1977 Sarcee Trail South Route Location Study

Though the planning for a Southwest Ring Road had been started in the early-to-mid 1950s, it remained little more than a line on a map for the next few decades. It took the pressures of growth, and the establishment of a new Provincial park, for the City to move the project from long-range thinking to a more detailed phase of planning. By the mid 1970s the planning for the Sarcee Trail extension, as it was then known, had become a priority to the City, even if the need for the road was recognised to still be decades away.

The study would look at routes that traveled from Glenmore Trail to Highway 22x, though I will focus on the portion that crosses the Elbow River, from Glenmore Trail to Anderson Road. For more on the crossing of the Fish Creek, see here.

Midnapore and the Fish Creek Park

In 1974 the City of Calgary began to plan for the development of the area south of Fish Creek known as Midnapore. At that time the Province was in the process of establishing the Fish Creek Provincial Park, and the potential for the park to isolate the Midnapore area from the rest of Calgary prompted the City to assess the utility and transportation requirements needed for future development. Although development of Midnapore was still years away, the establishment of Fish Creek Park highlighted the need to coordinate plans for both, so that the Province and the City would understand and take into account how both developments would affect each other.

The Midnapore Policy Report, approved by Council December 9 1974, had outlined several options regarding the development and growth of the area, though all had the same transportation requirements; in addition to the existing Macleod Trail and the planned Deerfoot Trail, the Midnapore area was to be serviced on the west side by Sarcee Trail. In fact, not only was the Sarcee Trail planned to serve the area, Midnapore’s growth and development potential was actually contingent on the construction of this road, and without this it, development would be capped far below what the land was capable of accommodating.

In approving ‘Option C’ of the plan, the City council also passed a resolution that read “…that the Transportation Department be instructed to proceed with a study of the Sarcee Trail extension from Glenmore Trail south to Highway 22(x) and a study of those routes linking Sarcee Trail to the downtown…”

This directive, and the money allocated from the 1975 budget, set the stage to begin formally assessing the various potential routes that the Sarcee Trail extension could take, and which of those routes was the most suitable for the road. (For more information on Midnapore and it’s role in the Ring Road story, click here)

Initiating the Study

Even before the City Council approved the Midnapore Policy Report and sought a study for the location of Sarcee Trail, the Transportation Department had initiated preliminary work on locating the road’s corridor. In November of 1974 the City wrote to the Calgary Field Naturalist Society (CFNS) to solicit feedback on five initial routes that had been prepared, under the caution that “very little engineering” had gone into them. This contact was a prelude to the initiation of the full study, set to begin in 1975.

On January 6 1975 the Lakeview Community Association, along with members of the CFNS, held an information session to help inform local residents about the road proposals and the upcoming study by inviting representatives from the City to discuss their preliminary options for the road. The public nature of the meeting appears not to have been communicated to Senior Transportation Design Engineer Doug Leibel, as he later stated that ‘the Lakeview meeting was a bit of a surprise to me since the invitation indicated that it was to be a brief meeting with the Lakeview Community Association executives…’. Nevertheless the well-attended meeting was an animated and at times heated public discussion; one that was seen as informative, but also noted for punctuations of ‘noisy, door-slamming adolescence’ with a ‘mixture of passion and intolerance’.

Despite this, those active on the Lakeview Community Association board and the CFNS were willing to engage the City in a more productive manner. Dave Matthews, a member of both organisations, joined the process of citizen engagement on the Sarcee Trail issue early by drafting a new route in addition to the five already prepared. This unsolicited proposal would see the road pushed further west and south that the other proposals, away from the Weaselhead. Rather than being simply the wishful thinking of a local resident, significant elements of this route (shown below in yellow) would later form part of the foundation for the recommended option for the Sarcee Trail alignment for decades.

Citizen Design Team

The Lakeview meeting was seen by the Transportation Department as the beginning of community consultation on the project, specifically regarding the creation of a Citizen Design Team. This study, like several others that took place in the 1970s, would utilise a collection of citizens from a cross-section of affected communities and organisations in order to feed back into the proposed designs for the road. With the study awarded to the consulting engineering firm of Reid, Crowther and Partners Limited, the Citizen Design Team was ready to be assembled. Representatives from communities like Lakeview, Oakridge and Midnapore were invited to participate, and were joined by representatives from non-community groups like Calgary River Management, the Canadian Independent Truckers Association and the Alberta Motor Association, among others. The team members were encouraged to raise concerns that might arise from their organisations; to suggest alternatives and to provide feedback to the engineers who were responsible for the technical design of the road. Senior Transportation Design Engineer Doug Leibel even stated that the citizen team would ‘have the option of telling council point-blank it doesn’t want any road at all’, though this did not happen.

In the course of the meetings, the original five proposed routes was increased to at least a dozen routes selected for study (shown above), though this number would be greatly reduced through engagement with the Citizen Design Team by the time the study was completed. In all, five or six Citizen Design Team meetings took place between April and December of 1975, including a field-trip to the potentially affected parts of the Glenmore/Weaselhead park.

Route Selection

The newly expanded selection of routes were assessed on various criteria, which included impacts on recreation, biology and noise, disruption of military facilities, route length, requirement of Tsuu T’ina lands, and others. Noting a general dissatisfaction with the routes that cut directly through the centre of the Weaselhead, many of the routes were dropped, retaining only three; those that skirted the edges of the Weaselhead. These three routes between Glenmore Trail and Anderson road (shown below) remained the recommended routes, though the study was unable to recommend a single final alignment as was hoped at the outset.

Route A would have traversed the east side of the Weaselhead via a low-level causeway and was contained entirely within the city limits of the time, while Routes K and L were located partially on land in the reserve. The location of these two routes would create a difficulty for the study: the availability of reserve land and other data from the Nation had not been collected or definitively assessed in the course of the study, and further information would be required in order to recommend a final route.

Tsuu T’ina Involvement

The Tsuu T’ina ended up playing a significant role in the study, despite only being involved in the periphery of the process. Plans for the SW ring road from as early as 1956, which represented some of the very earliest plans for this road, had noted the potential need for some land from the Tsuu T’ina reserve. During the 1950s and 1960s, that requirement was largely dropped in favour of routes that would only cross land within the city limits, and while routes that required Tsuu T’ina lands were still being studied, none had been approved at that time.

At least two of the five initial routes presented by the City in 1975 in preparation for the Sarcee Trail study traversed a portion of the reserve, and these would be joined by others like Routes K and L. The inclusion of Tsuu T’ina-based routes would appear to have been optimistic, as very early on in the study process the Nation had publicly noted that a deal for reserve land may never happen. In an interview in January of 1975, only 2 days after the Lakeview information session, Tsuu T’ina Chief Gordon Crowchild said that while the band council would be willing to listen to a proposal, they would not be likely to sell the land required for the road.

Representatives from the Nation had been invited to participate in the Citizen Design Team, but this offer was not taken up. Wary that their participation in the process to select a route might be construed as an endorsement of a Tsuu T’ina-based alignment, the Nation elected to send representatives to attend a few meetings in a more passive capacity. One of the Tsuu T’ina representatives noted in the first meeting of the Citizen Design Team that he had been instructed to attend, but would not comment until he had reported back to the Nation with information from the meeting. In subsequent meetings, Chief Crowchild reiterated comments made in newspaper interviews at the time; that any land sale was not likely to be ‘easily resolved’, and while they would be willing to talk about a land deal, the issue was a significant one for members of the Nation.

In Need of Further Study

Following the conclusion of the Citizen Design Team meetings, but prior to the study being finalised, the Tsuu T’ina had stated their desire to conduct their own study. Concerned that the Sarcee Trail South Route Location Study considered only the needs of the city, there was a desire to assess the road from the perspective of the Tsuu T’ina. For example, the road as detailed in the study included access to the reserve only at the existing point at Anderson Road, and looked to provide no further access, and thus no further long-term benefits to the Nation beyond any payment or land transfer for the right-of-way. An independent study, reportedly aiming to interview every Nation resident in person, was meant to evaluate the impacts that the road would have on the reserve and look at the possible ways in which a road could provide a benefit to the Nation. Noting that such a study was of value in assessing the recommended routes, the Calgary City Council supported the proposed Tsuu T’ina study, and pledged $40,000 towards the cost of the study.

The City’s study concluded without selecting a final route to advance to a Functional Planning Phase because the final decision of where to locate the road would depend on the Tsuu T’ina agreeing to negotiate. In order for that to happen, it was seen that the Nation would need a compelling reason to consider a deal. An independent study that endorsed a road through the reserve was hoped to move the project forward, though this would prove to take longer than expected.

Despite some early movement towards initiating a Tsuu T’ina-focused study, that process never materialised, and it would not be until the early 1980s that a new study of the road would be undertaken to fulfill that mandate. That study, the Sarcee Trail Planning Study published in 1984, will be covered in a future article.

Unfinished Business

When the Sarcee Trail South Route Location Study was concluded and published in 1977, it was not adopted by City Council as many other transportation studies were, but rather it was accepted as information only. Though the study was hugely important in assessing and eliminating potential routes, without a finalised alignment, and without an agreement to negotiate with the Tsuu T’ina, progress on the project would have to wait.

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With thanks to the Lakeview Community Association, Citizen Design Team member Dave Matthews, and to Robert Dickinson and Jason Booth from the City of Calgary.

The Railways of the Tsuu T’ina reserve

The concept of a Provincial road crossing Tsuu T’ina land is a well established one, with two having been built, another shelved, and the Southwest Calgary Ring Road still under negotiations. However, the idea of a railway through southwest Calgary and the reserve might be a little more surprising. Around 100 years ago no less than three Railways were planned to traverse the reserve, lying as it does between Calgary, the southern Alberta coal and oil fields, and the American northwest beyond.

Though the relationship between the Southwest Calgary Ring Road and these railway projects of another century might not be obvious, their stories of infrastructure development, of planned economic prosperity through the ability to transport goods, and of the reserve’s role in potentially providing a path for these projects illustrate a long history of public and private transportation interests in the Tsuu T’ina land. It is also worth noting that the Indian Act, which governs the First Nations reserve system in Canada, was amended in 1911 to allow for the expropriation of reserve land for road and railway projects. The plans shown below would likely not have required the permission of the Tsuu T’ina to have been built.

The above map shows the general location of the three lines that had been planned to cross the Tsuu T’ina reserve in the early part of the 20th century: the Calgary and Fernie Railway, the Western Dominion Railway and the Calgary and Southwestern Railway.

The Western Dominion Railway Company

The Western Dominion Railway Company was founded in 1912 by act of Parliament, but also incorporated the Alberta Pacific Railway which was originally incorporated as the Pincher Creek, Cardston and Montana Railway under a 1906 Provincial charter.

