Major traffic headache looms as Crowchild Trail upgrade forces 2-week closure of 10th Avenue westbound ramp
Up to 7,000 vehicles a day travel the westbound ramp, city says
Update - June 24, 2019: The ramp was expected to be closed until June 28, but reopened early on June 24. The original story appears below.
Calgary drivers should brace for some major traffic disruptions over the next two weeks as the city completely shuts down the westbound ramp from 10th Avenue S.W. onto Crowchild Trail as part of the $87-million retrofit project.
Starting on Thursday at 10 p.m., the ramp will be fully closed until June 28 at 5 a.m., the city said in a release.
As many as 7,000 vehicles a day travel on the westbound ramp, with up to 700 vehicles an hour during peak times, the city told CBC News.
In the following phase of construction, the newly reconfigured westbound 10th Avenue S.W. ramp will temporarily merge onto the right-hand side of Crowchild Trail.
The westbound Bow Trail to northbound Crowchild Trail ramp will continue to flow into its own lane on the far left-hand side of Crowchild Trail, as it currently does.
By the end of the summer, the city says, both ramps will have been reconfigured and the 10th Avenue S.W. merge lane onto Crowchild Trail will be gone.
Traffic from the 10th Avenue S.W. and Bow Trail ramps will join together and enter northbound Crowchild Trail on a new, dedicated, right-hand lane.
Alternative routes
The city suggests drivers going west from 10th Avenue S.W. instead use northbound 14th Street to westbound Memorial Drive, to northbound Crowchild Trail. Lights on 14th Street will be modified to account for increased traffic.
Drivers could also use westbound Bow Trail onto southbound 26th Street S.W., onto eastbound 17th Avenue to northbound Crowchild Trail.
Eastbound traffic on Bow Trail heading for northbound Crowchild Trail could detour to northbound 16th Street S.W., to westbound Bow Trail and onto northbound Crowchild Trail.