Calgary’s Southwest Ring Road: connecting people and communities

With work beginning in the 1950s to determine its location, followed by 60 years of planning and design, we’re now only months away from crews breaking ground on Calgary’s Southwest Ring Road (SWCRR). For the next five years, the Government of Alberta’s recently hired contractor Mountain View Partners, with its subcontractor KGL Constructors, will work to complete the new 21 kilometre highway. Travelling between Highway 8 and Macleod Trail S.E., the SWCRR makes our city’s road network better.

Westhills Way, behind the Westhills shopping area, opening 2020.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this missing piece in our road network and we’re excited to see it move forward”, says Julie Radke, Manager of ring road integration. “But we have a lot of work to do to make sure this piece of ring road fits with our existing roads.”

The City of Calgary’s to-do list includes four new road connections at Westhills Way, 90 Avenue S.W., Southland Drive, and 162 Avenue S.W. The City is also improving four existing roads:

• Widening Glenmore Trail, between 37 Street S.W. and Crowchild Trail
• Modifying Crowchild/Glenmore Trail interchange
• Widening Anderson Road, west of 24 Street S.W. to Elbow Drive
• Widening Spruce Meadows Way, between the SW Ring Road and 194 Avenue S.W.

“We’ve already completed the new Westhills Way connection and we’re on schedule to begin work on four other road projects in 2017”, explains Radke. “We’ll finish our work one or two years before the ring road opens, but that means there’s no doubt they’ll connect and be ready on opening day.”

When completed, The SWCRR will connect to major highways and the existing Stoney Trail, improving the road network for reliable goods movement, more options for traveling around the city, and shortened travel times for people driving between communities and popular destinations in and outside Calgary. It’s a big part of Council’s priority, A City that Moves.

More information on the SWCRR:

Public information sessions
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 5-8 p.m. at Calgary First Church of the Nazarene - 65 Richard Way S.W.
Wednesday, Nov. 30, 6-9 p.m. at Bishop O’Byrne High School - 333 Shawville Boulevard S.E.

Constructing the Ring Road: final design, schedule and traffic detours
Web page: SWCRRproject.com
Email: info@SWCRRproject.com

Constructing Calgary’s connections and road improvements:
Web page: Calgary.ca/swrr
Email: yyc-rr@newsletters.calgary.ca

History and location of the ring road (interchanges, bridges and roads):
Web page: sw-crr.ca
Email: email@sw-crr.ca