One city councillor is advocating for northeast residents who say that the opening of the Stoney Trail ring road might not be all it’s cracked up to be, citing its connection to McKnight Boulevard as a periodic hazard.
On July 22, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot is expected to present his Notice of Motion directing the Administration to investigate traffic at the intersection of McKnight Boulevard and 68 Street NE, amid what he said was a rapid increase in user volume.
In the notice of motion, Coun. Chabot claimed that roads like Airport Trail, Metis Trail, and Country Hills Boulevard have surpassed their design capacity, and in turn have made McKnight Boulevard a default collector for traffic.
“It’s created a real problem, mostly for the folks in my neighbourhood,” he said.
“They can’t even get out of their community, it backs up beyond the lights.”
Stoney Trail is a classified Transportation and Utility Corridor (TUC) by the province, intended to bolster urban development by being placed alongside far-reaching utilities like power and pipelines.
In light of the government’s plans to expand Stoney Trail, Coun. Chabot referenced that approximately 40,000 cars are believed to drive that strip of road every day.
That volume, in part, has been due to its proximity to the airport.
Coun. Chabot said that he has time and again requested city administration to look into the overcrowding of the roadway, but that no solution has been put forward to solve the congestion issue.
“They’ve told me that yes, they do realize or recognize that there is a significant need here, but there’s not enough money in the budget,” he said.
Safety at top priority, says Coun. Chabot
As a result, Coun. Chabot said that drivers have taken it upon themselves to deal with the backups experienced at the south-bound and west-bound left-turning lanes off of McKnight Boulevard.
“Some people are making it into a dual turn and creating a safety issue, and some people are not waiting in line, but rather cutting in at the last minute,” he said.
“It’s a safety issue as much as it is a convenience issue.”
The placement of a high-pressure gas line toward the east side of the road, has also been identified to as a challenge to redevelopment of intersection, but Coun. Chabot hypothesized that drilling might not be necessary.
“I think there’s a possibility of maybe even reducing some of the road widths across all four lanes to create a new lane to allow for a dual left turn…without having to encroach onto the high-pressure gas lines,” he said.
Coun. Chabot said that any serious re-routing is not likely to happen anytime soon. He hopes that the Administration takes the welfare of drivers into account when the motion is presented to the council during July’s Executive Committee meeting.
“Even if it’s just some sort of interim solution or amendment to the intersection to improve traffic flow and to make it safer, at the very least.”
“There’s got to be something.”