The Alberta Pacific charter granted a line that ran from the international border through Cardston, Pincher Creek, the Turner Valley area and on towards Calgary, while the Western Dominion charter further allowed for the continuation of this line to Edmonton, and eventually to Fort St. John BC. The portions north of Calgary do not feature in later plans for the line, and efforts appear to be concentrated on the original Alberta Pacific portion, from Cutbank Montana, where it would connect with the Great Northern line, to Calgary. This portion of the line was surveyed in 1912, and contained the section through the Tsuu T’ina reserve.

(Glenbow NA-2911-1. The picture above shows a team surveying for a railway, likely the Western Dominion, in the Priddis region just south of the Tsuu T’ina reserve, circa 1911)

Though originally financed by capital from New York and London, both the Great Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul lines were reported to have held an interest in the company. In 1914 the Western Dominion Railway awarded the construction contract for the first 100 miles, including contracts for 4 million feet of timber trestles and 12,000 yards of concrete, and estimates at the time pegged the construction costs at $30,000 per mile. Soon the original commitment of building 100 miles was extended all the way to the international border, and plans were announced to begin construction of the line in Lundbreck, Alberta, where it would be simultaneously extended both north and south towards each end of the line.

Despite these commitments, and the announcement of groundbreaking in July of 1914, the charter was last extended in 1921 and the line was never built.

The Calgary and Fernie Railway Company

The Calgary and Fernie Railway was granted it’s charter by an act of Parliament in 1906, and though founded before the other lines that envisioned the use of Tsuu T’ina reserve land, the specific route including plans to cross the reserve were not formalized until 1914, two years after the Western Dominion.

From the outset, the line faced opposition, and was seen by some as part of a coordinated American attempt to ‘capture’ a series of Canadian mountain passes. According to certain Senators on the Senate Railroad Committee at the time, the intention was to divert Alberta wheat and cattle to American ports and companies. The Calgary and Fernie Railway, financed by noted American railroad tycoon James J. Hill, was reported to have been conceived for precisely the reasons raised by the Senate. The new line was envisioned tie into Hill’s Great Northern Railway line, and would provide access to American markets for Alberta resources and commodities, which to that point was served only by East-West railway lines. The question about the flow of goods was further raised when construction plans were revealed; the line was to be built from Fernie towards Calgary, rather than Calgary towards Fernie. This meant that the line would initially be carrying freight from the agriculture- and coal-producing areas of southwest Alberta towards the United States, rather than through Calgary; a situation lamented by at least one Calgary City Councilor at the time.

The route for the railway had been surveyed in 1914, at which point the company engaged the Department of Indian Affairs regarding a right of way through the Tsuu T’ina reserve. The plans also raised the opposition of a competing railway. The Western Dominion Railway had opposed a portion of the route for the Calgary and Fernie line because the 18 miles from Millarville into Calgary, via the Tsuu T’ina reserve, would parallel their own route. In response, the federal Minister of Railways had ordered that the Calgary and Fernie line was to be given ‘running rights’ over the Western Dominion lines for the final 18 miles into Calgary, providing the Western Dominion built their line before the Calgary and Fernie line reached Calgary. While two railways were set to cross the reserve, it would have been done on a single set of tracks.

The final route began in Fernie, then north along the Elk River, east to about Millarville, then north through the Tsuu T’ina reserve and into Calgary via what is now Oarkridge and Palliser.

Despite spending over $400,000 and clearing 29 miles of the 159 mile route by 1930, and despite the reported claim that the company was ‘ready to proceed immediately on the laying of steel’, the charter for the Calgary and Fernie Railway expired in 1932 and the line remained unbuilt.

Southwest Calgary Railway Company

The Calgary and Southwestern Railway Company was founded in 1918 by prominent Calgary businessman, and later Canadian Senator, Patrick Burns. In the early 1900s coal was discovered in the Sheep River area of the Alberta Rocky Mountains, and between about 1908 and 1913 Burns had invested in coal mining operations there. The company was seeking to establish a narrow gauge railway line, also known as the P. Burns Coal Line, to convey the extracted coal into Calgary. Surveyed in 1918, the line followed a similar route to the Calgary and Fernie Railway within Alberta, though the use of a narrow gauge line would seem to have precluded the requirement to share the tracks with either of the other two lines where they paralleled each other.

The line was set to exit Calgary through the future community of Cedarbrae, then head southwest through the Tsuu T’ina reserve, south towards the Millarville area and then southwest along the Sheep River. The 100 foot wide railway right-of-way would have required almost 93 acres of reserve land, and the removal of one house from its projected path.

The railway line had been the subject of charter extensions well into the 1950s, though these renewals came with concerns that no progress was being made in actually constructing the line. A request was made in 1927 by Provincial Liberal leader Joseph Tweed Shaw that the company be required to put up a bond to ensure construction of 10 miles of track. This was criticized by the Minister of Agriculture, who noted that while 10 miles of track would pledge the company’s intentions, it “would not get it beyond the Sarcee (Tsuu T’ina) reserve.” The line was noted to be useless without extending it the entire way into the coal producing areas of the Province.

Though track was never laid, some use would be found for the line; according to “Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide”, part of the current Alberta Highway 546 along the Sheep River was built on the otherwise unused Calgary and Southwestern railbed.

The End of the Line

Though ultimately these railways were never built, their stories are reminders of how long the Tsuu T’ina reserve has been seen as an important location in regards to Calgary’s transportation needs. Perhaps it is no wonder that the increase of road-based transportation has meant that plans for rail crossings of the reserve have given way to plans centred around Provincial highways. The Tsuu T’ina reserve has long featured in many local and regional transportation projects, and the Southwest Calgary Ring Road remains the latest in a long line of plans to cross the reserve.

Why plan a road through the Tsuu T’ina reserve?

Modern plans have for decades shown the Southwest Calgary Ring Road as traveling through the northeast corner of the Tsuu T’ina reserve. As these plans for the road had utilised land that cannot be guaranteed to be available, many have wondered why the City allowed communities like Lakeview and Glamorgan to grow right up to the city-limits, leaving no room for a ring road. With no corridor protected for this road, some have openly blamed the City for failing to plan ahead, but is this really the case?

Early Road Planning

Although there were early attempts at planning the major roadways in Calgary, notably Thomas Mawson’s plan of 1914 and the City’s 1930 Major Street & Arterial Highway plan, 1952 marked the first modern road plan for the city of which all subsequent plans are indebted. The 1952 plan (below) was the result of a push in 1948 for a masterplan for Calgary, not just for street layout but for all future growth for the city including land-use and zoning.

The explosion of car ownership in the post-war era had compounded congestion in the downtown core of Calgary, and the need to design a road network that would accomodate new traffic and allow drivers to avoid downtown was seen as paramount in allowing for the continuing growth of the city. Although the Major Thoroughfare Plan shows improved bypass roadways that avoid the core of the city, the proposed road network was contained within the city-limits of the time, and no regional bypass routes or ring roads feature in the plan. That state of affairs was soon to change, and beginning the following year, the City began the process of planning a ring road system for Calgary.

The Ring Road

Beginning in 1953 the City had begun to revise their road plan in order to include a series of three ring roads encircling different portions of Calgary. The ‘Inner Ring’ was set to circle the downtown of the city without actually coming into contact with that most congested of areas. The ‘Intermediate Ring’ encircled much of the developed area of Calgary, and allowed citizens living in the north and west portions of the city to access the industrial areas in the east without the need to traverse the centre of the city. Finally, and most pertinent to the topic at hand, was the ‘Outer Ring’, which was largely located outside of the existing city-limits and provided a regional road network allowing travellers on provincial highways to bypass the city entirely.

The plans (shown here from 1957) detail the southwest portion of the Outer Ring Road as a connection between Macleod Trail in the south to the Trans-Canada Highway in the west, allowing for a complete bypass of the city to those wishing not to stop or enter Calgary. This road followed Anderson Road heading west from Macleod Trail, then north on 37th Street SW across the Elbow river (via what is now Lakeview) to Glenmore Trail, and then northwest (diagonally through what is now Glamorgan) and on to Sarcee Trail where it would connect to the Trans-Canada highway. At this time these plans constituted a living, working document subject to continual revisions, and as such the contents had not been endorsed by council. It would not be until 1959 that a comprehensive transportation plan for the City of Calgary would be officially adopted, by which time many important changes would have been made to the ring road plan. The results of those changes, and the subsequent planning decisions that would follow, would alter the course of ring road planning for decades to come.

Early Revisions and Why They Occured

In 1952 940 acres of the northeast corner of the Tsuu T’ina reserve, located south of Glenmore Trail at 37th street SW, was purchased by the Department of National Defence (DND) from the Tsuu T’ina for their Sarcee Camp military reserve, later known as the Harvey Baracks. The land had been rented by the DND since 1910 for training, and a permanent military base had been established there in 1915 as part of World War I efforts. Later in 1956, the City had annexed significant amounts of land in the south and the west in order to facilitate a growing city, and the newly purchased Harvey Barracks land was included in that annexation. With the completion of this annexation the city-limits now followed the north bank of the Elbow river in this area.

With the Harvey Barracks land now within the city-limits, Calgary had begun to consider the land as available for road purposes, and a more westerly road than had previously been considered could be built within the city.

In November 1958, City Planner J. H. Eassie and Commissioner E. C. Thomas proposed a new alignment for the southwest portion of the Outer Ring Road, now called the West Bypass. The new alignment differed from the previous proposals by avoiding the future communities of Lakeview and Glamorgan altogether, and instead ran around the western edge of the Weaselhead and through the Harvey Barracks lands (shown in white above). This newly proposed route was approved by the City Thoroughfare Committee at its November 24 1958 meeting, and would eventually be ratified by City Council as part of the 1959 Calgary Metropolitan Area Transportation Plan, the first comprehensive transportation plan to be adopted by the City. The decision to plan the ring road through the Harvey Barracks land would prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of this road.

Within a few months, the design and planning of the communities of Lakeview and Glamorgan was underway. With the new routing of the West Bypass approved in principle, City planners chose to dedicate 37th street SW in Lakeview as a ‘major thoroughfare’ rather than as higher-capacity facility. The layouts of Lakeview and Glamorgan were explicitly designed on the understanding that the Outer Ring Road would skirt the Weaselhead and traverse the Harvey Barracks, and not pass through either of these new communities. An extract of the March 30 1959 minutes of the Thoroughfare Committee Meeting discussing the roads through Lakeview is shown below.

Detailed Planning and the Moving Road

On the eve of 1959 there were actually two routes for the West Bypass under consideration: The City route which was ultimately included in the approved transportation plan, and the Provincial route, which was similar but different in significant ways. The City route continued Sarcee Trail due south from Glenmore Trail, then hugged the western and southern border of the Weaselhead on its way towards 90th avenue SW south of the reservoir. The Provincial route (shown in pink below) differed in that it headed directly southeast from the junction of Sarcee Trail and Glenmore Trail, and crossed the Weaselhead much closer to the reservoir. While the Provincial route was not originally adopted in the City’s plans in 1959, by 1963 this alignment formed the basis of the intended route, and continued to do so for many years.

