S.W. ring road traffic concerns raised by council members

Three Calgary council members are introducing a motion on Monday to further investigate the effect the southwest ring road will have on nearby residential communities.

Councillors Richard Pootmans, Diane Colley-Urquhart and Brian Pincott believe the last leg of the ring road could have a huge impact on traffic patterns.

• S.W. ring road deal approval 'historic,' says Tsuu T'ina chief

Pootmans said they are worried commuters will come off the southwest section of the ring road and look for shortcuts through established neighbourhoods, particularly since the new route comes relatively close to the citys core.

So we know that people are going to be coming off the ring road both northbound and southbound and looking at opportunities to get to the core that much more quickly.

The southwest portion of the ring road will stretch from Highway 22x to Highway 8 along the city's western edge ofTsuu Tina territory, and then continue north through the First Nation along the 101st Street corridor to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Perhaps people in Tuscany will be accessing the core via Bow Trail. Perhaps people from Braeside will be coming up from the south and going down Richmond Road or 17th Avenue. It's those types of traffic flows that are going to impact a lot of existing communities, he said.

Pootmans said while there has been some consideration from the province about these potential impacts, he wants more of a commitment that there will be measures to reduce the traffic impact on inner city neighbourhoods.

Last year members of the Tsuu Tina First Nation voted in favour of allowing the ring road to run through their reserve.

In exchange for giving up 428 hectares of land to Alberta for a transportation and utilities corridor, the nation will get 2,160hectaresof new reserve land worth an about $44 million, pending approval from Ottawa.

In addition to land,the province will give the band $275 millionand pay roughly$66million to replace housing and other buildings that will have to be torn down to make way for the ring road.