top of page
traffic1.JPG

Traffic Concerns  

We at Communities for Glenmore Landing Preservation are not the only ones thinking long and hard about the impacts this development will have on our parklands and communities.  Below is an excerpt from a community member's email submission to the City in response to the Public Notice. To date, it is the most extensive and thoughtful traffic analysis we have seen, coming from someone who has driven the 90th St SW corridor for 19+ years:

The Proposed Redevelopment site is obviously fundamentally flawed for several unique traffic-related reasons including the following:

 

  1. Its choice of location fails to recognize the highly constrained nature of the existing traffic flows in the Impacted Area due to the presence of the impassable barriers created by Glenmore Reservoir to the north and west, and 14th St to the east;

  2. Its choice of location, which can only exit in a southernly direction through a single stop light that already acts as a constraint to the Impacted Area, makes no sense given the circumstances (and especially for such a densely planned development); and

  3. If developed, it would significantly permanently negatively impact the residents of the Impacted Area going forward (both during the 15-20+ year construction window and thereafter).

 

 

Ward 11 has communicated on its website that the Traffic Impact Assessment ("TIA") has been completed but will not be shared with the public, nor are there plans for an independent review to assess the reasonableness of its assumptions. According to the Ward 11 website, “these reports are the intellectual property of the applicant to be used by specialists within the City to evaluate the proposal.”

 

As an aside, I am very surprised to learn that the TIA and Environmental Site Assessment (“ESA”) are not being made public under the City of Calgary’s (the “City”) normal disclosure policies in general, and for this specific obviously challenged site in particular:

​

  1. I wonder, for example, how are the public and other parties with a vested interest in understanding and commenting on a proposed development supposed to do so without all of the relevant information about it?

  2. The City’s procedure described on the Ward 11 website of having its specialists evaluate the proposal and “make requests for improvements” and “create conditions for the Development Permit application”, without having to disclose, explain or justify any of its conclusions to the public or residents of the Impacted Area in a case such as this, seems fundamentally flawed and subject to both errors and the perception of potential conflicts on interest.  

  3. My understanding is that for major development project applications in Alberta and Canada that all of the supporting documents that analyze and address the various impacts the project will have on the surrounding areas and environment have to be submitted and are made public, and hence as a layperson I am confused why this would not be the case for the Proposed Redevelopment?

  4. Would copies of the TIA and ESA be made available to myself and the community if we were to make a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act?

​

While I do not have the benefit of reviewing the document, I believe any conclusions that it may have reached that the traffic issues created from the Proposed Redevelopment were "manageable" is fundamentally flawed for the reasons stated above.  I base this on the analysis below and fact that I have driven along the impacted stretch of 90th Avenue, and through the sole intersection south of Glenmore Landing with traffic lights referenced above (collectively, the “90th Ave & 14th St SW Chokepoints”), on almost a daily basis for the past 19 years.

​

As no specific details of the traffic situation in the vicinity, or how the Proposed Redevelopment would impact it, has been disclosed by the City to date, I have set out some maps to help explain the already difficult situation below.

 

Figure 1 below shows the extreme mismatch of the proposed population density and physical attributes of the mini-city included in the Proposed Redevelopment, and the Impacted Area whose residents will be significantly negatively impacted by its development permanently going forward should it proceed.  Figure 1 also shows the existing traffic "choke point" that the large majority of the residents in the Impacted Area pass through when seeking to travel to the rest of the Calgary.

​

Figure 1.png
Figure 1: Proposed Development and Impacted Area

Figures 2A and 2B below shows the largest east to west impassable barrier within Calgary, the Glenmore Reservoir, lies immediately north and west of the Proposed Redevelopment and the Impacted Area.  Figure 2 also shows that impassable barrier between the eastern edge of the Impacted Area and the east of the city along the entire length of 14th St. The presence of these impassable barriers has meant that the large majority of traffic flows out of the Impacted Area to most of the rest of the City has historically been eastward along 90th Avenue.  While it may be more efficient for some residents living in the southern portion of the Impacted Area to drive south and then drive eastward along Southland, they are a small minority.