The proposed Provincial route for the road through the Weaselhead had begun to cause concern among local residents and naturalists, citing environmental impacts and diminished recreational enjoyment that the area would sustain should a freeway be located through the park. By the mid 1970s the City had committed to undertake detailed study for the location of the West Bypass, known by this time as the Sarcee Trail Extension, and the study began with five route alternatives under consideration.

The Sarcee Trail South Route Location Study, as it was known, included residents and environmental groups as part of the Citizen Design Team involved in studying the proposed routes. A representative of the Calgary Field Naturalist Society had gone further than just responding to the proposed alternatives (of which a few would have required small amounts of Tsuu T’ina land), and in fact suggested a new route that pushed the road further south and west of the Weaselhead area than had been contemplated by this study. This route not only crossed through the Harvey Barracks land but a significant portion was located on the Tsuu T’ina reserve. Despite Chief Gordon Crowchild telling the Citizen Design Team that acquiring land from the Nation would be a complex undertaking that may never come to fruition, and despite percieved resistance to this route by the City and the consulting engineering firm of Reid, Crowther & Partners, a variation of this new route would soon be seen by the City as the preferred option.

The Route Location Study concluded in 1977 without selecting a route for the road, instead recommending further study of one of the three short-listed options (‘Route K’ shown above). This proposed route through the Tsuu T’ina reserve could not be properly compared to the other alignments as the City did not have access to key information required to do so. The Tsuu T’ina had not been formally a part of the study process, and as a result, access to the land and other data had not been made available for study.

A further study was commenced in 1982, this time with the Province, the City and the Tsuu T’ina as full partners. The result of this study, published in 1984, was the acceptance of the more western route that largely missed the Weaselhead area and traversed the Tsuu T’ina reserve (below). For the first time, the Nation had agreed in principle to the idea of locating the road through their reserve.

The Return of the Harvey Barracks

In 1982 the Tsuu T’ina Nation began legal action to reverse the sale of the Harvey Barracks land, arguing that the sale was coerced and that the Federal Government failed to live up to it’s obligations to the Tsuu T’ina. After a decade of wrangling, the Department of National Defence returned the land to the Nation in an out-of-court settlement, which would mark another pivotal moment in the history of the road. The reversion of the Harvey Barracks back into a reserve meant that a key location for the ring road, common to every ring road plan since 1959, was no longer controlled by the City or the Province. The Harvey Barracks land was again a part of the Tsuu T’ina reserve, and the road as planned could not be built without going negotiating with the Nation. In addition, the routes drafted previous to 1959 were impeded by the growth of the Lakeview and Glamorgan communities; any attempt to build a ring road via 37th street SW would necessitate the removal of hundreds of homes.

Since the City and Province were committed to negotiating with the Tsuu T’ina, the change in ownership of the Harvey Barracks lands did not immediately alter the planning of the road, though strained relationships would soon lead to calls for new, alternative routes that avoided the reserve land altogether.

Everything Old is New Again

In 2009 the Province proposed a road design and compensation package to the Tsuu T’ina in order for the Nation to hold a plebiscite, which is required by federal law. The Nation voted against the proposed plan, and years of planning and negotiations were thrown into uncertainty.

When the deal was turned down, the Province stated that they would not seek further negotaions with the Nation, and instead would look at alternative alignments that could be built within the city-limits and which would require no Tsuu T’ina land. Since the return of the Harvey Barracks lands had eliminated most of the previous 50 years worth of ‘City Only’ options, the Province and the City set their sights on the western-most corridor in the area: 37th street SW. Although officially joined by four other alternative routes as part of the Province’s ‘Plan B’ ring road options in 2011, a 37th street SW ring road proposal (below) represented the ressurection of a concept over 50 years old.

Unlike in 1958, however, the 37th street SW corridor is no longer open land; In 1959 the City had allocated only 100 feet between the city-limits of Calgary and the residential property adjoining this road on the understanding that ring road was not to use the 37th street corridor, and instead be built much further to the west.

To many observers, the time to consider a freeway in the area had passed. Some high-profile detractors of the ‘Plan B’ options, including Mayor Naheed Nenshi and MLA (and soon to be Premier) Alison Redford, had instead urged the Province to seek new alternatives or to re-engage with the Tsuu T’ina in an effort to build the road through the reserve. By mid 2011 the Nation had re-asserted their willingness to talk, and the ‘Plan B’ options were shelved as the Province re-entered negotiations, which are still officially ongoing.

Planning and the Unforseen

Despite the best laid plans of the City and the Province, unforseen land ownership issues are central in understanding why there is currently no protected corridor for the southwest portion of the ring road. It cannot be said that the City did not plan for this road, nor could it be seen to be negligent in allowing communities to be built without leaving room for a transportation corridor. With modern eyes it would appear that both of these charges must be true, but with the benefit of understanding that the historic city-limits have not always been as static as they now seem, it is hard to apportion blame for the current lack of a protected corridor for this road.

The Southwest Calgary Toll Road

The Tsuu T’ina are holding an election today (November 26 2012) for Chief and Councillors, and naturally the issue of the ring road has been among the forefront of the issues being raised.

Two of the contenders for the position of Chief, current Councillor Ivan Eagletail and former-Chief Roy Whitney, have at one point or another been on record as favouring a toll road payable to the Tsuu T’ina Nation in order for the Southwest Calgary Ring Road to be allowed through the reserve. While Eagletail made his support known recently, Whitney last mentioned support for the toll concept over a decade ago. Though this type of deal may be a departure from the current proposals, it is not a new idea for this road.

2000 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

In 2000, the City of Calgary, the Province of Alberta and the Tsuu T’ina signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), framing the conditions for negotiating for a road through Tsuu T’ina land. One of the most important clauses of this agreement was that the land for the road was to remain under the ownership of the Tsuu T’ina. While the agreement did not go into the specifics of how that lease was to be paid for, the Nation stated that they favoured a ‘silent’ toll system that would track the number of cars using the road, which the Province or City would then pick up the tab for. Toll booths would not line the route, and drivers would not be responsible for the toll charge directly. No dollar figure was mentioned as a potential toll fee at this time.

Before the MOU was signed by the City a draft was circulated, and there were calls by both citizens and aldermen to amend it. In addition to the potential route of the road, seemingly the most contentious issue with the agreement was the land ownership and the toll-payment model. Calls to amend the MOU were rebuffed by the City, as then-Chief Roy Whitney had let it be known that the concept of a leased road payable by toll was non-negotiable. A land sale was reportedly out of the question.

Around the same time, from 1999 to 2002, the Tsuu T’ina had partnered with the construction company PCL in order to develop the northeast corner of the reserve. Reports at the time stated that the partnership could also be responsible for privately building the portion of the ring road through Tsuu T’ina land, potentially implementing a toll road to cover costs and compensate the Nation for use of their road. The partnership was dissolved, and plans for a private road were shelved.

After two years of stalled negotiations and just as the 2000 MOU had expired, then-Alderman Ric McIver introduced a motion to the Council which would prohibit the City from building a road on land it did not own. This motion passed, and in McIver’s words it “establish(ed) the principal that Calgary tax dollars for roads should only be spent in Calgary. In the same way that we would not expect our neighbours to pay for our roads, we cannot be expected to pay for theirs.”

The Nation had seemed frustrated with the City, blaming them for holding up negotiations, and soon their efforts were focused on negotiating with the Province directly, bypassing the City. By mid 2004 an agreement in principle between the Nation and the Province was signed, which stated that the land required for the road would be transfered to the Province, in exchange for access, a one-off payment and a land swap for the Nation. The concept of a toll road had been left behind.

PRIVATE TOLL ROAD

In the time after the breakdown of negotiations with the City, but before a new agreement was struck with the Province, private interests sought to fill the void. In 2003 a new idea for a road was brought forward, and it too embraced a toll road concept. A private company, Sarcee Trail Extension Inc., was formed for the express intent of constructing the road through the Tsuu T’ina reserve. The idea was that Sarcee Trail Extension Inc. would procure a perpetual lease from the Nation for the land required. In exchange, they would make a one-off payment of $80,000 to every Tsuu T’ina member directly, plus a perpetual $5 million per year to the Nation itself. The construction costs, the annual payment to the Nation, and the company’s profit would be recouped by a silent $2 per-car toll on the road, paid for by the Province. The company stumbled in the eyes of the Nation, however, with the way they handled the proposal. Rather than taking the project to the Tsuu T’ina Council, Sarcee Trail Extension Inc. brought the deal directly to the Nation’s members. Chief Sandford Big Plume characterised the direct engagement of the residents as an attempt to by-pass the authority of the Council, and the payment as a ‘bribe’. The proposal did not gain traction with either the Nation or the Province.

RENEWED INTEREST

The idea of a toll road was last broached, and quickly shot down, by the Province in June of 2012. Despite appearing to consider tolls as a way to pay for certain Provincial highways, notably the upgrades to Highway 63 to Fort McMurray, Premier Redford stated that the concept was not going to apply to Calgary’s ring road. Provincial Transportation Minister Ric McIver reiterated this position, and is quoted as saying “In Alberta, we donʼt choose to have toll roads and we havenʼt got any plan to change that.”

Interestingly, Ric McIver may actually have been the first person to publicly float the idea of a toll road on the southwest portion of the ring road. On October 13 1998, the Calgary Herald reports that while running for Ward 12 Alderman, McIver stated “If the province cannot or will not provide funding, we should build it anyway now… we need to get together a private-public partnership to build it as a toll road on a 20- to 25-year payback basis.”. The idea was for a traditional toll road as limited-time implementation to cover construction costs, rather than as an ongoing method of paying for a land lease.

Click here for a video of Alison Redford commenting on a toll road in Calgary

Former-Chief Sandford Big Plume, in running for re-election in November 2012, waded in on the toll-road debate, saying he did not favour a toll road because “…The province has made it very clear that they simply will not entertain a toll road.”. He added “…A toll road would take years, maybe decades to start paying out to Nation citizens. I think the Nation should see benefit immediately. That’s why I believe the new deal we are negotiating must include immediate cash benefits for the Nation, and Nation citizens as well as long-term infrastructure funding.”

FOR WHOM THE ROAD TOLLS

Whether a toll road in Alberta is politically palatable, and whether the Province would consider a road where the toll revenue would not go to the Province, remains to be seen. However, it is important to note that until or if we hear differently, the idea of a toll road is a historial one, and is not currently a part of the public debate.

ELECTION RESULTS UPDATE 6:45 AM NOVEMBER 27:
AM770 and CBC are calling the election for former Chief Roy Whitney, defeating Sandford Big Plume after 11 years in the job. This marks Chief Whitney’s third non-consecutive tenure as Tsuu T’ina Chief, first elected in 1984 for 2 years, then again in 1988 until he stepped down in 2001.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 30 2012
At Chief Roy Whitney’s first press conference following the election, he has been quoted as saying that the negotiations that were started before he took office would continue uninterrupted, and that as things stand ”The economics of (a toll road) haven’t truly been explored as to be able to determine whether that is a viable process and the cost for the amount of the road is quite hefty.”

