S.W. residents raise concerns over noise, safety
As construction moves forward on the long-awaited southwest ring road, some nearby homeowners feel the NDP government has been unresponsive to their growing concerns about noise and safety.
In Discovery Ridge, resident Tim Dixon has organized a petition campaign calling on the province to take steps to mitigate the noise coming from the massive roadway by adopting more stringent City of Calgary standards for noise, rather than provincial benchmarks that allow for a louder level.
Dixon, a consultant who lives “two houses away from where the road is going to go,” said it’s unreasonable that what are essentially highway standards for noise will be imposed in a densely populated urban area.
“There is probably nowhere else in Alberta where it comes this close to an occupied residential area. So it seems like they are pushing things as far as they can push it and there is very little to no protective measures planned,” said Dixon, who lives near the planned Highway 8/69th Street interchange.
Petitioners also want a commitment to noise monitoring, construction of infrastructure such as berms that will dampen noise and protect against potential out-ofcontrol vehicles, and restoration of trees that have been cut down in preliminary construction work.
While some berms are being constructed near 69th Street, they are intermittent and potentially not high enough, he said.
Dixon said the province has said it will take noise measurements after the road is built and operational, and then may take further action. But he added it is essential for mitigation measures to be constructed in conjunction with the road.
“What’s at stake here is our safety, our quality of life and our property values ... we don’t feel these should be afterthoughts,” he said.
The $1.4-billion southwest ring road has been under discussion for decades but only was able to move forward once a land deal with the Tsuut’ina Nation was reached by the former Progressive Conservative government in 2013.
Under its agreement with the Tsuut’ina, the Alberta government faces a May 2022 deadline for completion of the roadway running from Highway 22X to Glenmore Trail.
Last year, concerns were raised by the Discovery Ridge and Springbank Hill Community Associations that the project was being overbuilt in their area, leading to problems with lighting and sound for the neighbourhoods.
On Friday, Transportation Minister Brian Mason took exception to the idea the government had been indifferent to concerns in the area.
“We’ve actually redesigned the roadway itself to minimize its impact on surrounding communities and we’ve provided sound berms as well,” he said.
“We have, in fact, responded to the degree we are able to.”
Richard Pootmans, the city councillor for the affected area, said the provincial government had tried to address concerns raised by local groups.
But he said the issue of differing noise standards between the city and the province is a long-standing — and seemingly intractable — issue in Calgary.
“We’ve had similar problems in other areas of Calgary, the southeast in particular, where the ring road is exceptionally close to neighbourhoods. This standard has been set by the provincial government. This is land that they own,” said Pootmans, who noted that beyond jurisdictional issues, the city doesn’t have the resources to enhance the provincial mitigation measures.
Jacquie Hansen-Sydenham, president of the Discovery Ridge Community Association, said in an e-mail Friday that, while the group supports the ring road, work is needed to lessen the negative effects on communities.
“We are aware of resident initiatives and have encouraged them to express their concerns to the provincial government and remain hopeful that our voices will be heard. The concerns and requests are not unreasonable by any means,” she said of the petition campaign.
What’s at stake here is our safety, our quality of life and our property values.