Southwest ring road route worries Weaselhead park group

Hundreds of people gathered at the Cedarbrae community centre Tuesday night to get an update from the province about plans for Calgarys southwest ring road.

Some of them say theyre worried about the impact the project will have on the Weaselhead Flats.

• Ring road construction at least 2 years away, province says

The $5-billion ring road will stretch from Highway 22x up to Highway 8 along the city's western edge skirting Tsuu Tina First Nation territory and the southwest corner of the Weaselhead area and then continue north using the 101st Street corridor through to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society executive director Lisa Dahlseide wants the province to reconsider its plans for the Weaselhead sectionwhere the road will cross the Elbow River.

It is filling in the riparian area, rerouting the river, and putting it through a tiny little hole, she said.

Plans call for a five-lane southbound bridge and a four-lane northbound bridge over the Elbow River. Part of the river will also be realigned to accommodate the freeway.

So that does concern us, said Dahlseide.

We know the technology exists to build it better. We can have something that is open-span where the river can freely migrate, where wildlife can freely walk throughand where flooding can occur without being restricted as well."

Road cannot be moved, says province

But Garry Lamb, the urban construction manager for Alberta Transportation, said the deal worked out with the Tsuu Tina First Nation requires the route to cut through a portion of the park.

"I think the bringing of an urban freeway near a quiet environmental areais an area of concern for many people, he said.

But the alignment is fixed because of the agreement we have with Tsuu Tina First Nation, so we can't move the road, so the road will go where it's going.

Earlier this year, the province announced the new 31-kilometre stretch of ring road will be constructed as two projects a southwest section from Highway 22x to 69th Street, mostly on Tsuu Tina lands, and a west section, mostly within city limits, from 69th Street to Highway 1.

The Tsuu Tina agreed to transfer 428 hectares of land to Alberta so the ring road could be built. In compensation, the province will transfer 2,160hectaresof new reserve land worth an estimated $44 million.

In addition to land,the province will give the band $275 millionand pay roughly$66million to replace housing and other buildings that will have to be torn down to make way for the ring road.

The province anticipates having shovels in the ground by early 2016.

On mobile? Click here.