The Priddis Trail and the Weaselhead Bridge

A growing population south of Fish Creek are demanding a road through the Tsuu T’ina reserve to be able to get to central Calgary easier. The Government has approached the Nation about routing a road through the reservation and crossing the Elbow River at the Weaselhead. If this sounds familiar, the next part probably will not: The Tsuu T’ina agree to the road, the land is surrendered at no cost, and the road is built. The year is 1900, and a road through the Weaselhead and the reserve is open to the public.

(Photo by Alison Jackson of the Priddis Trail near what is now the Weaselhead parking lot, September 29 1963. Courtesy of the Calgary Public Library, Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library.)

In 1899, the settlers and homesteaders south of the Tsuu T’ina reserve, or Sarcee reserve as it was known at the time, called upon the Government to build a road to service the area. Alberta had yet to be incorporated as a Province, and the request was made to the Government of the Northwest Territories, where Calgary was then located. Residents of the Priddis, Bragg Creek and Millarville areas had to this point relied on well established but unmaintained wagon trails to access Calgary and other ranches and towns in the region. There was pressure on the Territorial Government to formalise a road out of one of the more established trails in the area, which crossed the eastern portion of the Sarcee reserve; leading diagonally from what is now the corner of Glenmore Trail and 37th street SW to a point just north of Priddis. A trail that had been in use for many years by both members of the Nation and the early settlers of the area.

SURRENDERING THE ROAD

The pressure for better access led the Northwest Territories Government to survey the approximate location of the road, known as the Priddis Trail, and to call upon the Department of Indian affairs to see if the Tsuu T’ina Nation would be willing to surrender the land required. On May 15 1899 the Tsuu T’ina, led by Chief Bull Head, agreed to surrender a strip of land for the road on several conditions: First, that a bridge is built across the Elbow river at ‘Weaselhead Crossing’, second; that if the road would need to be fenced, the Nation would not be called upon to pay for the fencing, and third: that the Government force settlers who grazed their cattle on the reserve be forced to pay for the right, or be removed from the land.

The Government of the Northwest Territories agreed to the first two conditions, but pointed out that the last condition could only be enforced by the Department of the Interior, and that they had no jurisdiction in that area. The Nation dropped the grazing condition, and eventually formalised the surrender, with the agreement being adopted by the Privy Council of Canada on February 5 1900. The Order of Council stated that the strip of land, 66 feet wide, was to be surveyed and opened up for public use as a road. (Shown above)

Surveyor A. P. Patrick completed a survey of ‘The Old Trail and New Road from N.E. cor. Sarcee Indian Reserve to Millarville P.O.’ which more fully detailed the sketch referenced in the surrender (and though dated 1900, the route appears to have been surveyed in 1899). However, by the end of 1900 the road and bridge would be under construction, but in a different location than both the surrender and this original survey indicated.

A NEW BRIDGE AND A NEW ROAD

(Glenbow Archives NA-2569-9)

In October of 1900, the Northwest Territories sent its superintendant of bridges to Calgary to oversee the construction of the new steel Weaselhead Bridge (pictured above in 1903), which was built at a cost of about $1600. The bridge, however, was located 1km further east than the original survey suggested, and the road now began at approximately 66th avenue SW, not the diagonal route from 50th avenue SW (Glenmore Trail) as was originally surveyed. It is unclear why the location chosen for the bridge and road did not accord with the surrender, nor with the survey completed only a year earlier.

The above map shows the original diagonal route in the North East corner of the reserve (pink) and the revised route, including the Weaselhead road, (yellow) that was eventually built.

This new Weaselhead road was surveyed for the first time in 1905. In the survey, the Weaselhead leg was clearly marked as a distinct road from the ‘Priddis Trail’. However, this seems to be the last time the original diagonal route was referred to as the Priddis Trail, and indeed the new Weaselhead deviation would soon be incorporated into the final layout of the Priddis Trail.

It is interesting to note that the Weaselhead road first surveyed in 1905 will still look familiar to park users today; the modern bike path and pedestrian bridge in the Weaselhead park, shown above, follows exactly this route laid out over 100 years ago.

In 1907 the Alberta Government re-surveyed the entire Priddis Trail, from what is now the corner of 66th avenue and 37th street SW to Priddis via the Weaselhead Bridge, apparently discarding the 1900 surveyed route once and for all. This 1907 survey, along with minor revisions in 1916, would finalise the design and would constitute the full and final route of the road from that point forward.

TANKS, TROOPS AND TRANSPORTATION

Though surrendered and built for the benefit of the public, the 1920s saw increased use of Priddis Trail by a new group of users; the Canadian Military.

The Military first officially used Tsuu T’ina land in 1910, for summer maneuvers on the North East corner of the reserve. This corner, now known unofficially as ‘The 940‘, was separated from the rest of the reserve by the Elbow River. With the onset of World War 1, the Department of Militia and Defence began to establish a permanent barracks and training grounds on this leased corner of the reserve, called successively Sarcee Camp, Sarcee Barracks, and Harvey Barracks. In 1924 the Military also leased a large artillery range south of the Elbow River, and the road connection offered by the Priddis Trail and the Weaselhead Bridge became a vital link between the two parcels of land (see map below).

As well as being used to convey troops and equipment between the artillery range and the barracks, the Weaselhead bridge at times became a focal point for military excercises and mock ‘war games’. Even after a portion of this land was purchased by the City of Calgary for the reservoir, Military use was common. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the bridge was crossed, captured and ‘destroyed’ (simulated, of course) many times over in war-game training involving tanks, trucks and military personel acting as both hostile and defending forces.

At this time, the Priddis Trail also served another important function: The 1924 lease of the artillery training area used the road to define part of its legal southern boundary.

GLENMORE RESERVOIR AND THE ACCIDENTAL PURCHASE

In the early 1930s the City of Calgary began building the Glenmore Dam in order to create a reservoir for the city, and around this time the City began buying property in the Elbow River valley that would be flooded by the dam. Part of the land needed for the reservoir was located on the eastern edge of the Tsuu T’ina reserve. This included a portion of both the barracks and artillery leases, and that we now know today as the Weaselhead park.

In 1913 the Tsuu T’ina surrendered the North East corner (or ‘The 940′) of their reserve to be sold, and in 1931 they surrendered a further 400 acres south of the Elbow River. Both of these surrenders formed the legal conditions that allowed for the City of Calgary to purchase the 593.5 acres of the Weaselhead area in 1931. Officially, this area was known as the Glenmore Reservoir lands, though it is now more commonly known as the Weaselhead Flats park, or simply ‘The Weaselhead’. (More on the North East corner of the reserve here, and more on the Weaselhead purchase here)

These surrenders, however, neglected to mention or exclude the 66-foot strip of land that contained the Priddis Trail, and when the Weaselhead was purchased by the City, the land containing the road was also sold. The ownership of this strip of land, comprising 10.23 acres and shown on the survey above, was transfered back to the Province of Alberta for continuing use as a public road. Despite being registered to the Province, the specific ownership of the road remains unclear to this day; ownership of different portions of the road may have been transfered between the Province and the City during different annexations and changes in the city limits in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s.

The Weaselhead portion of the road, as well as the rest of the Weaselhead purchase, is also the subject of an ongoing land claim by the Tsuu T’ina. Launched by the Tsuu T’ina nation in 2001, the claim seeks to confirm that the legal title of the road was never held by the City of Calgary, and that the land title ‘continues to be vested in the Crown as part of the reserve’. The claim further seeks to establish that the land should have been returned to reserve status for the benefit of the Tsuu T’ina once the land was no longer required for a road. Negotiations on the claim are still progressing.

In 1952 the Military purchased the rest of ‘The 940′ barracks land from the Tsuu T’ina adjoining the Weaselhead. However this time the surrender of the land and the purchase agreement both specifically excluded the portion of the Priddis Trail that traversed this parcel. This small, 1.2 acre portion that adjoins 37th street SW in Calgary was consequently not sold to the Military with the rest of the purchase of ‘The 940′, and today forms the northern portion of the Weaselhead parking lot.

THE STATE OF THE ROAD

Despite opening up and improving the Priddis Trail as a public thoroughfare, the route remained a dirt road for its entire public existence, and the quality of the road remained a perennial issue with travellers. Descriptions like ‘Outrageous’, ‘Impassible’ and ‘Dangerous’ had been bandied about in contemporary media for decades. Despite early efforts to maintain the road, by the early 1940s the Province stated that the portion of the road south of the Weaselhead “is not used at present” but that if required they would “rebuild the road and reconstruct bridges and culverts and again make it passable for traffic…”.

In 1952, the lease for the artillery range was altered, to require the Military to be responsible for the maintenance of the portion of the road adjoining leased land. Despite this, the state of the road continued to deteriorate, and in 1959 a key part of the northern portion of the road was eventually put beyond use. In March of that year, a mobile crane from the Atlas Construction Company of Calgary was driving over the Weaselhead bridge when a section buckled under the weight, causing the deck to collapse.

No significant effort was made to repair the bridge once it was damaged, and after 59 years of service, there was no public river crossing for the Priddis Trail. Long time area resident George Reti recalls that use of the road on the Calgary side was virtually non-existant by the time the built-up portion of Lakeview reached 37th street in the mid- to late-1960s.

Despite the loss of the original public bridge, the Military’s access to their training grounds was not impacted, as they had built their own bridge over the Elbow River in 1950 about 1km upstream from the Priddis Trail. The Tsuu T’ina had also made arrangements with the Military so that members of the Nation were allowed to use the new bridge and road through the barracks in order to access Calgary. The private Military bridge, today used exclusively by the Tsuu T’ina, has also largely taken over the ‘Weaselhead Bridge’ moniker since the old bridge was put out of action. Most references to a Weaselhead Bridge since the 1960s tend to be in regard to this newer Military bridge (and a subsequent replacement bridge) and not the original crossing of the Priddis Trail. (More on the Military bridge, and the important role it played in Tsuu T’ina/Federal relations will be covered in a future article.)

THE OIL BOOM AND THE LOSS OF THE PRIDDIS TRAIL

Just as alternative access helped the Military and the Tsuu T’ina to remain unaffected by the loss of the bridge, so too did another alternative route help residents of the Priddis and Millarville areas remain largely unaffected by the loss of the Priddis Trail.

