West LRT Construction - Small Pain For Enormous Gain

We're hearing words like "headache", "congestion", "gridlock", "lengthy delays" and so on in the media coverage of the West LRT roadwork which kicked off this week in Calgary.  But it's important to also look ahead to 2012 when the dust has settled - to envision the outcome of all this work and street closures and detours and slow-going.   

 
The West LRT project will mean more freedom for Calgarians, better traffic flow and increased transportation sustainability (check out the City's amazing video of the plans here). This new 8 kilometer line will connect the Centre City with the westerly part of our city (all the way to 69th Street SW) via two major routes. And did you know the last time a light rail transit line was built in Calgary was before the '88 Winter Olympics (the University line)? That's a long time ago. Calgary has grown exponentially since then and this West LRT line will be a welcome addition upon its completion. Here is The City of Calgary's dedicated website to the West LRT project - it's a great place to keep up to date on lane closures, suggested alternate routes, building timeline info, and all other news surrounding its construction.  

Now about those traffic headaches surrounding the West LRT build..here are a few things you can do to prevent them: 

1/  Plan ahead by reading up on the West LRT site for the latest on road closures - plan for delays especially during peak hours. Keep in mind westbound Bow Trail is down to two lanes until fall 2011 and in mid-March, 17th Avenue S.W. will be reduced to four lanes - two in each direction until fall 2011.  

2/  Find alternate routes and share them with friends - in doing so, maybe you could start up a carpool group in your community to help reduce the number of cars on the roads.  You could aim to leave later or earlier when heading to work or school so that your commute is not during peak travel time. 

3/  Check out Twitter when you can for updates from real commuters. When we did a quick search of "West LRT", quite a few posts came up.  As the days progress in this project, there will surely be more frequent, regular updates from fellow drivers and cyclists.  Maybe you'll find great ideas for alternate routes this way.  

4/  Speaking of bikes...dust yours off!  Ride, run, walk when and if you can.Take the bus a few days a week - leave the headaches to someone else.  

5/  Stay informed - sign up for updates on the West LRT website.  

6/  Keep in touch here.  If you have any tips you want to share with fellow commuters heading in or out of the Centre City while this project is going on, leave us a comment. Maybe we can get a productive dialogue going here as well.  

Comments

[Posted by Karin]

Hi Jonathan,

Do you have any "alternative travel" paths you would like to share? Any tips would be great. Anyone else? Feel free to post here in the comments section.

[JonSun]

I would suggest the title should be juxtaposed to say enormous pain for small gain.
Why is it the city doesn't lay out "alternative travel" paths for commuters to consider to streamline the process. The WEST LRT & Construction map is pathetic!