Deerfoot Trail study aims to make busy Calgary roadway safer, less congested

Calgary's Deerfoot Trail sees about170,000vehicles on its busiest days, andthe city is undertaking a newstudy to make the roughly 40-kilometre route safer and more efficient.

"There's all kinds of things that we're going to be looking at," said project manager Stephen Power.

Potential measures include adding lanes and creating alternate routes running parallel to the major north-south thoroughfare, he said.

The city is also considering other options, Power said, including the possibility of a toll system, the creation of an app to let drivers know when and where congestion is occurring and taking steps to encourage car-pooling.

A series of public engagement sessions will be held across the city starting in the middle ofJune.

"If you go down Deerfoot mid-day,it operates quite well. If you go at 8 o'clock in the morning,it's clogged up," saidPower.

"So it's a little bit of demand,it's a little bit of design, it's a little bit of the rest of the network not really supporting it."

The public engagement sessions will be held:

• June 14at WillowRidge Community Association (680 Acadia Dr. S.E.)from 5 to8 p.m.
• June 15at St. Jerome Elementary School (11616 Panorama Hills Blvd. N.W.) from 5 to 8 p.m.
• June 16at Dover Community Association (3133 30 Ave. S.E.)from 5 to8 p.m.
• June 20at Sheraton Cavalier Hotel (2620 32 Ave. N.E.)from 11:30 a.m. to1:30 p.m.
• June 20 atDouglasdale Elementary School (400 Douglas Park Blvd. S.E.)from 5 to8 p.m.
• June 28at Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association (5600 Centre St. N.) from 5 to8 p.m.

City councillors and AlbertaMLAsalsoplan to hosta separate town hall on June 23at First Alliance Church (12345 40 St. S.E.) from 7 to9 p.m to get public input onDeerfoot Trailsouth of Glenmore Trail, specifically.