In 1914 oil was discovered near Turner Valley, which over time impacted many aspects of life in southern Alberta, one of which was the roads. The oil companies at the time shipped heavy equipment for drilling and exploration by rail to Okotoks, which was the closest railway station to the oil fields. From there, large trucks moved the equipment west to Black Diamond and Turner Valley. As a consequence, the main road into the area from the old Macleod Trail, as well as the old Macleod Trail itself, became over-burdened with car, truck and heavy equipment traffic. As a way to relieve the pressure on the main road, the Alberta Government built the gravelled Highway 22 from the Macleod Trail near Midnapore to Millarville and Turner Valley via the Priddis area in 1931. This road was intended to take the lighter traffic, including horses and wagons, off of the heavy equipment route. This road was well built and maintained, and quickly became a heavily used alternative to the largely neglected Priddis Trail. Interestingly, before settling on the Midnapore-Priddis-Millarville route we know today, the Priddis Trail had been earmarked as a potential route of Highway 22, to be the primary light-traffic highway from Calgary to the oil fields.

PATHWAYS AND PEDESTRIANS

In 1971 the City of Calgary approved a plan that called for the creation of walking paths through the local river valleys. The City hired 40 University of Calgary students using funding from a federal grant provided by the Opportunities for Youth program. With a further $26,000 allocated for materials from the City budget, the path building program began.

One of the first portions identified for a recreational pathway was the Elbow valley and a loop around the Glenmore Reservoir, with the portion through the Weaselhead area to follow the old Priddis Trail. However, this route had one major problem: There was no bridge in the Weaselhead, and there was no money to build a new one. The solution needed to be an inventive and thrifty one.

According to Stewart Round, head of the path building program, via an excellent article about the early days of the path building program (‘The Path Starts Here’, Chris Turner, Calgary Herald, 29 July 2005) an automobile accident was the origin of the solution for the Weaselhead bridge problem. A truck had crashed into a road sign on the Barlow Trail, leaving a support truss used for larger signs on city roadways by the side of the road. It was noted that the truss was only 10 feet short of the span required to bridge the Elbow River. With some creative earthwork to narrow the gap, the truss was installed, a deck of 2×4 wood planks was laid, and the bridge was completed without significant outlay. The signage truss is visible supporting the bridge in the photograph below.

(Glenbow Archives NA-2399-152)

For an ad-hoc development, the bridge served the City well. It lasted for 24 years, only succumbing to flooding in the spring of 1995. By October of 1995, a new bridge was built in the same location as the previous two bridges. The replacement pedestrian bridge is concrete with steel railings, and true to the spirit of the previous pedestrian bridge, it too was built using salvaged material; this time from a city overpass, which resulted in a reported 60% savings for taxpayers. The concrete bridge, officially bridge number 1606 and pictured below, is the third and most recent in this area, and still stands today.

(Photo courtesy of the Anne Elliott)

THE END OF THE ROAD… 

By the 1960s the use of the road for carrying through-traffic was over. With a pedestrian path taking the place of the road in the Weaselhead, potential travellers from the south literally had no where to go. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Tsuu T’ina petitioned the Province of Alberta to have the road declared abandoned and the land returned to the Nation.

After agreeing to exclude the portion of land inside the Weaselhead park, the efforts by the Nation to repatriate the rest of the road to the South and West of the Weaselhead were successful. The Province of Alberta transfered this land back to the Federal Government in 1981 and it was set aside for reserve purposes on December 12 1985. The 10.23 acre portion inside the Weaselhead and the 1.2 acre portion that is now part of the Weaselhead parking lot were not affected by this action.

…NOT THE END OF THE STORY

Despite the road no longer existing, the Priddis Trail forms part of a larger story that still has relevance today. Beyond the land claims on the remaining portion of the road still held by the Province and the complicated jurisdictional issues involved, there is another contemporary reason to know the story of the Priddis Trail, one that speaks to the relationship between the Tsuu T’ina and the other levels of government in Alberta. In recent years there has been talk by some of closing the 37th street access to the Tsuu T’ina reserve near Glenmore Trail (which services the casino). While the City maintains that they are only required to maintain a single road access to the reserve, currently at Anderson Road, the Nation has spoken publicly about their right to access their land at 37th street and Glenmore Trail, in part because of a long tradition of access there. Part of the reasoning goes back to the establishment and free use of this trail by aboriginal ancestors long before Alberta was a Province, before Calgary was a City, and even before the signing of Treaty 7 and the allocation of the reserve to the Nation. Despite claims on both sides, legal access remains unclear, and would likely take a concession on one side or the other, or a legal judgement, to resolve the issue.

The next time you are in the park and are walking along the pathway, remember that you are following in the footsteps of so many pioneers, soliders and First Nations members before you. That your journey is the culmination of many years of co-operation, conflict, necessity and negotiation.

———-

My thanks and gratitude to Karen Simonson at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, Christine Hayes at the Calgary Public Library, Ann Coffin at Alberta Transportation, Derek Green at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Sandra Johnson Penney at the Canadian Military Engineers Museum, Susan Kooyman at the Glenbow Archives and George Reti of the Lakeview Community Association for their essential knowledge and assistance in researching this road.

The Ring Road System – The Provincial Road (2001 to 2012)

This is the fourth and final part of my overview of the Calgary Ring Road project, covering the period from 2000 to the current day. In many ways this is the period that moved the full ring road project from concept to reality. Despite a small portion having been built in the previous decade, work on a high-capacity, free-flowing provincial highway got underway in earnest after the turn of the millenium; work that is still ongoing today. (Click here for Part 1: 1956-1970, here for Part 2 1974-1976, and here for Part 3 1980-2001) As always, click on any of the maps for a larger view.

BECOMING A PROVINCIAL HIGHWAY

In 2000, the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta signed an agreement that transfered the control of both the Deerfoot Trail and Stoney Trail to the Province. Despite the road originating in Provincial plans, and being primarily designed by the Province since the 1970s, the Calgary ring road had to this point been a City road.

By the close of 2001, Stoney Trail had been constructed between the Trans Canada Highway and Country Hills Blvd in Northwest Calgary. The road at this time had traffic lights controlling its intersections, and with some portions being only a single lane in a given direction, it was suitable only as an arterial city road. The Province, however, had for many years planned the ring road as a free-flowing, multi-lane provincial highway. Once the road was under the jurisdiction of the Province, moves were made to upgrade it to this higher standard of thoroughfare. The first part of this plan required a revision to the long-term plan for the road.

An Updated Plan

In 1996 a City of Calgary Functional Planning Study was completed on the entire Northwest portion of the road, including portions still unconstructed at that time. In 2001 the Province wanted to ensure that the plans for the road were still suitable in the face of population growth and land-use changes, so Earth Tech (Canada) Inc. was hired to update the 1996 plan. The resulting “Stoney Trail – Trans Canada Highway to Deerfoot Trail Functional Planning Study ” completed in 2003 not only detailed the initial build of the ring road, it also laid out the ‘Ultimate Stage’ of Stoney Trail, including future road widening up to 8 lanes, and the design of all required interchanges (some of which that are still yet to be built).

STONEY TRAIL EXPANSION PROJECT 2004-2009

On May 9 2003, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Premier Ralph Klein announced a funding agreement between the Federal Government and the Province to pay for the expansion of the ring road system, a project known as the Stoney Trail Expansion Project (STEP). The Federal portion of the funding amounted to $75 million towards the original $250 million total budget for the project, with the Province initially committing the remaining $175 million.

The STEP, as laid out in the 2003 study, would entail building a new, 15km section of road to extend Stoney Trail from its then-terminus at Country Hills Blvd all the way to Deerfoot Trail. The project would also upgrade the existing 7.5km portion to a consistant 4 lanes for the entire length of the Northwest portion and remove many of the signalised intersections in favour of free-flow interchanges (Though the inclusion of new signalised intersections ensured that the road would still not be a fully free-flow road once the extension project was completed).

Northwest Upgrades

In early 2005 construction on the Stoney Trail Extension Project began. At the start of construction, the plan called for the existing signals at the Trans Canada Highway, Crowchild Trail, Scenic Acres Link and Country Hills Blvd to be removed and replaced with free-flowing interchanges. The new section would have an interchange at Deerfoot Trail, as well as new signalised intersections at Sarcee Trail, Beddington Trail and Harvest Hills. The existing signalised intersection at Nose Hill Drive was to remain and a flyover (with no access to or from Stoney Trail) was to be built at Shanappi Trail.

(Photo showing the Northwest portion of the road, courtesy Ayrcan on Flickr)

After construction began, the plans for the intersections at Sarcee Trail and Beddington Trail were revised, and the traffic signals were replaced with free-flow interchanges. In addition, a right-in right-out access was opened at 14th street NW, the Crowchild Trail interchange was modified from the original design to accomodate the LRT extension to Tuscany, and ramps were added to the North side of the Shaganappi Trail flyover for improved, but still limited, access. The deadline for finishing the NW section of the ring road was initially set for late 2007, however overruns meant that construction schedules had to be extended, caused in part by the revisions and additions to the initial plans. This later meant that the Northwest portion of the road was opened in stages as they were completed, rather than waiting for the entire road to be opened at one time.

The final price tag for the Stoney Trail Expansion Project was $460 million, up considerably from the original $250 million budget. According to then-Alberta Transportation spokesman Bart Johnson, rising labour, matterial and fuel costs were blamed for two-thirds of the increase in the budget, while changes in scope for the project accounted for the other third.

The $75 million contribution from the Federal Government remained unchanged, and so the Provincial expenditure more than doubled, from their original $175 million to a final contribution of $385 million.

The opening ceremony of the Northwest and Northeast Stoney Trail projects, November 2 2009. (photo courtesy of Mazrim at skyscraperpage.com)

On November 25 2008 the section from Country Hills Blvd to Sarcee Trail was opened to the public, followed by the opening of the section from Sarcee Trail to Harvest Hills Blvd on July 10 2009. The final section, from Harvest Hills Blvd to Deerfoot Trail was opened on November 2 2009, nearly two years after the initial deadline. The opening of this last section coincided with the opening of the entire Northeast section of the road, which was the next portion of the project undertaken by the Province.

Despite the successful completion of the Stoney Trail Extension Project, the Province has continued to improve the Northwest portion of Stoney Trail in the years since. The signalised intersection at Harvest Hills Blvd was replaced with an interchange in 2010, The Shaganappi Trail intersection was converted to a full interchange, and in 2011 construction began on the Nose Hills Drive interchange (Due to open in 2014). On August 10 2012, the last set of trafic lights were removed from the Nose Hill Drive intersection, whereupon the entire of Stoney Trail became free-flowing, apart from the lights at the end of the road at 17th Avenue SE.

THE EAST FREEWAY

In 2006 a Functional Planning Study prepared for the Province on the entire east portion of Stoney Trail was completed by Earth Tech (Canada) Inc. Despite eventually being constructed in two distinct phases, as the Northeast and Southeast Stoney Trail projects, these portions were planned in a single comprehensive study. Previous to being designated as part of Stoney Trail, this portion of the road had long been called the ‘East Freeway’.