Figure 2.png
Figure 2a: Calgary SW Map – Impassable Barriers and Natural
Traffic Flow
Figure 2B: Impacted Area Map – Impassable Barriers and
Natural Traffic Flow

Figure 3 below illustrates the extreme logistical challenges the Proposed Redevelopment site will face, having only two exits to the south along an already highly congested stretch of 90th Ave. between two stop lights (and with all site related traffic having to pass through a single stop light at the SW corner of Glenmore Landing).  As discussed above, this stretch of 90th Avenue is already the main access route for the large majority of the 12,000 residents in the Impacted Area, and represents their fastest route to the closest nearby hospital.

​

The difficult current situation will be further exasperated by the significantly increased traffic flows through this chokepoint as a result of the construction activities, including dozens of large trucks each day, over the next 15-20 years, and the increased traffic resulting from the permanent addition of 3,000-5,000 additional residents and workers in the Proposed Redevelopment. The Calgary Jewish Centre also has plans to add a school, a seniors’ facility, and possibly retail directly south of 90th Ave. and this development would add further traffic congestion along this chokepoint.

The residents of the Impacted Area recently suffered through untenable gridlock on this stretch of 90th  passing through this single Glenmore Landing stoplight during the prolonged multi-year construction project to add the BRT underpass at the intersection of 90th Avenue and 14th Street. Specifically, for more than two years, people living directly south of the Glenmore Landing stop light regularly had to wait between 25-40 minutes during rush hour traffic to travel 2.5 blocks to pass through the chokepoint, and 10-15 minutes during less busy times of the day. Having to endure something similar during the proposed 15-20 year construction period, is not fair, or safe, for this community.

​

As an aside, looking at a map of Calgary, it’s hard to see a more logistically constrained site for such a massive development project (i.e. with all traffic from a site having to exit in a singe direction through a single stop light (as opposed to multiple access points in at least two to four directions almost anywhere else in the City).

Figure 3: Limited Access to Proposed Redevelopment Along
Already Highly Congested 90th Avenue

As shown in Figure 4 below, the site of the Proposed Redevelopment will create huge permanent day to day inconvenience, and risks during medical emergencies, to the large majority of the residents of the Impacted Area as a result of the significant increase in construction and permanent inhabitant related traffic in and out of it (which will effectively put the section of 90th Avenue into perpetual grid-lock and/or practical impassibility during busy times of the day).  As the map below illustrates, while there are alternate circuitous routes west or south that allow residents to eventually reach the city's main areas, they will each add considerable time and distance to what is for most a daily trip.

Figure 4: Calgary SW Map – Impassable Barriers and
Alternative Traffic Routes for Impacted Area

Conclusion:

 

Given the fundamental flaws with the specific location of the Proposed Redevelopment and the obvious significant major permanent negative traffic issues that it would have on the residents of Pump Hill, Palliser, Bayview and Oakbridge, I thereby request the following:

 

  1. The City make the TIA, and other key documents such as the ESA, available to the public so that critical concerns around the traffic and environmental impacts can be properly understood and analyzed.

    • Presumably RioCan would agree these important documents can be released publicly, and if not the City can obviously change its disclosure policies around such matters to require it (and in doing so, start to follow the policies used broadly for other major development projects within the Province).

  2. Before the City takes any decision on either of the following:

    • The proposed disposition of the parklands to RioCan, and

    • RioCan's application for a Change in Land Use for the redevelopment of Glenmore Landing including residential towers and an 'intensified' commercial development, the City should fully disclose to the public all of the details and supporting information for its conclusions why the Proposed Redevelopment will not permanently significantly negatively impact the residents of the Impacted Area, and also why it will not similarly negatively impact the environment given its close proximity to Glenmore Reservoir. 

bottom of page