Slowing down to speed up?
City councillor calls for a reset on Terwillegar Drive discussions
Tim Cartmell has an unorthodox solution for the Terwillegar Drive freeway: Just don’t make it a freeway.
The Ward 9 councillor supports making it free flow by adding extra lanes and interchanges to let vehicles bypass all the lights.
But don’t build it for freeway speeds, he said, stepping in to try solve what’s growing into a minirevolt among the southern neighbourhoods. He’s bringing the issue to city council Tuesday.
Terwillegar-Riverbend residents have been waiting for Terwillegar Drive upgrades for decades.
Most people seem to agree the work should start where Terwillegar Drive meets Bulyea Road and 40 Avenue, which can get so congested it backs up for more than one kilometre onto Whitemud Drive.
City officials started to get a plan in place for funding in this fall’s capital budget debates but they’re running into a familiar problem.
Upgrading 40 Avenue to an 80km/h freeway would require the city to completely redo the Whitemud Drive/Terwillegar Drive interchange because space is too tight. Without an overhaul, the existing off-ramps for Whitemud Drive and future on-ramps for 40 Avenue would overlap. Vehicles would merge past each other, which is dangerous.
But redoing the Whitemud Drive/Terwillegar Drive interchange will cost up to $300 million.
“That takes a long time and it’s really bloody expensive,” Cartmell said.
He’s worried there won’t be enough money in the capital budget again, which means nothing will be done.
There’s precedent for that. The city has tackled this issue three times since 2001, but has yet to upgrade the interchange.
This time, city officials came up with another idea. At a public open house this year, they suggested limiting the number of access points off Terwillegar Drive. For example, the north ramps at 40 Avenue could be eliminated, with residents travelling down Riverbend Road to access Terwillegar Drive.
That’s the idea that led to the current revolt.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that’s not something the community is interested in,” Jason Meliefste, branch manager for infrastructure planning and design, said in a recent interview.
On Tuesday, Cartmell will be asking council to support a restart. His motion will include exploring slower speeds to allow those on-off ramps to be shorter, looking for the best options to maintain full access for 40 Avenue, Rabbit Hill Road, 23 Avenue and Haddow Drive.
Then at least people will be moving rather than stuck at the lights.
He wants administration to finish preliminary designs for a series of $75-million to $100-million packages in order to complete the Terwillegar corridor in stages.
He also wants plans to include all modes of transportation — private vehicles, transit and bike lanes.
Those don’t have to be right beside the cars, but need to be in the same conversation if Edmonton wants to get federal and provincial funding, he said. That means understanding the routes for bus rapid transit and putting that “ghost bridge” back on the table — the cycling/pedestrian bridge meant to connect Brookside and Brookview over Whitemud Drive at 142 Street.