NORTHEAST STONEY TRAIL

On February 22, 2007, The Northeast Stoney Trail (NEST) project began with the appointment of the Stoney Trail Group to design and build the northeast portion of the ring road under a P3 agreement. The group, led by Bilfinger Berger BOT Inc., includes Flatiron Constructors, Parsons Overseas Company of Canada Ltd., Graham Construction and Earth Tech (Canada) Ltd., among others.

The awarded P3 contract was worth a total of $930 million, with $300 million to be paid upfront by the Province, and $21 million per year for the 30 years after construction is completed. (The total of $930 million was calculated by the Province to have an effective price of $650 million in 2007 dollars). This contract for the design, building and maintenance of the Northeast ring road also included the maintenance of the entire Northwest section. Construction began in April of 2007 with a 20 month schedule, and completion was contractually due no later than November 1 2009.

The 21km Northeast segment of the road (shown above in red) finished the entire north section of Stoney Trail by running 4-6 lanes from Deerfoot trail, due east to approximately the 78th Street NE corridor, then due south to 17th avenue SE. Starting at Deerfoot Trail, interchanges were provided for at Metis Trail, Country Hills Blvd, Airport Trail/96th Avenue, McKnight Blvd and at 16th Avenue NE/Trans Canada Highway. Unlike the previous section of the road, all of the interchanges on the Northeast portion were designed to be free-flowing from the outset, and traffic signals were not used on Stoney Trail itself, apart from where the road terminates at 17th avenue SE. These signals will remain until the Southeast portion of the road opens, which is slated to occur in 2013.

The Northeast ring road was opened on November 2 2009, along with the final segment of the Northwest ring road portion. This meant that by the close of 2009, approximately 45% of the entire ring road project was completed and open to the public. In addition, since the road now had interchanges with 16th avenue on both the east and west sides of the city, the road was now functional as a true Trans Canada Highway bypass. In many ways, the completion of this section of the road fulfilled one of the oldest (though not functionally the most important) objectives that the ring road system was designed for, that of a Trans Canada Bypass.

Northeast Stoney Trail looking south

Stoney Trail and Deerfoot Trail interchange under construction (both photos courtesy of Freeweed at skyscraperpage.com)

SOUTHWEST RING ROAD: 2004-2012

In 2004, the Province and the Tsuu T’ina Nation signed an Agreement in Principle with regards to planning and constructing the Southwest ring road through Nation land. Up until this point, negotiations for a Sarcee Trail extension south of Glenmore Trail had been handled generally by the City of Calgary (Despite the concept of this portion of the road first originating with the Province, and the many studies and designs for this road prepared by the Province). Although the City did set up committees to contribute to the negotiations, from 2004 the Province and the Nation were the only parties directly involved in the Southwest ring road process.

On March 11 2005, Premier Ralph Klein and Chief Sandford Big Plume signed a Framework Agreement which set the stage for the negotiations over every aspect of the deal. In June of 2005, a Functional Planning Study was initiated by Trans Tech, and formal designs were started. The agreement called for an 8-month negotiating timeframe, with a call to conclude ‘Final Agreements’ by November of 2005, and the agreement to be brought to a vote of the Nation by no later than September 1 2006. The agreement allowed for the timeline to be extended by agreement of both parties, and the final vote by the Nation did not occur until almost 3 years after the initial deadline.

The full Functional Planning Study with the final road design and construction cost estimates was largely completed in 2007. An independant valuation for the land required for the road was originally slated to be ready in 2006, and after being delayed for over a year, a draft report of the appraisal for the land was delivered to both parties in December of 2007. This appraisal would form the basis of much of the compensation for the land deal, and a final compensation package was set at $275 million in cash plus a land swap of 4858 acres in exchange for the 988 acres needed for the road.

(Details of the Opening Day road design can be found here, and the Ultimate Stage design can be found here. A review of the 2009 ‘Final Agreements’ can be found here)

With the road designed, the required land identified, compensation (generally) agreed upon and a shared desire to proceed, the deal was taken to the members of the Tsuu T’ina nation, and a vote was conducted on June 30 2009. The deal was turned down by 60.5% of the voting membership, and thus the agreement failed. (More on the deal that was voted down, and identified reasons for the failure of this deal can be found here)

Southwest Options?

With five years invested in a process that reportedly cost the Province $6 million, the government decided to conclude negotiations, and pursue an ‘Plan B’ for the Southwest portion of the ring road; an alternative that did not require any land from the Tsuu T’ina Nation. By the end of 2009, the Province and the City signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study building the ring road along the 37th street corridor, entirely through City land.

The province publicly launched their ‘Plan B’ public consultation in January of 2011, when five alternative routes for the Southwest ring road were presented. Concerns over the affects that such a road would have on developed areas of the City (such as Lakeview, Glamorgan, Oakridge, Eagle Ridge etc.) as well as environmental impacts on the Weaselhead and the Glenmore Reservoir were raised, and an environmental and community group, Save Glenmore Park, was formed to dissuade the notion of building the road along 37th street. The opposition to the proposed ‘Plan B’ alignments included not just local residents and park users, but also included Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott and Calgary-Elbow MLA (and soon-to-be Premier) Alison Redford, among others.

June 2011 Information Update Session hosted by Save Glenmore Park (photo by Mike Ridewood, courtesy of Save Glenmore Park)

In June of 2011, at the height of community opposition (which was by no means universal) to the Province’s ‘Plan B’ alternatives, the Tsuu T’ina Nation took a poll of their members, and with a result of 68.5% in favour, they voted to re-open negotiation with the Province. The Province welcomed the Nation’s vote, and in less than a month, the ‘Plan B’ alternatives were put on indefinite hold, and negotiations with the Tsuu T’ina had resumed. By September 2012, negotiations were said to be going well, and Chief Sandford Big Plume was ‘very encouraged’ by the negotiations. (More about the Province’s ‘Plan B’ can be found here)

WEST AND SOUTH RING ROADS

The West and South ring roads are smaller segments of the ring road project that would tie the existing (or under construction) legs of the road into the Southwest ring road. The West ring road (pictured above) extends the existing Stoney Trail from it’s terminus at the Trans Canada Highway near Canada Olympic Park south to Highway 8 along the 101st street SW corridor. This 7.5km long segment would interchange at Old Banff Coach Road, Bow Trail and 17th Avenue SW, before connecting into the Southwest ring road. TransTech Focus was hired to complete the Functional Planning Study for the road, and in June 2009 recommended alignments and interchanges were presented. In 2010 there was some speculation by Transportation Minister Luc Ouellette that completing this portion of the road, before the final alignment of the Southwest ring road had been determined, could be considered. However, the Calgary Herald quoted ring road project lead Gary Lamb in 2008 as saying “The intersection at Glenmore Trail is designed to accommodate the Southwest ring road, so that deal will have to get done first.”

The South portion (above) of the ring road is again a smaller section of road that serves to tie the Southwest portion to the Southeast portion of Stoney Trail. This section of road features not only the four interchanges along the ring road path itself, at Macleod Trail, 6th Street SW, James McKevitt Road and Highway 22x, but also continues west of the ring road route, and includes three interchanges to service the proposed Providence development. (The designs shown for the South portion also include the interchange at Sun Valley Blvd, although this was later included in the Southeast portion of the road, and the Macleod Trail interchange is proceeding without being tied to the rest of the South portion of the road.)

SOUTHEAST RING ROAD

The most recent section of the road to begin construction is Southeast Stoney Trail (SEST). With the land required for the road already in the hands of the Province, and having already been designed in conjunction with the Northeast portion, the Southeast leg of the road was in a good position to begin construction. The province put the contract for the road out to tender in March 2009, and was then finalised a year later. On March 30 2010 the P3 contract was awarded to the Chinook Road Partnership (a partnership of construction companies led by SNC Lavalin Inc.).

The 34-year P3 contract was valued at $1.226 billion ($769 million in 2010 dollars), with the government of Alberta contributing $232 million and the Federal Government contributing $100 million towards the construction phase. Monthly payments of $2.5 million would be paid to the Chinook Road Partnership over the 30 years following completion, both to pay for the road and to finance the 30 year maintenance contract built into the P3 agreement. A traditional-delivery estimate for the road produced by the Alberta Government pegged the same project at $1.8 billion in 2010 dollars. The P3 contract also included maintenance of 12km of Deerfoot Trail; from Stoney Trail south to the interchange with Highway 2A just north of Okotoks.

(Deerfoot Trail/Cranston Road/Seton Blvd interchange, June 2012, photo courtesy Chinook Roads Partnership)

The Southeast portion of the road is approximately 25km long, and is being built with 6 lanes along it’s entire length. The most southerly portion of the Southeast ring road has existed as Highway 22x for many years, and along that stretch, the existing road would be upgraded and integrated into Stoney Trail. There are 9 interchanges along Southeast Stoney Trail, at 17th Avenue SE, Peigan Trail, Glenmore Trail, 114th Avenue SE, Highway 22x, 52nd Street SE, Deerfoot Trail, McKenzie Lake Blvd/Cranston Blvd and Sun Valley Blvd/Chaparral Blvd, before officially terminating a few hundred feet east of Macleod Trail. An additional interchange that is not directly on Stoney Trail is also being built as a part of the project. The Deerfoot Trail/Seton Blvd/Cranston Road interchange is located about 2km south of Stoney Trail.

With the contract awarded, construction began in 2010, and is set for an October 1, 2013 opening date. The completion of the Southeast Stoney Trail project will see 70% of the entire ring road finished.

In 2011, the Macleod Trail interchange, including 6th Street SW, was proposed by the Province as an upgrade that could be completed independently of the Southeast or South ring road projects, and Aecom was hired to undertake design work. Construction has not begun as of Fall 2012, though it is anticipated to begin by Winter, and the project is slated for a Fall 2014 completion.

(Stoney Trail and Deerfoot Trail interchange under construction, July 2012, photo courtesy Chinook Roads Partnership)

THE MISSING PIECE

With only the Southwest portion of the road outstanding, by the end of next year Calgary will have a three-quarter ring in place. With negotiations ongoing for that final section, time will tell what, or indeed if, transportation solutions will be implemented to finish the ring.

Grey Eagle Casino Expansion

On September 18 2012 the Tsuu T’ina Nation announced a $65 million expansion of their Grey Eagle Casino facility, including a hotel and entertainment complex.

The plans include a previously announced gaming-floor and restaurant expansion for the casino, and for the first time a 4.5 star, 178-room hotel, plus a 2000 seat entertainment centre with conference space and banquet facilities was announced.

Construction is set to begin immediately, with the gaming expansion due to open in Spring of 2013. The entertainment complex is due for completion in later 2013, and the hotel is to open in the fall of 2014. The ground-breaking ceremony took place after the announcement. (More on long-term plans for the area can be found here, and more on the casino can be found here)

Although variations of an expanded casino project have been planned for many years, solid plans for a more limited casino expansion were made public in April, when the Tsuu T’ina and Casino management held an open house. The open house only covered the changes that were being proposed to the gaming floor and food-services areas of the existing casino building; no other plans regarding the expansion were indicated. Several questions about ancillary projects, specifically a hotel, were raised, but suggestions that other building projects might form a part of the casino expansion were denied.

Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott responded to the most recent announcement with concern about access to an expanded (and presumably more-visited) casino complex. He also reiterated a long-standing City position that access to future Tsuu T’ina developments should come from more suitable access from the west, not the current intersection at 37th street. He stated:

“Access to this site has always been anticipated to be from the west (i.e. from Glenmore Trail & Highway 8) and the current entrance on 37th is a temporary one. The infrastructure in place at 37th, the entrance and the roundabout, were never intended to be permanent. Whether there is a ring road or not, the only real means of accessing the location with those kinds of anticipated traffic volumes must be from the west.”

“While, I fully support the Tsuu T’ina Nation and their plans for economic development, diversification and autonomy, just like any developer they need to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support their plans. The existing infrastructure cannot support the expansion of the casino and that deficiency must be addressed prior to development.”

RING ROAD NEGOTIATIONS

At the press conference, Chief Sandford Big Plume stated that he was ‘very encouraged’ by the progress of a new ring road deal being worked on, which he stated fits what the nation had been asking for. He also stated that “It’s been a pleasure working with a group who will listen to what we want”, referring to Provincial officials including Transportation Minister Ric McIver. McIver later stated in an interview with the Calgary Herald “We feel like we’re making progress but it’s not done until it’s done… We have a good relationship with the chief and council. We’ve been talking in good faith and obviously we’re hopeful at some point things will progress.”

It remains to be seen how the new Casino development will affect neighbouring communities, or indeed the ongoing ring road negotiations.

Ric McIver

On April 23 2012, Ric McIver was elected as MLA to represent the Provincial riding of Calgary-Hays, and on May 8, he was appointed by Premiere Alison Redford to the position of Transportation Minister. As Transportation Minister, he will be in charge of the direction and decision-making involved in the southwest portion of the Calgary ring road. His well-known stance of supporting a road through the Weaselhead along 37th street SW has caused concern for some Calgary residents who are intent on preserving that natural area. However, this stance is not quite as straight-forward as it might seem.

Despite being a rookie MLA, Ric McIver has a great deal of experience with the ring road issue, having served as a Calgary Alderman, Ward 12, for 9 years. In that time, he was active in the City’s role in establishing a road in the southwest part of the city.

2002 Transportation, Transit and Parking Committee

Soon after taking office, McIver joined the Transportation, Transit and Parking Committee, which is responsible for studying and making recommendations on transportation issues that face the Council.

On July 16 2002, McIver proposed a motion to the committee to restrict the type of road development that the City could engage in with the Tsuu T’ina. Specifically, he proposed that the City of Calgary be restricted from building any roads on land not owned by the City. The motion passed by a vote of 4 to 3, though it was criticised at the time, by Mayor Bronconier among others, because it placed restrictions on the City that limited the city’s ability to negotiate for the best route possible for the road.

Because McIver’s committee motion was incompatible with the negotiations with the Tsuu T’ina at the time, it was portrayed in the media as being a motion to stop any road through Nation lands, and to promote a solution within City boundaries, such as a 37th street SW road. While technically true, this isn’t precisely the case.

In a personal correspondence after the vote, McIver clarified the intent of the motion. He felt that spending tax dollars to build a road that was built on someone else’s property, outside of the control of the City, would not be in Calgary’s best interest. In 1999, then Tsuu T’ina Chief Roy Whitney stated that the Nation would seek a fee-per-vehicle toll on any road through the Nation land, utilising a ‘silent’ toll system. This means that cars using the road would be tallied, and then either the City of Calgary or the Province of Alberta would pay the Tsuu T’ina based on  the number of vehicles using the road. Then-Premiere Ralph Klein stated that “…we’re not opposed to examining tolls, including a road through the Tsuu T’ina reserve.” While the MOU did not specify who would pay to build the road, there were public concerns that the City and Province would be on the hook for the construction costs. 

McIver felt that any city investments would be better off on land that was owned by the city. He says “The motion coming forward to Council on Monday does not actually firm up any route for the future 37 Street/Sarcee Trail extension. It does, however, take off the table the route across Tsuu Tina land ONLY IF PAID FOR BY CALGARY… What it does do is establish the principal that Calgary tax dollars for roads should only be spent in Calgary. In the same way that we would not expect our neighbours to pay for our roads, we cannot be expected to pay for theirs.”

The motion the McIver introduced, however, did not stop the City from pursuing a road that was located on land purchased from the reserve, which is what the 2009 agreement was founded on. He goes on to say “…this motion would allow for a Calgary built road on what is now Tsuu Tina land – ONLY AFTER A LAND SWAP OR PURCHASE/SALE IS COMPLETED.” (Emphasis his)

2009 Ring Road Agreement Reaction

In June of 2009, the Tsuu T’ina rejected the proposed Provincial agreement to sell land for a ring road. At the time, both Mayor Bronconier and the Province declared the Tsuu T’ina agreement to be dead, and walked away from further negotiations. However, there were a few calls from within the City and the Province to keep the negotiations alive; the first elected official to publicly state a desire to see negotiations resume was Ric McIver.

On July 18 2009, less than 3 weeks after the failed Tsuu T’ina vote, Ric McIver stated “Sooner or later, the province is going to be back talking to the Tsuu T’ina and the city of Calgary would be better off with that. There’s nowhere else between 37 St. and Bragg Creek to put it and the fact is not going to change – the best route is through Tsuu T’ina land.”

“Cooler heads have to prevail. You don’t have to be a Ph.D in geography to know anything we would call a ring road will have to go through Tsuu T’ina land some day. Widening 37 St. to ring road status will cut a huge swath through an established community.”

It has been noted that there are two different problems that needs solving in the southwest: One is facilitating movement of people seeking to bypass the city to reach other parts of the city and province, the other is providing a commuting solution for people traveling downtown. McIver seems to take the position that while the Province should  still seek to build a true bypass highway through Tsuu T’ina lands, the city should also proceed with a city connector road within city limits. Thus at the same time as he was urging continued negotiation between the Province and the Tsuu T’ina, McIver also stated that he supports a City-built, commuter focused connector road along 37th street SW over (or under) the Weaselhead and through Lakeview.

2010 Mayoral Campaign

In 2010, Ric McIver chose not to run for a 4th term as alderman, and instead chose to run for Mayor. Part of his ‘vision’ included short statements on the Southwest Calgary Ring Road, but little detail. He says “We will work with our partners in the Alberta government to complete the ring road and, yes, that will include the southwest portion.”

(Skip to 3:01 to get to comments on the Southwest Calgary Ring Road)

The communications director for his mayoral campaign, Sam Armstrong, said: “McIver is committed to building the southwest portion of the ring road. McIver believes that it is time to move on from negotiations with the Tsuu T’ina reserve, and if elected, he will urge the province to start building as soon as possible. If elected, he will have a meeting with everyone affected by the ring road and work out the issue. McIver doesn’t want to demolish homes, but he does want build the ring road in the community of Lakeview, so instead of building an eight lane highway, he wants to turn the southwest portion of the ring road into an access road.”

This statement seems to be contradictory, both to itself (The road cannot possibly be both a Provincial freeway and an ‘access road’), and to what we know about McIver’s previous stance on the issue. Though the statement does advocate for a ring road through Lakeview and the Weaselhead, it does seem to me that McIver or his staff is actually talking about his long-held position on a city connector road, but calling it a Provincial ring road. In running for mayor, he would have been responsible for City-focused solutions, not Provincial ones, and it seems that at this time McIver was still proposing that the City should work towards having a connector road built via 37th street, rather than a full-fledged freeway.

Ric McIver finished in second place to Naheed Nenshi in the 2010 mayoral race.

Minister of Transportation

After running a successful campaign to become MLA for the riding of Calgary-Hays, Ric McIver was appointed as Transportation Minister, replacing the recently defeated Ray Danyluck who previously held the position. As the Transportation Minister, McIver would essentially head up the Provincial side of negotiations on the Southwest Calgary Ring Road project. A few weeks after the appointment, on May 24 2012, McIver stated “I’m hearing from some people that that’s a priority, It’s one for me… I’ve had some briefings (about the negotiations) but I want to make sure I’m fully up to date about where the status of any talks have been up until now. Then we’ll make an appointment,” indicating that he would meet with the Tsuu T’ina after the spring sitting of the legislature.

Further Negotiations

Ric McIver has been very clear that building a road through the Weaselhead is something that the City of Calgary should pursue as a commuter solution. While that is a concern to southwest residents who would be impacted by such a project, it is important to remember that McIver is no longer involved in city-level politics, or in projects with a city-only focus. Given his insistence that any true ring road-standard highway would need to be built through the Tsuu T’ina, and given that his mandate is to build just such a road, his stance seems to be consistent with negotiating with the Nation in good faith. Of course, what would happen should current negotiations prove unsuccessful, as always, remains unknown.

‘Plan B’

In 2009, five years of planning and negotiating for a ring road in Southwest Calgary was voted down by the members of the Tsuu T’ina (more here). When the province walked away from further discussions, they declared the Tsuu T’ina option dead and were anxious to move on; to develop another option entirely within the city of Calgary. This would be called the ‘Plan B’.

On November 27 2009, only five months after the rejection of a Tsuu T’ina alignment, the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly explore the 37th street SW corridor for the purposes of building an 8-lane freeway entirely within the city limits. The scope of the MoU was eventually expanded to consider alternative routes to 37th street SW, and the study was meant to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2011 with a proposed route.

Was there really no ‘Plan B’?

When the 2009 deal was initially defeated, then Mayor Dave Bronconier stated that they did not have a Plan B for the City and Province to fall back on.

Every transportation plan since 1959 planned for an extension of Sarcee Trail to become the primary north-south freeway on the west side of Calgary (essentially the ‘Plan A’). Though there have been a few alternatives proposed throughout the years, mainly involving on 37th street SW, these concepts had never been fully explored, and none have ever been approved (you can see these preliminary concepts here).

Most recently, a proposal to study the 37th street SW alignment was voted down in 2001, and in 2002 the city council Transportation Committee attempted to force the issue of a non-Tsuu T’ina road alignment by voting to prohibit the City from becoming involved in building any new roads on Tsuu T’ina property. In 2002/2003, a study was proposed to look at three alternative routes for a connector road in the area, including an extension to Sarcee Trail through the reserve, and extension to Crowchild Trail over the reservoir, and an extension to 37th street over the Weaselhead. While this might have become the first steps toward developing a modern, Calgary-made, Plan B route, the study was sidelined for various reasons before the routes were actually studied. Alternatives seemed moot once the Provincial ring road negotiations started in earnest in 2004, and further attempts to study new routes were not made until 2011.

