
The northern section fully opened to traffic on Nov. 2, which means Calgary's ring road is now about 45 per cent complete.
