Project Update – January 17, 2022
What’s Happening in Traffic This Week
Dangerous Driving and Illegal Trespassing at Highway 8 / 101 Street S.W. Intersection
Some drivers are continuing to use the Highway 8 / 101 Street S.W. intersection illegally and at the peril of themselves and others. This intersection is permanently closed. The Calgary Police Service and RCMP will continue to monitor this area and may increase their presence due to the dangerous nature of these illegal turns between the highway and the active construction site. The penalty for disobeying a traffic control device is a $243 fine and two to three demerit points.
Nightly Ramp Closures at Stoney Trail / Trans-Canada Highway Interchange
From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night until Wednesday, January 19, 2022, two ramps on the Stoney Trail / Trans-Canada Highway interchange will be closed for overhead bridge work:
- The ramp from southbound Stoney Trail to eastbound Trans-Canada Highway will be closed; motorists will be detoured to 109 Street S.W. and 1 Avenue S.W., shown in blue on the map.
- The ramp from eastbound Trans-Canada Highway to northbound Stoney Trail will be closed; motorists will be detoured to Bowfort Road N.W., shown in orange on the map.
Nightly Ramp Closures at Stoney Trail / Trans-Canada Highway Interchange
The deck segments on the Bow River Bridge are being cast-in-place (as opposed to pre-cast concrete segments brought to site) using form travellers. The large and heavy form travellers need to be moved from the north side of the Bow River to the south side. To minimize traffic disruptions, the work will happen in the evenings and at night in two stages:
January 17 – 21, 2022 – Detour cross-over construction
- From 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. each night, the median lanes on northbound and southbound Stoney Trail will be closed and speed limits will be reduced
- Work will include removing sections of concrete barrier, paving and placing temporary barriers; adjacent residents may hear some noise
January 24 – February 5, 2022 – Transporting the form travellers
- From 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. each night, Stoney Trail will be reduced to one lane in each direction and speed limits will be reduced
- Southbound traffic will be detoured onto the northbound lanes to allow the trucks moving the form traveller equipment to use the southbound lanes
Eastbound Trans-Canada Highway Ramp Open
This week, once the overhead bridge work at the Stoney Trail / Trans-Canada Highway interchange is complete, the new ramp from Valley Ridge Boulevard N.W. / 109 Street S.W. to eastbound Trans-Canada Highway will open. Drivers coming south on Valley Ridge Boulevard N.W. will no longer need to travel through the three-way stop at 109 Street S.W. and Crestmont Boulevard / 1 Avenue S.W.
Please drive courteously while everyone adjusts to the new road configuration, especially in the weaving area where drivers are trying to exit to go northbound on Stoney Trail and merge to go eastbound on Trans-Canada Highway.
All work is weather dependant. 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.
Post Tensioning the Closure Segments
The deck segments making up the bridge superstructure (the horizontal part of the bridge that carries traffic) on the Bow River Bridge are being cantilevered from each pier.
A cantilever is a structural beam that is only anchored or supported on one end
The deck segment where two cantilevers meet (mid-span between two bridge piers) is called a closure segment.
Looking east at a closure segment on the Bow River Bridge
The closure segment is post tensioned to strengthen the concrete. Post tensioning involves anchoring steel tendons (also called strands or cables) and pulling them tight to increase tensile strength. In this case, the anchors are encased in concrete.
Example of post tension cables (steel strands) on a typical bridge girder 
Figure showing concrete anchor blocks at mid-span (source: Post-Tensioning Tendon Installation and Grouting Manual)
Anchor blocks on the mid-span closure segment on the Bow River Bridge
Last Girders Delivered
This will be a year of milestones on the North project as we approach the third construction season. Steel girders have been delivered for the basketweave bridge that separates traffic getting on and off eastbound Trans-Canada Highway – the last of 20 bridges to have girders installed.
A truck arrives with a section of a steel girder 
The steel girders are assembled on site
Bridge Progress Along the Alignment
Bridge construction is underway at all four interchanges on the South project.
Old Banff Coach Road S.W.
Looking south at the bridge, detour road and Stoney Trail alignment
Bow Trail S.W.
Looking northwest at the bridge piers and abutments
17 Avenue S.W.
Looking south at the bridge on the future 17 Avenue S.W. alignment just north of the current road alignment
Highway 8
Looking west at piles for the east bridge abutments