WCRR Overview
AT's schematic to the right shows the location of the West Calgary Ring Road (WCRR) in orange, the final 9 km leg of Calgary's Ring Road. Construction on the WCRR is now underway. AT has extended the opening of this leg to traffic sometime in 2024.
Construction on the Southwest Calgary Ring Road (SWCRR), highlighted in dark blue, has been underway since 2017. It was opened to traffic in 2021.
The West Calgary Ring Road (WCRR) is comprised of 3 sub-projects. Alberta Transportation's website has an excellent, 3D fly-over video and more details about the WCRR.
The two schematics to the left are from a poster board presentation by Alberta Transportation (AT) at their Sept. 29, 2018 Information Session held at the Valley Ridge Golf Club. Alberta Transportation (AT) expects the WCRR to be open to traffic by October 2022. This is one year after the AT's expected completion for the Southwest Calgary Ring Road (SWCRR), that extends from Hwy 8 to Macleod Trail.
The construction of a new Valley Ridge Blvd interchange is part of the North Project which also includes the expansion of the Stoney Trail / Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) interchange and the re-construction of 5 km of the TCH between COP and the city limits. The North Project also comprises a tunnel connection beneath the new freeway along 1 Ave SW for bus, bicycle and pedestrian traffic linking Winsport's lands to the Shape / BVX lands south of the TCH. The North Project is expected to commence first.
The Bow River Bridge twinning is the second project and will commence soon afterwards. In addition to the twinning of the Stoney Trail bridge over the Bow River it includes the widening of ~2km of Stoney Trail from Crowchild Trail south to Scenic Acres Link. The third is the South Project which is the construction of ~5km of new Stoney Trail freeway plus four new interchanges from Old Banff Coach Road to Hwy 8.
On March 5, 2019 Transportation Minister Brian Mason announced EllisDon as the general contractor for the North Project .
Valley Ridge and Crestmont residents can expect to experience disruptions to traffic flow as the North Project progresses. All residents should exercise extra patience and understanding during this period to ensure safe motoring for all and to ensure the safety of construction workers. This link on AT’s WCRR website is where you can sign up to receive email updates directly from AT regarding the WCRR.
The following information was taken from AT's presentation boards from their June 2019 Information Session.
Contractor hours of work will be: Monday – Saturday, 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.; and Sundays and holidays, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. Overnight work, authorized by AT, may be required to limit any potential impact and improve safety.
Dust mitigation will be monitored regularly during construction. Mitigation measures may include: watering, the use of dust suppressant products; and hydroseeding (a planting process that sprays a mixture of seed and mulch on surfaces to minimize dust).
Weed control will be mitigated with the mowing of seeded areas twice per year and noxious weeds will be removed throughout the project.