Project Update - August 2, 2021 - West Calgary Ring Road

Virtual Information Session FAQs

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from the virtual information session held earlier this year have been published.

What’s Happening in Traffic This Week

Scenic Acres Link N.W. Lane Closures

Starting tomorrow (August 3) and lasting approximately one month, there will be ongoing lane closures on Scenic Acres Link N.W. for bridge work. The closures will vary depending on the direction of travel and time of day. Nose Hill Drive N.W. via Crowchild Trail or Stoney Trail is an alternate route to avoid these lane closures.

Delays are expected. Please watch for signage and drive with care.

101 Street S.W. Reduced to One Lane

From August 7 to 9, a portion of 101 Street S.W. south of Heritage Woods Drive S.W. will operate as a single lane of alternating traffic between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day for utility work in the area.

Girder Deliveries at Old Banff Coach Road S.W.

Starting next Monday night, August 9, the first girders for the South project will begin arriving at the Old Banff Coach Road S.W. interchange site. Each of the 26 girders will arrive by truck and because they are up to 60 metres long, short traffic stoppages will be needed as they turn into the work site. Three girder deliveries are planned each night for approximately nine nights, and each traffic stoppage will last about five minutes. Flag people will be on site to direct traffic.

All work is weather dependent. Please check 511 Alberta and The City of Calgary’s traffic information map for up-to-date information on traffic detours and speed reductions.

We appreciate your patience during construction.

Scenic Acres Link N.W. Bridge

The new bridge over Scenic Acres Link N.W. will carry traffic from the new collector-distributor road. Preparations to pour the bridge deck are underway.

Looking north at rebar installation for the bridge deck

Piling on Second to Last Bridge Underway

Piling for the basketweave bridge on the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway is underway. Basketweave bridges are used to eliminate weaving traffic – weaving happens at interchanges when traffic is entering and exiting the highway in the same space.

This basketweave bridge will separate traffic exiting eastbound Trans-Canada Highway from traffic merging onto eastbound Trans-Canada Highway.

Key map — Looking east at the first piles driven for the bridge abutment

Looking east at the first piles driven for the bridge abutment

Paving the Trans-Canada Highway

Significant progress has been made on the Trans-Canada Highway Improvements west of Valley Ridge with the first layers of pavement put down last week. Asphalt requires air and ground temperatures between about 15 and 30 degrees Celsius. Given Alberta’s wide temperature ranges and unpredictable seasons, paving in August is ideal.

Trucks place Granular Base Course (GBC) which is the layer between the subgrade and the pavement

Backfilling Abutments

Once the bridge decks have been poured and cured, the work to build up the road embankments behind the abutments begins.

The areas behind the abutments will be filled to meet the height of the bridge deck and form the bridge approach

Before the backfill is added, a sheet drain is hung against the abutment wall. Sheet drains or geocomposite drains are made of a flexible plastic drainage core bonded to a geotextile. They are used to get water away from the structure and channel it down to the stormwater collection system.

A crew member hangs a sheet drain along the abutment back wall to keep water away from the concrete structure

Bow Trail S.W.

Bridge Construction

Drainage West of 85 Street S.W.

The marshy earth in the Bow Trail S.W. interchange footprint is not suitable to support the road. A pathway underpass is planned for the depressed area between Ascot Crescent S.W. and Aspen Acres Manor S.W., but first, a drainage culvert and ground improvements are required to create a stable foundation for the infrastructure.