The city is holding a number of events to gather feedback from Calgarians on preliminary design concepts to improve part of Crowchild Trail.

The Crowchild Trail Study was restarted in July 2014 to propose concepts to improve the roadway and the city started collecting input on the project from the community in 2015 to develop study goals and generate ideas.

The six-phase process is now in the fourth phase, which involves evaluating 17 ideas for the short, mid and long-term upgrades to Crowchild Trail between 24 Avenue N.W. and 17 Avenue S.W.

“We are not at a stage, at this point, where we are recommending any option. We do have some short-term options that we are looking to discuss with Calgarians that could be advanced before the end of the study, but again that’s all contingent on having a plan before council and receiving council approval, said Feisal Lakha, Project Manager for the Crowchild Trail Study.

The key principles of the study are to maintain and enhance bordering communities, to improve traffic flow and improve mobility and access to the Crowchild Trail corridor.

“One of the things we heard from Calgarians is, minimize the amount of property required for long-term needs for Crowchild Trail. We’ve been working with Calgarians since day one to be able to try to achieve that. Earlier on in the study a tunnel idea was brought forward by Calgarians with the intent of trying to minimize property impacts,” said Lakha.

The city describes the tunnel idea as a ‘cut and cover’ project and says it basically involves digging a trench between University Drive and Memorial Drive N.W. and covering it to create a tunnel.

Vehicles would enter the tunnel from the north at 16th Avenue from a new interchange, that is part of the proposal, and from the south at Kensington Road.

The widening of the bridge over the Bow River is also essential to accommodate future growth and Lakha says that is part of the plan.

“Since the beginning of the study, we’ve heard from Calgarians, fix the bridge, and of course we’re referring to the bottle necks and weaving and so on that we have across the Bow River,” he said. “We are reasonably confident, at this point, that we can now add a lane to each side of the bridge, so that involves widening the bridge and the intent would be to accompany that work with the bridge rehabilitation work that has started this year. The importance of the bridge does feed in and ties into the longer-term options that are being developed for further discussion with Calgarians throughout the course of the study.”

The fifth and sixth phases of the study will begin in the summer and fall and at the end of the process a final report with recommendations will be presented to council.

So far, there is no estimate on how much the overall project will cost.

Three workshops will be held in June as follows:

  • Workshop #1: Monday, June 13
    Time: 6 to 8:30 p.m.
    Location: West Hillhurst Community Association - 1940 Sixth Ave. N.W.
    RSVP for this workshop
     
  • Workshop #2: Saturday, June 18
    Time: 9:30 a.m. to noon
    Location: Sunalta School – 536 Sonora Ave. S.W.
    RSVP for this workshop
     
  • Workshop #3: Wednesday, June 22
    Time: 6 to 8:30 p.m.
    Location: Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium – 1833 Crowchild Tr. N.W.
    RSVP for this workshop

Calgarians can also be part of the discussion by adding their input online from June 13 – 30.

Click HERE for more information on the Crowchild Trail Study and public input opportunities.