Quick Win for Ward 12 Residents
Some of the first tangible building blocks of the Southeast Transitway (SETWAY) are expected to be speeding up your commute by the end of October. Construction has begun on the first Quick win initiative as part of the “Greenline” Southeast Transitway project. The City will spend up to $13 million on Quick Wins over the next year to help traffic get around bottlenecks. This is in addition to the City Council approved plan to create a $520 million/10 year fund to build a bus-only Transitway that would run from Country Hills to Seton in the deep south.
I’m very excited about seeing construction underway on the first of these Quick Win initiatives. The impact of these Quick Wins should reduce commute times for anyone riding the Route 302 express bus between Seton and downtown by saving travel time.
The first Quick Win is an intersection improvement at Barlow Trail and 114 Avenue S.E. which includes a second left turn lane from northbound Barlow Trail to westbound 114 Avenue. The existing eastbound right lane on 114 Avenue S.E. will also be lengthened to allow for additional vehicle storage. These changes will help improve traffic flow through the intersection and thereby help to reduce bus travel time for the BRT Route 302 in the Southeast.
12 locations were identified where current travel time delays are occurring and projects were identified to reduce or mitigate these delays. The addition of one transit-only lane in each direction along 52Street SE between 130 Avenue and Stoney Trail, as well as relocating part of the bus route that currently runs on Deerfoot Trail will drop average transit commute times by 10 minutes for riders of the Route 302 express bus between Seton and downtown.
Below is the list of the projects approved and selected for design and construction.
- Widen 52 Street SE from 130 Avenue to Stoney Trail from four to six lanes to implement transit-only lanes.
- Relocate bus routes from Deerfoot Trail SE to 114 Avenue SE using 40 Street SE plus 530 metres of new roadway.
- Widen 130 Avenue SE from 48 Street SE to 52 Street SE from four to six lanes to implement transit-only lanes.
- Widen Ogden Road SE from Millican Road to 69 Avenue SE from two to four lanes to provide two transit-only curb lanes.
- Construct transit queue jumps at various locations.
- Reprioritize signals and install transit signal priorities at various locations.
Early this month, Council discussed a report on the Green Line funding streams and work plan. Council referred the report to Administration to return to Council by end of 2014 with options for compressing the project’s timelines and related implications to financing debt.
