CROWCHILD TRAIL REVAMP SHELVED
Crowchild plan goes back to Square 1
Calling it an early Christmas present to Calgarians, city council has officially shelved contentious plans for revamping Crowchild Trail at the expense of area homeowners.
On Monday, council voted unanimously to pass a notice of motion to cease design on the Crowchild Trail corridor study and return to the drawing board.
“I’m elated. This is something the entire council unanimously supported,” said Ald. John Mar, who represents a number of affected communities, including Scarboro. “It is a concern to a great number of people looking at red Xs going through their houses. What we’ll likely see is a complete restart and looking at it with a different lens.”
The original study budget was $900,000, but it’s unclear how much money has already been spent and how much of the plan’s information can be salvaged.
“I don’t think you can look at it and say the money was wasted,” said Ald. Brian Pincott.
“A lot of data was collected, a lot of information is there that is very useful.”
Council members are now calling for a new plan that minimizes negative effects on adjacent land and spaces, begins a renewed community engagement and offers more options.
“We’re not talking about not doing anything,” said Ald. Druh Farrell. “If you look at the impacts along the corridor, the impacts are different for each community. Some benefit and some are severely impacted.”
Farrell said the city needs to move forward and work with the affected communities to come up with options.
“I think we need a fresh look at this corridor and something more creative than perhaps what we have before us.”
The current concept plan, which plots out several new interchanges, huge ramps and two extra bridges over the Bow River, fails to maintain the integrity of surrounding communities, council said.
Operators of Pumphouse Theatres wrote to say they were previously unaware that the outside company hired to create the future road plans included a traffic clover leaf, sometimes called spaghetti roads, over top of them.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he’s long been concerned over congested Crowchild’s choke points.
“It seemed to have really gotten away from reality.
“I would like to continue to do small (traffic) pilots,” he said, noting 5th Avenue and 23rd Avenue N.W. in front of McMahon Stadium is a problem area.
Nenshi said the study was “not as attuned to the community as it could have been.”
City hall had proposed to rid Crowchild Trail of its traffic lights and snarls with a multi-decade plan to overhaul the thoroughfare between 17th Avenue S.W. and 24th Avenue N.W. Plans carried a price tag of between $750 million and $1 billion.
Scores of homes and other properties would have been cleared out, particularly in West Hillhurst.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board.
But Crowchild’s congestion problems aren’t going away anytime soon, said Ald. Dale Hodges.
“How long can work be delayed until we face some big issues?” he asked city manager Mac Logan.
With no immediate funds available, Logan said the city has the luxury of time.
“I do not think a delay as much as a year would have any impact,” said Logan.
Motorists cheered plans to eliminate traffic lights and create three lanes of free-flow traffic in each direction along Crowchild, but neighbouring residents had grave concerns for their homes.
The concept maps show on-ramps stretching over homes in Briar Hill, Scarboro, Sunalta School, West Hillhurst and much of McMahon Stadium parking lot.
Members of neighbouring communities formed a citizen coalition to provide a united voice to council.
Pincott said the notion of bulldozing homes to build larger roads doesn’t fit with the city’s plans.
“It doesn’t align with the Calgary transportation plan. It doesn’t align with the principals that we set forward on how we are going to look at transportation in the future.”