A significant portion of the Southwest Ring Road will be open to traffic possibly as early as Oct. 1st, which means Oakridge residents will have immediate access to the new roadway off both the 90th Avenue and Southland Drive connectors, which have been completed for months.
The opening date for almost half of the ring road hasn’t been well publicized, but it’s been part of the contract between the Government of Alberta and the contractor Mountain View Partners, since it was signed back in 2016.
According to an article by CBC Calgary, the contract states that “the 15-kilometre portion of the ring road between Glenmore Trail and 146th Avenue S.W. would be the priority and that it was to be available for traffic on Oct. 1st, 2020. That section of the freeway is being built on the land that the provincial government acquired from the Tsuu T'ina Nation.
“The agreement specifies the remaining 16-kilometre portions of the ring road — including south of 146th Avenue and a section along Highway 8 — would open on Oct. 1st, 2021.”
Weather will be the deciding factor on whether the road will open on Oct. 1st or later in the month. Significant rain caused some construction delays in June, but it is hope that those will be made up through the balance of the summer months.