With the rejection of the 2009 deal, and the subsequent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Province began to explore a new Plan B. While the work on this plan would draw from some of the previous studies and concepts, it would essentially be an entirely new road plan.

The five Plan Bs

On January 29 2011, the Province unveiled the initial stage of the Plan B planning. At this stage, there were no detailed designs or diagrams; this was part of the route selection phase, where a corridor would be chosen before detailed designs could be considered.

The Plan B study, officially part of the ‘Calgary Southwest Ring Road Functional Planning Study’ was prepared for the province by Focus Engineering. In it, five potential routes for a southwest ring road were presented, along with an overview of the issues involved including the need for a road, future traffic patterns, design standards, location and construction techniques.

The five alternate routes all begin at the junction of Highway 8 and 101st street SW, and all end up connecting to Highway 22x, but the routes are quite different from each other. The road routes were intended to accommodate a 110km/h, limited access, 8-lane, freeway standard road. This specification was to be maintained at all points of the route, even when utilising an existing road corridor. For instance, where the road was shown to be built alongside Glenmore Trail, the specifications called for 8 new lanes in addition to the existing 9 lanes over the Glenmore Causeway, resulting in a total of 17 lanes (in this case).

Routes 1, 2, 3 and 5

These four options follow existing roads for the route of a new ring road. They all start at Glenmore Trail and 101st street SW, and head east, following Glenmore Trail over the reservoir. From here they differ:

• Route 1 (red in the map above) continues to follow Glenmore Trail to Deerfoot Trail, where it connects with Highway 22x.
• Route 2 (green) heads south on 14th street SW, then east on Anderson Road before connecting with Deerfoot south to Highway 22x.
• Route 3 (yellow) also heads south on 14th street SW and east on Anderson Road, but then heads south on Macleod Trail.
• Route 5 (black) heads south on 14th street SW, but then goes west on Anderson. From there it joins up with 37th street south of the reservoir, and continues south to Highway 22x.

In the media and amongst decision makers, there seems to be something of a consensus on these four routes presented in the 2011 Plan B study, that consensus being that they are largely unfeasible in execution, too damaging to Calgary communities, and unsuitable in the function of a ring road. The Province’s own ‘report card’ that compares the different routes actually confirms this assessment, providing ‘Least Favorable’ or ‘Less Favorable’ grades on every metric apart from ‘Potential environmental impact’ for these four routes.

There isn’t a single road corridor in the southwest of Calgary that could accommodate a road of the proposed size, so demolishing homes and expropriating private property would be necessary to build the road, regardless of the path chosen. Contained in these four options include plans that variously mean Deerfoot would need 16 lanes in places, Glenmore Trail 17 lanes, Macleod Trail 16 lanes, Anderson Road 14 lanes, and more. These new lanes were proposed to be built through some of the most built-up areas of Calgary.

In personal conversations with Alberta Transportation employees, there was speculation on their part that these other alternatives (1, 2, 3, and 5) would not seriously be considered, and had only been included because their mandate was to study multiple corridors to connect Glenmore Trail and Highway 22x. Indeed the original Memorandum of Understanding called for 37th street alone to be used for a Plan B route.

The only issue the province publicly stated they were keen to avoid in regards to the ring road was expropriating property, and their desire to keep the number of affected homes as low as possible. In August 2010, Transportation Minister Luc Ouellette said “I don’t think taking out 700 houses is acceptable,” in regards to ring road routes. Premier Stelmach reiterated this position in October 2010 by stating that he didn’t want ‘major impacts on any communities.’ By any definition, these statements would seem to preclude Routes 1, 2, 3 and 5, simply due to their massive need for land along built-up corridors. (Of these four routes, the number of residential communities that would have needed to have some property expropriated ranges between 14 and 24.)

In 2009, the Province stated that they would be willing to lower the speed of the road to 80km/h in order to reduce the impact of the road, specifically a 37th street SW route (Route 4). Mayor Bronconier stated that the reduced speed would save houses from demolition, as a lower speed would allow for smaller interchanges and turning radii.

Route 4

Route 4 also starts at Glenmore Trail and 101st street SW, following Glenmore Trail east, through Glamorgan, to 37th street SW. From here Route 4 heads south along 37th street through the community of Lakeview, over or under the Weaselhead, then continues south via the 37th street SW right-of-way beside Oakridge and Cedarbrae. From there, it would connect with the existing 37th street SW and continues south, where it connects with Highway 22x.

At the time of the release of these plans, this route was widely seen as the most likely of the five routes to be selected. It had been singled out early in the process as the only route to be considered before the scope of the study was expanded, it was the only route of the five to have even been discussed in the past as an alternative, and it appeared most favorable in the Province’s comparison of routes. (Route 5, with an widened and free-flowing 14th street SW, was similar to previous City plans in the 1990s, though not to the extent presented here).

In appearing to be the most likely of the five routes, it became the most controversial. The compromises to the road design, the impacts to the Weaselhead and the impacts communities of Glamorgan and Lakeview meant that this route was seized upon by both politicians and citizens alike, and opposition to the Plan B routes grew. (The issues surrounding the opposition to the Plan B alternatives are significant enough that they will be addressed in a future article.)

Plan B on hold

Under the prevailing opposition to the Plan B routes, most notably by Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Premier Alison Redford and Ward 11 Councillor Brian Pincott, among many others, the Tsuu T’ina took a poll of their members. On June 29 2011, the Nation voted 68.5% in favour of re-entering negotiations with the Province for a road route through their land. (Of course, the Tsuu T’ina have stated since June 2009 that they were open to further negotiations; it was the Province that decided against further talks with the Nation. Given the speed at which the Province accepted new negotiations, one can’t help but wonder about the politics involved. Whether the Province felt that it could not be perceived as ‘giving in’ by proposing new talks, thereby needing to wait for the Tsuu T’ina to restate their longstanding position in a new way, and thus allowing the Nation to ‘make the first move’).

The Province welcomed renewed talks about the ring road, and within two weeks of the Tsuu T’ina vote talks had been renewed. Premier Stelmach says that a Tsuu T’ina route would give them a wider right-of-way, greater traffic flow, would provide for a ‘safer’ road, ‘without disturbing our communities’. The Province stated that while the route and compensation from the 2009 deal would remain intact, they would rewrite portions of the agreement to address the concerns the Tsuu T’ina had with the wording, specifically in regards to agreeing to guarantee the land swap in the deal (more on the original deal here).

In the Summer of 2011, the Province stated that with the reopening of talks with the Tsuu T’ina, the Plan B study would be put on hold indefinitely, at least publicly. Plan B is currently dormant pending the outcome of negotiations with the Nation.

The Grey Eagle Casino

1996 is the earliest public mention of plans by the Tsuu T’ina to develop a casino, the same year the Harvey Barracks was closed, and a full decade before the land was cleared and returned to the Nation. The original plans called for a casino, hotel and entertainment complex, and on June 30, 2004, the Nation voted to proceed with the Casino portion. Groundbreaking on the 84,000 square foot casino was held September 14 2006, and was open to the public in December 2007. The casino was controversial from the very beginning, especially in regards to access.

The picture below shows the access as it was in 2007, before the new Glenmore Trail / 37th Street SW Interchange was constructed.

Access Problems

The City of Calgary always held that the Casino and the Ring Road projects were inexorably linked; their position was that the Casino (and the rest of the Masterplan development) could, in the long run, only be served via the ring road and its access roads. Without a ring road, the only way to get to the casino was via 37th street SW in Lakeview. This access point (long considered temporary by the City) was at an intersection on Glenmore Trail that was already at failure due to high traffic. 37th street SW is also only a residential feeder, and the City thought it unsuitable for access to a development of this sort in terms of capacity. The City noted in 2004 that the traffic simulations submitted to the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission by the Nation in support of their application was based on a widened Glenmore Trail (which, now 10 years later, has still not materialised) and out-of-date traffic figures.

The City’s position was that if a ring road was not built on the Tsuu T’ina lands, then the only alternative was to build the ring road down 37th street SW. If this was done, then the access road at this location would by necessity be closed, as a high-speed, limited-access freeway could not physically accommodate a small feeder road at that location. Rather than being a bargaining chip or an act of petty revenge, as some have suggested, the closing of the access road to the Casino would seem to be an unavoidable result of having no other viable corridor to build the ring road. From the beginning, the City warned the Tsuu T’ina that access to the casino from 37th street SW was temporary, and that they could not guarantee it remaining open should road negotiations fail.

The Tsuu T’ina on the other hand viewed the Casino and the ring road as two separate projects. While they imply that the majority of the Masterplan (shown above) is dependent on the ring road going ahead on their land, the Tsuu T’ina considered 37th street SW as not only an acceptable access road to the casino, but also a legally guaranteed one.

Guaranteed Access?

This issue came to a head in 2009 when the negotiations for the road failed, and the City began improvements to the intersection at Glenmore Trail and 37th street SW. When the first reports came out about the new interchange (shown above), it was reported that the access to the casino would be closed to accommodate the new road layout. The Nation immediately wrote to the City of Calgary and stated that “any interference by the city of Calgary of Tsuu T’ina Nation’s rights to enter and leave its lands at any point along Tsuu T’ina Nation boundaries constitutes a breach of our rights under Treaty No. 7″, and that they would consider legal action. The City held that the only access to the reserve they were legally required to maintain was at Anderson road, which remained untouched.

The text of Treaty No. 7 (available here) says nothing about the right to enter and leave reserve lands at any point, thought there may be some later legal precedent that does provide for this. The text also does not stipulate a single, legal access as the city states, though again this might come from a later legal precedent. I cannot find anything to suggest either claim is true at this point, but will update if I find out anything more.

As it turned out, the new interchange actually improved access to the reserve at this intersection, and (apart from poor signage and confusion upon opening) worries about access were unfounded. To this day, access to the casino remains open at 37th street SW at Glenmore Trail.

Where we are now

The future of the casino is in an interesting position. If future negotiation for the road through Tsuu T’ina lands are unsuccessful, and a major freeway is built along 37th street SW, then it is conceivable that the casino access road would be cut off (again, out of necessity rather than spite). With $40-million already invested in the casino, and with the revenue generated already going to housing, educational and sports infrastructure on the reserve, this in an important venture for the Nation. The removal of access from 37th street SW would no doubt ignite legal actions to stop that from happening. This in turn may cause road construction and Tsuu T’ina development to halt, possibly for years, while the issue was worked out.

In April 2012, the Nation began the process of applying to the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission for a 10,000 square-foot extension to the casino.

I personally believe in being good neighbours, and that access should remain to the Casino so long as that access remains viable. The idea of closing a road to the Nation out of spite is a short-sighted and mean-spirited one, and one that I think is entirely un-Calgarian. If a time came when the current access could genuinely no longer be accommodated for legitimate, physical reasons, then frank discussions would need to take place, and hard decisions would need to be made, to ensure all parties are considered.