City of Calgary wants your input on how to make Deerfoot Trail less frustrating - Action News
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Calgary

City of Calgary wants your input on how to make Deerfoot Trail less frustrating

Deerfoot Trail is the busiest road in the province and many Calgary commuters would likely describe it as also the most frustrating.

'Right now, we all know it doesn't work,' says project manager

Cars driving on Deerfoot Trail in Calgary
Up to 170,000 vehicles a day use Calgary's Deerfoot Trail. (CBC)

Deerfoot Trail is the busiest road in the province and many Calgary commuters would likely describe it as also the most frustrating.

The City of Calgary has partnered with Alberta Transportation to share a new set of improvement recommendations, and judging by the sheer number of recommendations, there's a lot of room for improvement.

"Right now, we all know it doesn't work," said city project manager Jeffrey Xu.

Xu is studying where the trouble spotsare on the freeway "the problems are capacity, weaving, merging, diverging, intersection operation and safety" and how to fix them.

Parts of the road see up to 170,000 vehicles per day. Most of the freeway was built between 1971 and 1982, and thepreliminary designs are aimed at keeping it all functioning 30 years into the futureas the city's population grows.

The stretch the city is looking at includes 18 existing interchanges and one future interchange along 35 kilometres of road.

The City of Calgary has partnered with Alberta Transportation to share a new set of improvement recommendations for Deerfoot Trail, such as this proposal for the 16th Avenue N.E. intersection. (City of Calgary)

Concepts include additional lanes, intersection redesigns, alignment changes and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. The provincial budget set aside $210 million for improvements, so construction could start as soon as 2021.

You can take a look at the proposed changes and share your thoughts on the city's website until Nov. 25.

With files from Dave Will, Sarah Rieger